• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1009-1020
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to present a developmental direction of the early childhood social education in kindergarten by investigating the mother's perceptions using the focus group interview. Mothers who have 4~5 year old children were selected for 3 focus group interviews. The following results were obtained: 1) The mothers recognized early childhood social education as an essential step before entering elementary school. 2) The mothers were found to have recognized that the cultivation of the various social situations of the children in kindergarten would be a very important task of the kindergarten, because kindergarten is a place for children to be introduced to social experiences for the first time in their lives. 3) Most of the mothers have the perception that early childhood social education showed positive effects on the development of their children. This perception was based on the evaluation of the social educational effect of kindergarten compared to that of elementary school.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.39-51
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• 2016

This pilot study examined programs for early childhood education and care in three Chinese cities. The samples for this study were one university-based kindergarten, one private kindergarten (rural area), and one public kindergarten (urban area). Six types of instruments were used to assess early childhood education and care services regarding quality matters. Most questions asked were open-ended; consequently, the interview answers by kindergarten directors or teachers (as well as observations made by the researcher) formed the basis for collecting the data. Quality components for each program were determined by a comparison method. The comparison allowed the researcher to understand the range of quality education and care available as well as the variability of existing kindergarten programs in China. The findings of the investigation revealed important information on; (a) demographic information (fees, class hours, total weeks of class, vacation, number of children and staff, class size, and teacher-child ratio) (b) teacher characteristics, (c) health practices, (d) safety practices, (e) work environment, (f) physical settings, (g) play materials, (h) parent involvement, (i) nutrition, (j) daily schedule. Implications within the Chinese context for quality practices and issues to further develop and strengthen early childhood education and care systems are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.93-109
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• 2021

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of innovative culture in early childhood education institutions on the relationship between teachers' civic consciousness and actions for building a community in order to obtain methodological information for implementation at a time when the need to build an education community has been raised. Methods: The data were collected through 275 early childhood teachers working in kindergartens and daycare centers Then, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression were conducted. Results: All three variables civic consciousness, innovative culture, and actions for building a community showed a significant positive correlation. As a result of analyzing the mediating effect of innovation culture, it was found that the indirect effect of teachers' civic consciousness on the actions for building a community through the innovative culture was found to be statistically significant. Conclusion/Implications: This study was found that it is important to strengthen the teacher's civic consciousness and to create an innovative culture of early childhood education institutions in order to promote actions for building an educational community of teachers. This study is meaningful in that it provided implications for the direction of teacher education and formation of an innovative culture in early childhood education institutions for the purpose building an educational community.

• Korean Journal of Child Education & Care
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.91-104
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of the study was to explore early childhood teachers' content knowledge and knowledge level on unification education through an analysis of a concept map (Novak & Gowin, 1984). Methods: The subjects, including 65 early childhood teachers in a metropolitan area, were asked to draw concept maps illustrating their understanding of unification education for young children. The collected concept maps were analyzed using the methods utilized by Novak and Gowin (1984) as well as You and Kim (2018). Results: In terms of early childhood teachers' content knowledge, 282 superordinate concepts and 1,766 subordinate concepts were shown. The 282 superordinate concepts were categorized into 7 representative superordinate concepts: understanding of North Korean, understanding of separation/unification, identification as Korean citizen, unification policy, relationship between South Korea & North Korea, educational activities, connection with home and society. In terms of early childhood teachers' knowledge level, the numbers of subordinate concepts and hierarchical level were shown to be varied according to the 7 representative superordinate concepts. Conclusion/Implications: Discussions were included to support and enhance early childhood teachers' content knowledge on unification education for young children through the development of comprehensive programs and teacher education.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.65-91
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• 2017

Objective: This study aims to investigate early childhood teachers' perception of STEAM and suggest activation measures for STEAM according to teachers' background variables. Methods: The researchers conducted a pilot study, and then did survey research for 5 weeks. The participants of this study included 523 teachers of early childhood education institutions in Gwangju metropolitan city and Jeollanam-do Province. Results: The results of this study were as follows. First, early childhood teachers perceived the necessity of STEAM differently according to their age, experience, and academic background. The higher their age, experience, and academic background were, the more they wanted to participate in further teacher training and education. In particular, early childhood teachers' perception and activation measures were very different according to their workplace. These results come from the fact that the conditions in conducting STEAM are different according to their workplace. Conclusion/Implications: In order to activate STEAM, a teacher training program including practical contents and methods should be conducted. Also, it is necessary to carefully organize the content and structure of the teacher training program according to their workplace. This study is meaningful in terms of suggesting activation measures for STEAM by showing how early childhood teachers think about STEAM and what they demand.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1-14
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• 2021

Objective: The purpose of this study was to classify early childhood educators' perfectionism types and to identify differences in teacher self-efficacy and teachers burnout according to the types of perfectionism. Methods: The participants of this study were 309 teachers working at early childhood education centers in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, Daejeon, Se-jong, Kim-Cheon, and Hong-Sung, South Korea. Early childhood educators were surveyed regarding perfectionism, teacher self-efficacy and teacher burnout. The collected data were analyzed using K-means cluster analyses and analysis of covariance. Results: Cluster analyses with self-oriented perfectionism and other-oriented perfectionism as cluster variables resulted in three types of perfectionism among early childhood educators; 'self-other directed perfectionism(33.0%)', 'other directed perfectionism(35.0%)' and 'non perfectionism(32.0%)'. Educators with self-other directed perfectionism reported higher teacher self-efficacy and lower teacher burnout than educators with other directed perfectionism or with non perfectionism. Conclusion/Implications: Early childhood educators' perfectionism may be a significant personality trait linked to quality of education and care in real education settings.

• 한국체육학회지인문사회과학편
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.375-385
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• 2016

This study aims to find out the effect of attributes for selecting physical education institutions for preschooler by the director of early childhood education institutions on relationship quality and loyalty. The subjects were 254 directors of early childhood education institutions, which offer visiting physical education of physical education institutions for preschooler located in Busan and Gyeongnam Province, using convenience sampling method. 244 questionnaires of them were used for analysis. First, among attributes for selecting physical education institutions for preschooler recognized by the directors of early childhood education institutions, instructors qualification and the image of the institution had a positive influence on relationship satisfaction and all the four variables of early childhood education institutions directors' attributes had a positive effect on relationship trust. Second, among the four variables of attributes for selecting physical education institutions for preschooler recognized by the directors of early childhood education institutions, instructors qualification, tuition fee, and the image of the institution had a positive influence on loyalty. Third, both the two variables of relationship quality of the director of early childhood education institutions toward preschool physical education institutions had a positive influence on loyalty.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.125-134
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to compare between early childhood teachers and mothers in oral health knowledge, oral health care behavior, and perception of oral health education. The subjects in this study were 90 early childhood teachers who worked in all of kindergartens and child-care centers and 235 mothers who have young children (aged from 1 to 5) in 2 kindergartens and 2 childcare centers Y region. They completed questionnaires about oral health knowledges, oral health care behaviors, and perception of oral health education. The collected data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, $x^2$-test, and Fisher's exact test of SPSS WIN. The results were as follows: 1. There was not statistically significant difference between early childhood teacher's knowledge about oral health and mothers'. 2. There was statistically significant difference between early childhood teachers' oral health care behaviors for children and mothers' in prevention of cavity, keeping toothbrushes, guiding oral health behaviors, and check up at dentist's. 3. There was statistically significant difference between early childhood teachers' perception of interest and experience in oral health education and mothers'. Therefore, There was not difference between early childhood teacher's knowledge about oral health and mothers. But early childhood teachers more frequently carry out preventing of cavity, keeping toothbrushes, guiding oral health behavior to their children than mothers. Mothers were more interested in oral health than early childhood teachers. And Mothers wanted to be educated about children' oral care and early childhood teachers wanted to be educated about guidebook and media of oral health education.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.293-302
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• 2018

This study examined early childhood pre-service teachers' anger-expression, ego-resilience, and teaching efficacy; the relationship among those three variables; and lastly, found out the relative influence of 'anger-expression' and 'ego-resilience' on their 'teaching efficacy'. 312 pre-service teachers, majoring in early childhood education at universities, participated in this study, and data were collected by survey questionnaires using research instruments of each of those three variables. The finding of this study showed that the early childhood pre-service teachers, scored high on the anger-expression, were scored low on ego-resilience and teaching efficacy; and those pre-service teachers, scored high on the ego-resilience, were scored high on their teaching efficacy. It was also found that the sub-factors' in 'anger-expression' and 'ego-resilience' affected the early childhood pre-service teachers' teaching efficacy.

• Korean Journal of Child Education & Care
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.145-157
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• 2019

Objective: The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of early childhood teachers' professionalism in teaching and job satisfaction on their teaching efficacy. The relationship between professionalism in teaching, job satisfaction, and teaching efficacy of early childhood teachers was also investigated. Methods: The subjects of the study were 761 early childhood teachers. The survey included the teaching efficacy measurement, the professionalism measurement, and job satisfaction measurement. The collected data were analysed using descriptive data analyses, Pearson correlation analyses, and multiple regression analyses utilizing SPSS 22.0 program. Results: There were statistically significant positive correlations between early childhood teachers' professionalism in teaching, job satisfaction, and teaching efficacy. In addition, statistically significant effects of early childhood teachers' professionalism in teaching and job satisfaction on their teaching efficacy were found. Conclusion/Implications: The results implicate the importance of supports for early childhood teachers' development in professionalism in teaching and job satisfaction that would enhance their teaching efficacy, resulting in high quality education for young children.