• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.177-197
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to discuss current problems and the directionality of multicultural education by examining the perceptions of teachers regarding the implementation of multicultural education and the actual practice of it within early childhood classroom. The study participants included a total of 7 teachers and 41 young children (3 children from multicultural families). Data were gathered by in-depth interviews with 7 teachers and non-participant observations in two classrooms. The results of our examination of teachers' perceptions of multicultural education were as follows. It is addressed only when there are children from multicultural families present in the classroom. Furthermore, it is only addressed in terms of specific life themes, and it requires external supporting instruction and resources because it is difficult to implement multicultural education by most teachers. The current practice of multicultural education is being addressed through an assimilative approach. It was also clear that teachers respond ambivalently to the issue of cultural particularity in children from multicultural families and use an individualized educational approach situated within the cultural deficit model. etc. Based on these results, the implications and limitations were also discussed.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.203-214
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• 2010

This study will examine the current condition of outdoor play in child care centers and the overall perception of teachers on outdoor play in regards to its related programs and children's reaction to them. Through examining such issues, this study will provide the basic data that can be applied in planning appropriate outdoor play activities, programs and environments. For the study, we surveyed teachers and directors of child care centers using a structured questionnaire. The objects of the survey were 22 child care centers in Daejeon and Seoul, who agreed to conduct the survey. The survey was conducted from August 1 to September 30 2006; 220 copies were distributed, and 188 copies were collected. The results of the study can be summarized as follows: 1) The number of outdoor plays per week were on average 1~2 in most cases, although teachers believed the play should be done everyday. Outdoor play time was mostly 21~30 minutes, while teachers thought 31~40 minutes as appropriate. Children's reaction scored the highest when they played outdoors for 30 minutes every day with their teachers involved in the play. As a result, we have concluded that the appropriate outdoor play should be conducted everyday for 30~40 minutes. 2) Outdoor play was mostly conducted as part of the overall educational plan rather than a separate plan. Since outdoor play affects children's development as much as indoor play, there is a need for development of a specific and separate plan for various outdoor play programs. 3) The outdoor play program that was most often conducted was equipment play and sand play. This indicated the monolithic nature of the outdoor program. Given the fact that children enjoy outdoor plays a lot (M=4.71), various programs including adventure play, sensitive play, and carpenter play should be developed. 4) In outdoor play, the teacher's role included supervising and interacting with children. According to the survey, teachers had a good understanding of the importance on safety and supervising issues in outdoor plays. However they seemed to overlook the importance of having better programs and improving teacher's participation to the play. Despite the importance of outdoor play to children's development, the result shows that teachers have tendencies to limit and obstruct outdoor plays by emphasizing supervising and safety issues instead. 5) Children's safety should not be the only consideration for outdoor plays; teachers ought to better understand that children's development can be maximized by the play. Furthermore, there should be emphasis placed on the program development and teacher's participation; teacher's participation should actively encourage the interactions between a child and a teacher, as well as among children.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.27-36
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• 2011

This study dealt with free play activities in the curricula of childcare centers in Daejeon area. 29 teachers from 21 day care centers were interviewed individually to obtain an understanding of teachers perceptions and conflicting views about play activity in the context of different day care curricula. The data were analysed qualitatively, using categorization and key word classification, frequency analyses and chi-squared tests. The results were as follows: (1) play-oriented curricula included sufficient play time and planned play activities in terms of the children's development. Children's freedom in play, optimum intercession by teachers, and interrelating activities between activity areas were included. In mixed curricula, children's freedoms were limited in many cases, and interrelating play between activity areas was hardly found. Formal lesson-oriented curricula resulted unplanned play activities and teachers' passive intercession of play. (2) Most teachers believed that play activities were more important to a child's development than formal lessons.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.189-212
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• 2000

This study investigated the adaptability of 3rd grade children in Taejon who had started first grade at 5 years of age. Subjects were 64 third grade children, half of whom had started first grade at 5 years and half at 6 years of age. Thirty-four parents and 36 elementary school teachers were also sampled. The General Intelligence Test, the Learning and Thinking Ability Test, and the Socio-Emotional Development Checklist were administered to the children. Parents and Teachers responded to the Questionnaire on the Adaptability of Early Entrance Children. There were no statistically significant differences between children who started first grade at 5 and those who started at 6 years of age in their Intelligence scores, Learning and Thinking Ability scores, and the Socio-Emotional Development scores. Parents as sell as teachers felt that the early entrance system was positive for children.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.115-124
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to examine the social competence of children with reference to day care center's structural, process variables and demographic variables. The subjects were 156 children who attend day care center, aged from 3 to 5 years and 9 teachers in Seoul or the province of KyungkiDo. Data were gathered via the structured Questionnaires distributed to the teachers to rate children's social competence and their own job satisfaction. And two observers rated teacher-child interaction in day care center The major findings are as follows The variables predicting children's social competence were child's sex, age, period of attendance in day care center, teacher's job satisfaction, and group size. Especially this study suggests that teachers who are highly satisfied with their job and small group size influence children's social competence positively.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.141-154
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• 1998

This study investigated how kindergarten teachers apply children's traditional play to educational curriculum and how kindergarten children engaged in traditional play. The subjects of this study were 120 kindergarten teachers and their 2930 5-year-old kindergarten children. Data were gathered through questionnaires. The results showed that most teachers included children's traditional play in educational curriculum as indoor and outdoor play activities, but they had difficulties in this process by lack of play materials and their knowledge of children's traditional play. The results also showed that kindergarten children played "Yut" most frequently and, in most cases, they engaged in traditional play in ways which were adjusted to their developmental level and life style.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.195-213
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• 2015

This study aims to uncover what kinds of difficulties preschool teachers are now confronted with when they begin to implement project based learning with young children, in order to develop contents for teacher education programs. From July 2012 to February, 2013, 9 teachers participated in implementing projects in preschool classrooms. For data generation and interpretation, observations of class projects, tape-recordings of teacher conferences, and interviews with the teachers were made. The findings were as follows: teachers' uncertainty regarding project itself, teachers themselves, child competence, and its sustainableness were the most critical obstacle to hinder the teachers in implementing self directed projects with young children. The results imply that the teachers' belief in child competence in doing projects is of great significance; their view that it is very difficult for them to do projects without viewing young children a co-constructor of knowledge. Therefore, the key element in developing contents for teacher education programs should include a richer understanding of young children' competence.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.281-286
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• 2023

We aimed to find out how teaching ethics and empathy affect the perception of children's rights with 297 pre-service early childhood teachers enrolled in the Department of Early Childhood Education at universities located in Busan. Through this, the purpose of this study was to present basic data for the development of a character development program for a high-quality early childhood teacher training institution. We derived the following research results. First, as a result of examining the degree of recognition of pre-service early childhood teachers' teaching ethics, empathy, and awareness of children's rights, the average value was high in the order of teaching ethics, awareness of children's rights, and empathy. Second, there was a positive correlation between pre-service early childhood teachers' empathy ability, teaching ethics and awareness of children's rights, and empathy ability and awareness of children's rights. Third, as a result of examining the relative effects of teaching ethics and empathy of pre-service early childhood teachers on the recognition of children's rights, social ethics was found to be the strongest predictor among teaching ethics. In this study, we identified that teaching ethics and empathy are effective in various approaches to promote awareness of children's rights in pre-service early childhood teachers. And the results of this study provides the basic data for the character development of desirable teachers that pre-service early childhood teachers should have.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.93-113
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• 2008

This study examined musical concepts of early childhood teachers with the 'Sing-a-New-Song' activity and problems teachers face in the application of musical concepts. Participants were 10 kindergarten teachers; data were collected through lesson plans, videos of classes, and interviews with teachers. Results showed that (1) selection of songs focused on words of a song rather than musical concepts; ignoring development of the musical level of the children. (2) Goal-setting ignored musical concepts. (3) Class management confused musical concepts with other concepts. (4) No evaluation of musical concepts was undertaken. Problems included teachers' lack of knowledge of musical development in young children, insufficient understanding and limited application of musical concepts, and low expectations regarding music as a subject of instruction.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.186-198
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the needs for children's health promotion education programs as perceived by child care center teachers and mothers. Methods: This study conducted a survey of 88 child care center teachers and 70 mothers of preschool children in Seoul from January 4 to February 5, 2016. This study aimed to characterize the current conditions of health promotion education for preschool children and the needs for health promotion education as perceived by child care center teachers and mothers of preschool children. Results: Areas of high need for health promotion education included lifestyle improvements for preventing diseases in children and awareness of the importance of health in educational objectives, standardized educational manuals, health educators as educators, child care centers as educational places, local health centers as educational support organizations, regular class hours as educational time, role play for training, and actual models in the educational medium. The educational subjects for which a high need was reported included safety and accident prevention, the role of smartphones and TV watching in mental health, and personal hygiene and disease prevention. Conclusion: These findings suggest that it is necessary to develop a health promotion education program for preschool children.