• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.497-510
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• 2011

We tried to find out parents' satisfaction and needs for foodservice quality of the childcare centers with an intention of improving it. Self-completed questionnaires were randomly collected from the parents of children in 174 childcare centers around Asan and were analyzed. Most of respondents were mothers who were housewives with college degrees (69%) in their 30's (80%). They thought nutrition (50%) and food hygiene (43%) were the most important factors for decision. Eighty percent of parents recognized the strong relationship between foodservice quality and childrens' mental and physical development. Most centers (94%) were delivering menu notices home, so parents well recognized the center's foodservice situation and problems of their kids' eating habits. The parents' satisfaction scores were 3.26 out of 5-point scale. The biggest dissatisfaction was from no variation in menu, but remarkable appreciation was from the effect of foodservice on the correction for kids' unbalanced diet habit. They had demands for improvement of nutritious menu and professional nutrition teacher in charge of foodservice and nutrition education for children and also for parents.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.19-38
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• 2017

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the practical experiences of childcare experts, parents, and daycare center directors who participated in the 'Daycare Centers Monitoring Program' carried out in K city. Methods: Participants were three childcare experts who belong to the monitoring group in K city, three mothers with infants and children, and three daycare center directors who were selected for the 'Daycare Centers Monitoring Program'. Results: As a result of the research, the childcare experts experienced the following; 1) sharing interesting experiences with parents, 2) a perception of the monitoring program for taking advantage of mutual strengths, 3) the opportunity of maintaining a sense of presence in early childhood education institutions, et al. The mothers' experiences were shown to include, 1) resolving small questions about the operation and management of a daycare center, 2) feelings of relief through observing the life style of infants and children, 3) the joy and reward of being a member of the monitoring group, et al. The directors' experiences were indicated to include 1) a psychological discomfort recognized as a target of the daycare monitoring and as 'another evaluation', 2) the confusion caused by different reviews, 3) an ambiguity on the unfamiliar indexes and contents electronically documented, et al. Conclusion/Implications: Based on these results, there was a discussion about actual suggestions and educational implications on the daycare monitoring program in order to improve the quality of daycare services in childcare centers.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.23 no.1 s.73
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• pp.139-149
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• 2005

This study is to compare the quality of child care centers in Sweden and Korea and the mothers' satisfaction of each center. In this study, the quality of 27 preschools in Sweden and 24 child care centers was evaluated by external evaluator using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS). A total of 436 Korean mothers and 197 Swedish mothers responded to the questionnaire regarding their satisfaction of their child's attending child care centers. The results show that the quality of Swedish preschool was significantly higher than Korean child care centers. The quality of Swedish preschools tended to be good whereas the quality of Korean child care centers was somewhat minimal. Specifically, the category of 'Furnishings and display for children' was the highest score in Swedish preschool, however, the category of 'Adult needs' was the highest score in Korean child care centers. The mothers' satisfaction of the centers was significantly different between two countries. The Swedish mothers were highly satisfied with the close location of preschool but Korean mothers were highly satisfied with the teachers of child care centers. However, both mothers in two countries were less likely satisfied with the facility equipments. The results were discussed in terms of cultural and child care program differences further.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.107-123
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to investigate the opinions of teachers, directors, and parents about childcare teachers' facial expression language. We performed in-depth interviews based on literature and previous studies, which consisted of ten childcare teachers, ten directors, and ten parents. From the in-depth interviews, we are able to mainly conclude that all groups think that a childcare teacher's facial expression language is very important, and strongly influences interpersonal problems and work performance. Mostly, childcare teachers aim to have pleasant facial expressions. However they complain that in some situations it is difficult to do so, which causes severe stress. They argued that the facial expressions of both the director of the childcare center and the parents are also very important for children. However, the directors thought that teachers' facial expressions affect children and their parents' impressions of the teachers and quality of childcare. The parents are usually highly satisfied with the childcare when the teacher has a pleasant facial expression, which motivates the parents to have a positive impression of the teacher. Taken together, childcare teachers' facial expression language is critical for children and the childcare environment. Thus, developing an education program for facial expression language would be helpful for improving the quality of child care. Plus, childcare environments should be developed so that teachers do not experience difficulty in having pleasant facial expressions. This result might have the limitation of being collected from only female childcare teachers, directors, and parents.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.123-133
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• 2016

Objective: The aim of this study was to achieve a qualitative understanding of childcare teachers' cooperation experiences with Nuri curriculum teaching assistants. Methods: The study adopted a qualitative research design. Participants comprised 23 childcare teachers working with Nuri curriculum teaching assistants. Focus group interviews were conducted to discuss their cooperation experience with the teaching assistants. Qualitative themes analyses were carried out following individual-level analyses, group-level analyses, and cross-group-comparisons. Results and Conclusion: The results showed that childcare teachers, at first, had low expectation for Nuri curriculum teaching assistants because they have ambiguous job descriptions. However, the teachers' actual interactions exhibited cooperation effects on improving the quality of childcare. Childcare teachers suggested the ways to promote cooperation between childcare teachers and Nuri curriculum teaching assistants at individual and systemic levels.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.389-417
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• 2013

This study investigated the changes of chlidcare centers' status, establishment and licence standards, and childcare publicness 20 years after Infant and Early Child Care Act(IECC Act) was enacted in Korea. For this purpose, we examined the trends of establishment status and explored the changes of licence standards sorted as location, type, size, area, indoor-outdoor facilities, playgrounds, in accordance with the revision of the IECC Act from 1991 to 2013. In addition, we organized the concepts and standards for the public service of childcare. Finally, we presented some problems found in the IECC Act and the implementing rules about childcare center's establishment and licence standards. We provided some suggestions in order to improve the institution and ensure the publicness. Through these efforts, we tried to contribute the improvement of the quality of childcare in Korea.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.67-83
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the childcare support demonstration services and direct policy. The participants for the study were three childcare (IDOLBOMI), three parents who were provided with IDOLBOMI, two practitioners, and three professors related to IDOLBOMI. The data was collected by interview and a phone survey and analyzed qualitatively. The results and several suggestions were follows: First, IDOLBOMI loved to take care of children, felt proud of the job, and thought the work was worthy. The result can help future IDOLBOMI when they are recruited and trained; Second, IDOLBOMI wanted income security at least, which means that the basic activity fee for the IDOLBOMI should be compensated by government; Third, most of the parents who experienced the service were generally satisfied with that, but they wanted the quality of nutrition, hygiene and the quality of play to be developed for children. Therefore, the management of the center and maintenance of education are needed constantly for the IDOLBOMI system; Fourth, the parents who needed the service thought the cost of IDOLBOMI was expensive. Expenditure support should be sought for the parents; Finally, the group of professionals had difficulty in securing the quality of childcare support services. For the future, it is necessary to increase the educational budget, manpower resources, and PR budget for IDOLBOMI.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.1-14
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• 2016

The present research aimed to assess role expectations and job performance of childcare teaching assistants at daycare centers. In order to describe participants' experiences, qualitative data were analyzed using Van Manen's phenomenological approach. The findings showed that childcare teaching assistants suffered a gap between their role expectations and reality. They felt diverse emotions and doubt about their professionalism through interactions with teachers in charge, directors, parents, and children. The participants claimed that the Nuri curriculum teaching assistants system should be improved to achieve better quality childcare programs. The implications to support the Nuri curriculum teaching assistants system were discussed in depth.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.309-342
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• 2013

This study analyzes the development process of national childcare curriculum, the goal and contents of the 3rd Standard Childcare Curriculum for Childcare Center in order to suggest the successful way to improve the 3rd Standard Childcare Curriculum. After its establishment in 2007, significant changes had been made to the Standard Childcare Curriculum in order to improve the quality of childcare: Nuri Curriculum for age 5 in 2011, second revision of Standard Childcare Curriculum in 2012, creation of Nuri Curriculum for age 3-4, revision of Nuri Curriculum for age 5, and third Standard Childcare Curriculum in 2013. The third Standard Childcare Curriculum is specified as infants age 0-1, age 2, and age 3-5(Nuri Curriculum). For a successful settlement of the 3rd Standard Childcare Curriculum, first, we need in depth analysis of the Nuri Curriculum by age classification. Second, there should be an effort to link the Standard Childcare Curriculum with elementary school education in practical manner. Further, we need to solve the payroll gap problem between teachers in charge of Nuri Curriculum and infant classes. Finally, teachers should be given more respect, and equivalent teaching qualification standard should be made between childcare and early childhood education.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.301-324
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine the perception of the childcare teachers regarding accreditation procedures and feasibility of the second accreditation index according their past participation in the accreditation process. The objects were 193 childcare teachers working at child care centers that were accredited using the initial accreditation index. The collected data was analyzed using frequency, percentile, $X^2$, and t-test. The major findings are as follows: First, childcare teachers without accreditation experience perceived 'continuing education of child care center directors and teachers' to be the most important for quality maintenance after successful accreditation. In contrast, childcare teachers with accreditation experience placed the most importance on 'childcare teachers' motivation and continuing enrollment'. Second, childcare teachers with accreditation experience perceived higher feasibility in the subcategories of 'art activity materials' in the category of child care environment, 'providing operation policies and information of child care teachers', 'care for children', and 'employment contract' in the operation & management category, 'sanitary management of food, cooking and feeding', 'care of sick or injured child', 'health management of children and childcare teachers', 'snacks for children' in the category of health and nutrition and 'safe procedures for handing over children' in the category of safety. In general, childcare teachers with accreditation experience perceived higher feasibility of the second accreditation index in all categories.