「장애아동복지지원법」시행에 따른 원장의 역할 및 장애아전문어린이집 운영변화와 개선방향

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the meaning of legal change for the field which was caused by designation of specialized child care and education centers according to「Welfare Support Act for Children with Disabilities」(Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2011), the difficulties of role and management from the perspective of directors, what positive changes they expected despite the difficulty from the legal change, what the plans for the improvement, what the directors request to ease the difficulty from legal change and practical solution for the survival at this time when the upcoming consolidation of kindergarten and child care and education centers is approaching after the legal change. The subjects of this study were 12 directors and semi-structured interviews were conducted on them, after which qualitative analysis was conducted with duplicated contents. The results of the study are as follows. First, directors felt that the some legal changes were simply changes in terms and thus meaningless while they expected positive effect and new roles like early intervention in others such as fortification of the professionalism. Second, directors responded that they felt difficulty in the management of teaching personnel due to the legal change. Third, directors confessed the burdens due to shortage of children and difficulty to recruit normal children and complained that laws were enacted to fit the convenience of the city and provincial government in ignorance of the field. Fourth, directors expressed expectation that social recognition on specialized child care and education centers would change into special kindergartens and amelioration on the restriction on minimum number of children with disabilities for alleviating their loads. In addition, they had positive expectation that deployment of special teachers with professional expertise would enhance the overall level of teachers. Fifth, to relieve the difficulty of their roles, directors suggested improvement plans such as support of professional team cooperation etc. Sixth, for the improvement of operation, directors came up with practical solutions such as raising the wage of the teachers etc. Seventh, directors requested supports such as strengthening following actions and support system, consideration of the special traits, designation of administrative personnel in charge, support for general and integrated child care and education centers and increase of regional support. Eighth, for the survival of centers in the future, directors emphasized the exercise of professionalism by cooperation of experts, integrated approach such as full-in therapist system, and development of professional programs unique to each centers. For the upcoming consolidation of kindergartens and child care and education centers, directors also suggested treatment improvement and support as the special kindergartens supported by Ministry of Education.