• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.71
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• pp.181-210
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to investigate the research trends related to the children's department of church schools. The purpose of this study is to present basic data for the study of the children's department of church schools by analyzing the research period, research contents, research methods, and subjects of research related to the children's department of church schools. For this study, 50 domestic master's and doctoral dissertations searched through the National Assembly Library and the Research Information Sharing Service(RISS) were extracted with the keywords of 'church school' and 'children's department'. The frequency and percentage were calculated by analyzing the research related to the children's department of the church school according to four criteria: research period, research content, research method, and research subject. As a result of the study, first, the research trend of research papers in the children's department of church schools was found to be 49 articles (98%) for master's degrees and 1 article (2%) for doctoral degrees from 1980 to 2022. Trends by research period are focused on master's degrees. Second, the trend by research content was 27 practical studies (54%) and 23 theory studies (46%). In the research related to the children's department of church schools, the practical research accounted for a relatively high percentage compared to the theory research. Third, the trends by research method were in the order of 30 literature studies (60%), 19 quantitative studies (38%), and 1 qualitative study (2%). Research related to children's departments in church schools is being actively conducted with a focus on literature research. Fourth, as for the trends by study subject, the study was conducted focusing on physical subjects, with 35 subjects (70%) and 15 subjects (30%) of personal subjects. As research is conducted from physical objects to church schools and media, it is necessary to study the connection between church schools and families. As the research on church school kindergarten is focused on adults (teachers, parents, and educational preachers), in-depth research on children in church schools and qualitative research with voices from the field of children's department in church schools are required.