• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.87-97
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate the basic materials for enhancing the professionalism of 51 infant/toddler teachers through in-depth interview about the actual condition of child care centers. The results were as follows: First, the infant/toddler teachers got less credits of young child care and education subjects than day care teachers did. The current criteria for qualification of infant/toddler teachers was not appropriate for providing the child care services. An efficient and substantial curriculum must be designed to facilitate the day care services for infant/toddler teachers. Second, the infant/toddler teachers recognized that their roles were similar to child care teachers. The curriculum and practice must encourage and nurture the characters, beliefs, and dispositions of infant/toddler teachers. Third, it is necessary to review the various problems to enhance the professionalism of infant/toddler teachers. Several suggestions for enhancing the professionalism are discussed.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.357-368
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of teachers' knowledge of infant development and efficacy of child care on perception of professionalism. The participants of this study were 264 child care teachers who were in charge of infants in child care centers in Gyunggi Province. Instruments to measure teachers' knowledge of infant development, efficacy of child care and perception of professionalism as teachers were used in this study and the data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, the hierarchical regression, and the structural equation model analysis by AMOS. Based on the hierarchical regression, efficacy of child care influenced on perception of professionalism rather than knowledge of infant development. The moderation effect of efficacy of child care existed in the relationship between teachers' knowledge of infant development and perception of professionalism.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.39-56
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• 2010

The purposes of this research are to examine the effect of child care-work ability program; improve efficacy of child care, infant teacher's role performance, and infant teachers' sensitivity about demanding of infants by doing education of improving efficacy of child care, role performance and infant teachers' sensitivity at the nursery center. The subjects of this research are 44 child-care teachers from Jungup city. They are divided into 22 teachers in experiment group and 22 teachers in control group. And teachers answered questionnaires as either pre-test or post-test for evaluating efficacy of child care, and teacher's role performance, and teachers' sensitivity. There are the results of this research. Efficacy of child care, infant teacher's role performance and sensitivity of experimental group members who participated in child care-work ability program significantly increased comparing to its control group members. Finally, we could prove the effect of program which was carried out to child care teachers on improving efficacy of child care, infant teacher's role performance and sensitivity.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.71-95
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• 2009

This study investigated relationships among infant development, teacher's sensitivity, home literacy environment, and infant-teacher interaction in the child care setting. Verbal and behavioral interactions between 30 2-year-old infant-teacher pairs were video-recorded during free play activities; teachers' sensitivity was observed by trained observers; infant development was assessed by teachers; data on the early home literacy environment were gathered through maternal self-reported questionnaires. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-tests, and correlation analyses. Results indicated that boys showed more naming; girls showed more physical contact with teachers. Infants high in overall developmental level showed more behavioral interaction with teachers. Teacher's sensitivity correlated positively with behavioral imitating and negatively with questioning and nodding. Verbal interaction in the home correlated positively with nodding.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.271-283
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• 2008

The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge of infant development of child care teachers, undergraduate students majoring in child development at universities, and the students at child care training centers. A questionnaire was distributed to 126 in-service and 187 pre-service child care teachers. Data were analyzed by t-test, F-test, Correlation. The results showed that the mean scores of subjects on the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory (KIDI) were relatively low. Among the 3 groups of subjects, child care teachers had the lowest scores on the KIDI. There were individual differences in the knowledge of infant development by school year, the length of work experience, marital status, age of child, attendance at in-service training events, and kind of license.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.41-57
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• 2019

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the moderate effect of the physical environmental-level between infant teachers' positive play beliefs and teacher-infant interaction. Methods: The subjects of this study were 483 teachers in charge of one-year-old and two-year-old infants in child care centers located in metropolitan areas. The data were collected by asking the teachers to respond to a questionnaire and the data collected were analyzed through correlation and hierarchical multi- regression analysis. Results: First, the positive play beliefs of the infant teacher, the physical environment level, and the teacher-infant interaction showed significant proportional correlations. Second, the physical environment level moderated the influence of the teacher's positive play beliefs on teacher-infant interaction. In particular, results showed that functional interior space configuration, outdoor playground composition and facilities among the sub-variables of the physical environment level had a moderating effect. Conclusion/Implications: The results of this study show that teachers with positive play beliefs have positive teacher-infant interaction when there is sufficient space available for infants and teachers. This indicates that the human and physical environments of child care centers can promote teacher-child interaction.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.73-89
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• 2024

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of communication and cooperation between teachers and parents on infant care. Specifically, this study explored the direct effect of teacher-parent partnership on teacher-infant interactions and the indirect effect through teacher sensitivity. Methods: The participants of this study were 216 teachers in charge of infant classes at child care centers located in Gyeonggi-do. They responded to questionnaires on teacher-parent partnership, their sensitivity, and teacher-infant interactions. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results: First, teacher-parent partnership did not have a direct impact on teacher-infant interactions. Second, teacher-parent partnership indirectly influenced teacher-infant interactions through teacher sensitivity. In other words, a high level of teacher-parent partnership was associated with a high level of sensitivity, subsequently resulting in the provision of high-quality interactions for infants. Conclusion/Implications: This study confirmed the role of teacher sensitivity as a mechanism to explain how teacher-parent partnership is linked to teacher-child interactions. The results emphasize the importance of communication and cooperation between teachers and parents in enhancing teachers' sensitivity and, ultimately, providing high-quality child care to infants.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.169-188
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of religious maturity of Christian teachers in child care centers on teacher-infant interaction, emotional labor and emotional intelligence. The survey was conducted on 173 Christian teachers of early-child classes who work in child care centers in Gyeonggi-do province. For the research analysis, frequency and Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ coefficient were calculated and regression analysis were conducted. The results are as follows. First, the affective and volitional factors from religious maturity of Christian teachers in child care centers have had a positive influence on the overall teacher-infant interaction. Second, the affective factor from religious maturity of Christian teachers in child care centers have had a negative influence on outward behavior, which is the lower variable of emotional work, and a positive influence on inner behavior. Third, the volitional factor from religious maturity of Christian teachers in child care centers have had a positive influence on perception of self-emotions, perception of others' emotion, emotional application, emotional control, and emotional intelligence overall.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.123-142
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• 2016

This study explores the attitudes of infant care teachers towards child care centers for infants, and suggests improvements for free child care services for infants, with regard to the teaching principles of said teachers. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 26 infant care teachers. Most of the infant care teachers agreed that working mothers, but not stay-at-home mothers, should use child care centers. They also argued that, because child care for infants is free, (1) mothers have become more dependent on public child care, (2) mother's perception of child care centers has changed, and (3) people have exploited child care services. According to the teaching principles of these teachers, optimal childrearing for infants should involve the following: First, mothers themselves should take care of infants aged 0 to 2 years at home, when possible. Second, mothers using child care centers should form a childrearing partnership with the centers' teachers, and thus closely cooperate with them. Third, the role of infant care teachers should be understood as that of "the second mother." The highlight of this study is that it investigated the changes child care teachers have experienced as main providers of child care services for infants since the implementation of free, universal infant care, and suggested directions for improving child care services.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.1-13
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• 2005

Subjects were 78 12- to 35- month old infants, their mothers, and their teachers. Instruments included the Revised Toddler Temperament Questionnaire(Y. H. Choi 1990) and the Assessment Profile for Early Childhood Programs(M. K. Hong 1997; S. K. Kim 1999). There was no significant difference in perceptions of infant temperament between mothers and teachers. Infant-mother interaction differed by infant temperament in that mothers had high scores with easy infants but low scores with difficult children. On the other hand teachers maintained high interactions with difficult infants in the case of infant's rhythmicity. Infant-teacher interaction correlated with such teacher variables as teacher-infant ratio, teachers' academic backgrounds and working hours.