우리나라 국·공립유치원 관련 문헌 및 인식조사에 기초한 바람직한 유아교육학제 개편

Abstract

This study is to find a desirable education system for young children, on the basis of research into national and public school system for early childhood education in Korea. Under this objective, literature on the history and current state of Korea’s national and public kindergartens was reviewed. Then, 64 supervisors, 943 early childhood practitioners, and 1,789 parents were surveyed on matters related to the national and public kindergarten system. The survey was conducted through a questionnaire that consisted of 3 sub-areas with 18 items. This survey finds that most of the national and public kindergartens consist of one or two classes attached to elementary schools. This scheme sometimes makes it possible for kindergarten teachers to share the schools’ instructional resources with elementary school teachers. However, this system has many problems. These kindergartens experience such difficulties as low quality of educational programs, insufficient understanding on early childhood education on the part of school principals and vice principals who have majored in elementary school education, regulations on the entrance age, and inappropriate equipment for young children’s development. These results indicate that the contemplated reform of the education system for young children should be made in a way to better promote the overall and balanced growth of children through qualitative early childhood programs. The most basic requirement is that a separate education system be secured to cover the national and public kindergartens for children aged 3 to 5. The desirable size of the kindergarten would be at least five classes. At each school, there would have to be the principal and the vice principal who can support teachers and help ensure the quality of education. The envisaged reform measures would also call for gradually expanding the national financial scale from starting at children aged 5 to covering aged 4 and 3.