어린이집 설치·운영자 개념 정립 방안

Abstract

This study sought to clarify the confusion surrounding the terms ‘founder’ (referring to the representative) and the ‘director’ (referring to the manager) of child care service providers. The terminology and designated responsibilities of the founder and the director are outlined in the current Early Child Care Law. However, the use and persistence of unclear terminology causes confusion and concerns amongst child care staff and providers. The present study examined the Early Years Education Law and other government reports to compare them with the Early Childhood Care Law; exploring the definition of terms of ‘founder’ and ‘director’ of education services. An empirical research exercise was also conducted; 229 child care specialists from academia, child care providers and civil servants were part of the sample of the survey. 16 directors and founders were also selected for in-depth interviews. The study found that the Early Child Care Law caused role-confusion between the founder and the director of child care services since it gives enactment to the duties of both simultaneously. The basis for the confusion are the regulations around establishing and closing down child care provision, supervision and managing roles, and who - between the two - is actually in charge. After a close examination of other related regulations on the role of the founder and the director, terminology and duties of the founder and the director are not clarified for the registration of a business license, or for establishing and closing down the organization. The founder and the director’s supervisory and management roles clearly overlap. Since the director cannot be defined as the representative, there needs to be more clear definition and distinction in terms of both terminology and role between the two in Early Child Care Law. The survey results indicate that the terms founder and director need greater clarification. Since the founder (representative) is likely to prioritize profit over the quality of child care provision, the founder tends to run several child care services for the purposes of profit making. A lack of requirements for formal qualifications by the founder may lead to poor management. Since the founder has the responsibility to adequately manage child care services, legal responsibilities should be addressed in Early Child Care Law. The survey indicates that the founder has similar legal responsibilities as the director, to an extent where there may incur a legal penalty for inadequate overall supervision of child care services. Areas designated to the director include; the right to recruit staff (63.8%), accounting (53.3%), child health/safety issues (72.1%), food (63.3%). In addition, 91.3% of specialists believe that the founder should hold a certain level of formal qualification to run such an organization. The findings suggest that overlapping duties and unclear terms between the founder and the director of child care services can produce low quality and insufficient child care services. First, there is need to conduct a national survey on child care services where the founder and the director co- exist (it would be ideal that the founder and the director are the same person or the two hold similar qualifications). Early Child Care Law needs to consider these two existing titles ant their respective terms to define their clear roles and responsibilities. Providing the founder is fully qualified and full time based in the child care services they provide, they ought to be legally obliged to take responsibility for budgeting expenditure and the overall management of the service. To uphold the standards of service, the founders need to be limited in the number of child care business that they can run and where necessary, encouraged to sell some of their business to other capable providers.