2013 유아교육정책의 성과와 과제

Abstract

This study identifies the current status of the early childhood education, its changes and aims to present the future direction for the policies. Therefore, the early childhood education budget based on 2012 settlement and 2013 budget data were analyzed. In addition, it was analyzed the policy-making of the 5-year plan for early childhood education development and its adequacy in the decision-making process as well as the expectations, and discovered the current status of the Kindergarten Information Disclosure System introduced in 2012. The study methods were utilized literature review, interviews, survey and professional consultative meeting. The future direction and tasks for the early childhood education policies drawn by this research are as follows: First, since the acceptance rate at public kindergartens is low, there needs to be continuous expansion. In particular, the number of public kindergartens in large cities is significantly low, requiring a plan to meet the need of the parents living in those areas. Second, the number of children per teacher needs to be lowered. Considering the fact that 1 teacher takes care of 12.8 children at public kindergartens, we need to support them by increasing the number of teachers at private kindergartens to gradually decrease the number of children per teacher. Third, funding for private kindergartens should be increased, while putting more responsibility on them through kindergarten management committees and the disclosure system. This will contribute to narrowing the income gap with between the private and public institutions. Fourth, by introducing the Nuri curriculum for 3 to 5 year-old children, general support for kindergarteners have increased while support for the vulnerable decreased. Therefore, there needs to be additional support measures considering the possibility of the discussion on relative equity. Fifth, more young children attend after-school programs due to mothers' active participation in the economy and more demand for child care support at kindergartens. After-school program courses should be improved to meet the needs of the working mothers. Sixth differentiating the amount of funding according to the assessment on the linkage between quality improvement and funding should be reviewed. Seventh, regarding early childhood education cooperation network, budget funding and participation differs greatly by region. Therefore, the reasons for such difference in performance should be analyzed to give selective support. Eighth, according to the analysis of the 17 projects initiated by each of the 17 education offices, much investment was made on educational activities support projects with the rest of the investment focusing on PR such as supporting websites and publishing newsletters. Therefore, various projects that cater to the local characteristics should be developed and implemented. Ninth, projects that should be expanded, reduced, changed or halted should be selected through continuous monitoring. Selection and concentration is needed through collecting opinions of experts and those who benefit from the policies. In order to successfully implement the Kindergarten Information Disclosure System, the items on the disclosure list should be reduced and the time for disclosure should be readjusted. In addition, manuals should be distributed to lessen the burden of the person in charge of the Kindergarten Information Disclosure System and the system needs to take root. For verification of the disclosed information, a monitoring team should be organized and an internal verification and correction system should be provided. In addition, there should be measures against failure to disclose information.