• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.561-582
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of pre-service curriculums for child care teachers at universities and colleges in Korea. To accomplish this, a survey was implemented to gather the lists of courses from each department training pre-service child care teachers. A total of 225 departments at universities and colleges across Korea participated in the survey. The results showed that the 37 different courses offered for child-care teacher licensure were different by school type (university or college) and major. Departments in colleges with specific majors such as early childhood education and social welfare offer courses that are also required for other certificates, including kindergarten teachers or social workers, so pre-service child care teachers may not have the opportunity to take courses specifically designed for their specific teaching needs or interests. Accordingly, there may be a restricted number of courses from which to choose during pre-service training periods. Based on the findings from this study, several political implications for improving child-care teacher professionalism were suggested.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.301-310
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• 2016

This study was to conducted to examine the associations between job stress and musculoskeletal symptoms of child care teachers. Questionnaires were administered to 132 child care teachers and the responses were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 18.0 program. The average total job stress was 2.80. Based on NOISH criteria, musculoskeletal symptoms were prevalent in 46.2% of the participants. The musculoskeletal symptoms by body part appeared mostly on the shoulder (25.8%), followed by the lower back (18.9%), hands/wrist/fingers (17.4%), neck (11.4%), legs/feet (9.1%), and arms/elbows (7.6%). The positive symptom group showed higher levels of total job stress, work overload, and relationship with school parents stress scores than then the symptom free group. Musculoskeletal symptoms were significantly associated with job stress, work overload, and relationship with school parents stress. Overall, the results of this study indicate that it is necessary to develop strategies for reducing job stress to prevent musculoskeletal symptoms.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.347-368
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to examine whether there was a difference in the recognition and teaching strategies for the young child's behavioral problems according to teachers' socio-demographic variables and ego-resiliency level by analyzing survey responses from 238 teachers of 3, 4, and 5-year-old children. This study found that the group of teachers with the education level of junior college graduation or higher showed higher degree of recognition of children's behavioral problems than the group of teachers with a lower level of education. And the group of teachers at kindergartens showed a higher degree of recognition of children's behavioral problems than the group of teachers at day care centers. Regarding the difference according to the level of ego-resiliency, the group of higher ego-resiliency showed higher degree of recognition of children's behavioral problems than the group of lower ego-resiliency. In terms of teachers' teaching strategies for the behavioral problems, differences were recognized at sub-categories. To explain, differences were recognized in accordance with the teachers' age and career as well as their education level and work place; the higher the teachers' age, career, and education the more often they used the positive prevention strategy I. And teachers at kindergartens resorted to the negative response strategies more often than those at day care centers. Finally, the teaching strategies for the behavioral problems according to the teachers' ego-resiliency, group differences were seen in all the sub categories. The result of this study suggested that the need to develop and apply such programs for pre-service teachers and for teacher reeducation reflect those variables.

• Korean Journal of Child Education & Care
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.167-181
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• 2018

Many factors that may affect teaching aptitude of pre-service early childhood teachers have been discovered. However, little is known about the relationship between self-esteem and teaching aptitude in them. This study aimed to investigated self-esteem in relation to teaching aptitude in pre-service early childhood teachers. Pre-service early childhood teachers' self-esteem scale and teaching aptitude scale assessed the self-esteem and teaching aptitude of 344 pre-service early childhood teachers in C-city in Gangwon-do and N-city in Kyunggi-do, Korea. Results showed that all four dimensions of the self-esteem were significantly related to teaching aptitude, indicating that pre-service early childhood teachers with higher self-esteem were likely to have greater teaching aptitude. Regression analysis indicated that self-esteem in the areas of leadership and popularity, self-assertiveness, and social-relations significantly predicted teaching aptitude of pre-service early childhood teachers.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.79-107
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• 2013

The purpose of this study purpose was to analyze the structural model of variables such as experiences and personal- and professional- beliefs of cultural diversity, and the culturally responsive teaching efficacy of early childhood preservice teachers including identifying the beliefs as mediating variables. Another purpose was finding the different structural relations among the research variables according to the stages of a teacher education program. The participants were 273 students who enrolled in K grade teacher education programs in the southwest areas of the U.S. The research variables were measured with the items used by Schroeder (2008), Pohan and Aguilar (2001), and Siwatu (2007). The structural equation model analysis showed that the direct effects were found between the paths from the cultural diversity experiences and personal beliefs to the culturally responsive teaching efficacy, from the experiences to personal beliefs, from the personal to professional beliefs. The personal beliefs were identified as a mediator of the path from the experiences to professional beliefs. By multi-group analysis, the path from professional beliefs to the culturally teaching efficacy showed a meaningful difference between the initial and final stage groups of a teacher education program. Suggestions for future research and early childhood teacher education programs were presented based on the results.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.291-300
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of teachers' motivation for choosing teaching on the relationship with career adaptability through self-directed learning in 271 pre-service early childhood teachers. As a result of the study, first, career adaptability, self-directed learning, and motivation for choosing teaching were high in order. Second, there was a positive correlation that the higher the motivation for choosing a teaching profession, the higher the self-directed learning and career adaptation, and the higher the self-directed learning, the higher the career adaptation. Third, it was found that self-directed learning of pre-service early childhood teachers partially mediated teachers' motivation for choosing teaching and career adaptability. This study is significant in that it sought various perspectives in practicing high-quality early childhood teacher education program and provided basic data on teacher education program.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.41-57
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• 2009

This study investigated the teaching practice of students attending a three-year early childhood education course in K City, Gyeonggi Province, as well as the educational environments of 72 kindergartens and child care centers where they received field training and which were located in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, Incheon Metropolitan City, Bucheon, and Ilsan. After four weeks of teaching practice, those prospective teachers were surveyed for their objective opinions and current state regarding the practice guidance for students, teachers' working hours and wages, and female dominance in number among early childhood educators and heads of early childhood education institutions. Those data were collected to understand the operations of early childhood education institutions and the current teaching practice. According to the analysis results, the students of the early childhood education major said the four-week teaching practice was very helpful for them to understand the field and thus had positive receptions of it. Most of the prospective teachers felt the heaviest burden and experienced the biggest shortcomings in practical skills such as music, art, and hand play during class. They also felt a partial need for male counterparts. Those findings will help prospective teachers understand the field further before going out on the field and the teaching bodies have specific ideas about what kind of guidance is provided by kindergartens or child care centers. In addition, they will hopefully serve as basic data to form organic connections between the educational institutions and the field to produce more talented early childhood education teachers.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.244-257
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• 2021

The purpose of the present study is to qualitatively explore childcare teachers' attitudes toward gender sensitivity education for early childhood. The study recruited 227 teachers and directors working in childcare centers around the Seoul metropolitan areas. The study utilised the interpretive science paradigm and visual methods for data collection, and thematic analysis examined the attitudes of 227 participants. Gender sensitivity education include gender flexibility and sexual orientation. Most participants showed positive attitudes toward the gender flexibility education. They regarded the gender flexibility as a topic socially accepted, suitable for early childhood development, and easy to implement. They also believed that the gender flexibility education would encourage the individuality of children. On the other hand, 53.3% of participants showed negative attitudes toward tolerance education regarding sexual orientation. Opponents expressed that an issue of sexual orientation did not reach a social consensus. They also worried that the topic is not developmentally appropriate for early childhood, and difficult to teach young children because of insufficient educational materials. At the same time, 40.5% of participants expected Korean society would embrace diverse sexual orientations in the future, and early childhood education would help young children adapted to changing contexts. This study discussed theoretical concepts of gender sensitivity, listened to childcare teachers' voices about education of gender flexibility and sexual orientation, and suggested more appropriate gender sensitivity education for early childhood.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.169-183
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• 2017

Objective: The present study examined how childcare teachers at home daycare centers perceive their rights as teachers and what kind of rights situations pertain to them at their respective daycare centers. Methods: Adopting a qualitative research method approach, this study conducted focus group interviews to collect empirical data. The participants were childcare teachers and directors at home daycare centers, which were shown to have relatively poor work environments compared to other types of daycare centers Results: The findings revealed that the participants at home daycare centers perceived their rights as childcare teachers to be extremely vulnerable. It was shown that their rights could not be protected in various frameworks involving mutual relations between teachers and directors, the Infant Care Act and childcare policy, and social perceptions that fail to recognize them as professionals. Conclusion: The fingdings from the present study contribute to our understanding of the rights situation faced by childcare teachers at home daycare centers and to the social discourse on finding ways to realize the teachers' full rights as childcare professionals.

• 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.