정계숙 Kai-sook Chung , 차지량 Jee-ryang Cha , 김미나 Mina Kim

DOI: Vol.25(No.1) 1-18, 2019

Korea is facing a turbulent situation of educational reform in which distrust and conflict among members of the educational community are rising, but a demand exists to transform the school into an educational community that can realize authentic education based on care, cooperation, communication, and respect among members. This study aimed to investigate the association among the relationship-oriented organizational culture of early childhood education institutions, teachers’ psychological empowerment, and teachers’ competence in building an educational community. We surveyed 346 early childhood teachers in Korea, and found that the relationship-oriented organizational culture better predicted competence in educational community building in combination with psychological empowerment. Further, the influence of psychological empowerment differed depending on specific competences. The findings suggest that, in order to build teachers’ competency in building an educational community, teacher training programs should be geared towards the relationshiporiented organizational culture and the specific competence of the individual.

organizational culture, educational community-building competence, early childhood, teachers, teacher empowerment

이순형 Soon Hyung Yi , 김보경 Bokyung Kim , 박윤현 Yun Hyun Pack , 김대웅 Daewoong Kim , 조윤희 Yoonhee Cho , 박지은 Jieun Park , 이은경 Eun Kyung Lee

DOI: Vol.25(No.1) 19-47, 2019

This study surveys the effect of forest activity programs using natural objects on children’s mathematical skills, scientific exploration skills, and attention. The participants were 90 four-year-old children from two daycare centers located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. The forty-one children of experimental group participated in 18 sessions of a nature-centered forest activity program. The children’s mathematical skills, scientific exploration skills, and attention were measured using test tools before and after the treatment program. The results showed that in the experimental group, the forest activity program was effective in improving spatial recognition skills and developing the concept of numbers. Moreover, this program significantly improved the scientific exploration skills and attention of children. Such results verify the positive impact of forest activity programs mediated by natural objects on the overall cognitive development of children. Further, they provide practical discussion points and implications to maximize the effects of such programs.

nature-centered forest activity program, spatial recognition, logic and mathematics skills, scientific exploration skills, attention

방유선 Yoo-seon Bang

DOI: Vol.25(No.1) 49-66, 2019

This study explored five novice teachers’ challenging experiences and their ways of dealing with them in Korean private kindergartens. Individual and group interviews were used to carry out an in-depth investigation. The findings show that the novice teachers experienced challenges in working with families due to: 1) the families’ distrust of novice teachers; 2) their own lack of experience with families; and 3) difficulties in understanding the families’ perspectives and behaviors. In particular, the findings highlight the teachers’ inability to work with families in practice. Without adequate preparation, they had to battle prejudice against novice teachers. They also struggled when faced with families behaving in unpredictable and unreasonable ways. Lacking the ability to understand the families’ thoughts or behaviors, they had to find ways of resolving conflicts and work with family members to educate their children. Based on these findings, the present study proposes various approaches to helping novice teachers build partnerships with families in practice and restructuring teacher-training and education programs.

novice teacher, family-teacher partnership, kindergarten, early childhood teacher

박건령 Keon-ryeong Park

DOI: Vol.25(No.1) 67-90, 2019

This study aims to explore how Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism enhances our understanding of research related to young ethnic minority children’s emerging awareness of hybrid identity. According to Bakhtin, in the circulation of dialogue, the process of becoming the self emerges through selective assimilation and appropriation of others’ words, that is, “ideological becoming.” In this process, a child is not merely a passive receiver of others’ words but an active agent who makes her/his own choices by resisting or selectively assimilating existing discourses. Drawing on Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism, this study demonstrates how a group of six-year-old girls living under the influence of two cultures―the US and South Korea―perceive themselves through negotiations in dialogue with peers related to the emergence of ethnic, cultural, and national identity. The findings indicate that young minority children’s emerging awareness of hybrid identity is centered around three poles―family relationships, location, and language―that are complexly interconnected. Finally, this study presents suggestions for early childhood teaching and research in the era of global transmigration.

Bakhtin, dialogism, ethnic minority children, hybrid identity, becoming

동풀잎 Pool Ip Dong

DOI: Vol.25(No.1) 91-112, 2019

Young children’s YouTube culture has not been welcomed in many early childhood education settings because digital popular culture is considered to be far removed from formal education. This study reconsiders this passive perspective and suggests a concept of multiliteracies as a new perspective through which to grasp and apply children’s YouTube culture in classroom settings. I focused on the Carrie and Toys unboxing videos, one of the most popular YouTube series in South Korea. Six young Korean children conducted a video production activity that introduced their favorite toy by imitating Carrie. As active social knowledge producers and communicators, children engaged their emerging social knowledge and skills via creative multimodal expressions. Also, as active social participants and cultural meaning makers, they performed multiple social and cultural roles and produced their own meanings through digital YouTube-style videos. This study suggests that young children’s digital popular culture could be a site of hybrid multimodal learning and an affinity space for interacting with digital technology, peers, teachers, materials, and local cultures.

young children, multiliteracies, Carrie and Toys, YouTube culture, digital play

김혜금 Hyegum Kim , 임양미 Yangmi Lim

DOI: Vol.25(No.1) 113-134, 2019

The present study examines the relationships between the multicultural attitudes of early childhood teachers (multicultural sensitivity and attitudes toward multicultural education) and the social competence of multicultural children, as well as the mediating roles played by teacher-child relationships. The participants included 300 early childhood teachers and 300 multicultural children aged 3-5 years. Structural Equation Modeling analysis revealed that the teachers’ attitudes toward multicultural education were directly related to the social competence of multicultural children, although teacher-child relationships were not found to play a mediating role in the relationship. However, the relationship between the multicultural sensitivity of early childhood teachers and the social competence of multicultural children was fully mediated by teacher-child relationships. For this reason, we recommend that multicultural teacher education should be conducted using small research groups, in which early childhood teachers can practice multicultural education they develop and learn how to interact with multicultural children to facilitate their social competence.

multicultural sensitivity, attitudes toward multicultural education, teacher-child relationship, social competence, multicultural children

정혜린 Hyelin Jeong , 서영민 Youngmeen Suh

DOI: Vol.25(No.1) 135-154, 2019

This study aims to examine which variables influence pre-service kindergarten teachers’ grit by confirming the relationships among mindset, social support, and grit. The participants were 290 preservice kindergarten teachers attending four-year universities in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. This study asked pre-service kindergarten teachers to fill out questionnaires related to mindset, social support, and grit. The collected data were statistically analyzed using correlation analysis, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis, and the bootstrapping test to verify the mediating effect of measurement variables with SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 20.0. As a result, mindset and social support each had a direct effect on grit perceived by pre-service kindergarten teachers. Moreover, mindset perceived by preservice kindergarten teachers had an indirect effect on their grit, partly mediated by social support. This study implies that grit has changeable characteristics, based on mindset and social support and can develop to a higher level depending on close and supportive relationships with colleagues, professors, and so on. Moreover, the study provides empirical data for the development of relevant programs and operational methods for university education courses.

mindset, social support, grit, pre-service kindergarten teacher

전홍주 Hong-ju Jun , 김보림 Bo-rim Kim

DOI: Vol.25(No.1) 155-177, 2019

In order to understand discourses on “quality teaching media” in early childhood education, this study explored the perspectives of directors and teachers in early childhood institutions in Korea that focus on teaching media. After interviewing six directors and six teachers, the data were analyzed by utilizing content analysis. The directors and the teachers shared the view that efficiency, suitability, and diversity are the key aspects of quality teaching media. However, the intrinsic meanings of these terms have been shown to be different. First, directors and teachers both think that efficiency is a key aspect of quality teaching media. Directors, however, emphasized the functional aspect while teachers emphasized the efficiency of utilization. Second, both groups placed value on suitability but their views regarding the suitability of printed materials were in conflict. Lastly, both groups had in common the pursuit of diverse teaching media, but whereas the directors pursued analogic diversity, the teachers pursued digital variety. The complex meanings surrounding teaching media were discussed from the perspectives of directors and teachers who are responsible for the selection and utilization of teaching media.

teaching media in early childhood education, early childhood teachers, directors of early childhood institutions