Social and economic changes in the modern society are bringing about changes in the family structure. The families are becoming smaller and there are increasing numbers of working mothers and single-parent families, changes in family functions that ar...
Social and economic changes in the modern society are bringing about changes in the family structure. The families are becoming smaller and there are increasing numbers of working mothers and single-parent families, changes in family functions that are increasing the need for nursing facilities. In turn, this research aims to examine the level of job satisfaction and general characteristics (demographic and sociological background, acknowledgement of expertise and work stress) for those in charge of the nursing activities, the nursery school teachers, assess the working environment and problems facing the teachers working at nursing schools, and study the correlation between working environment and job satisfaction. This research also seeks measures for improving the quality of working environment for nursery school teachers through analyses of the study results and proposes the ways for improving the working environment for the nursery school teachers so that higher quality nursing and educational services can be provided to the children.
The subjects of the research were 400 teachers working in nursery schools in Incheon and Guynggi-do area, and a survey was conducted based on a questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using simple frequency, percentage, average, standard deviation, t-verification and chi-verification.
The study results can be summarized as follows.
First, examining the general characteristics and satisfaction of the nursery school teachers, in terms of social and demographic background, 82% were in their 20s and 30s, many were Christians and most had education of junior college or higher. As to the means of acquiring the license, 61.2% completed a program from a nursery school teacher academy, and 60% of them had level 1 or 2 nursery school teacher license rather than a kindergarten teacher license. In terms of teachers' recognition of expertise, 84.8% agreed that nursing was the most important factor above dedicated magazines, teacher gatherings, compensation, social recognition, life and welfare, and status guarantee, indicating that the teachers placed emphasis on nursing children. Moreover, regarding work stress recognition, the teachers experienced a high level of stress from job-related affairs. As a result of examining job satisfaction according to the subject age in terms of the work, supervision, compensation and welfare benefits, only the work itself displayed significant disparity, and teachers 30 years or older turned out to be more satisfied with their jobs. In terms of job satisfaction according to the marital status, there were significant disparities in the work, supervision and colleagues, and married teachers displayed a higher level of satisfaction than their single counterparts. Regarding job satisfaction according to the source of license acquisition, there were significant disparities in the work and supervision, and those obtaining license from the nursery school teacher academies had a higher level of satisfaction that those with formal educational backgrounds(graduates of preschool education and related area programs from 2-year and 4-year colleges and master degree holders from graduate schools of education).
Second, looking at the working environment and problems facing the nursery school teachers, 87% of them were suffering from excessive labor by working 9 hours or longer on average, 80.6% were not receiving overtime payments, and 65.6% were receiving salaries of 1 million Won or less. In terms of general benefits, 25.1% had an annual vacation of 3 days or less, and 21% were not signed up for social insurance policies.
Third, examining the relationship between the nursery school teachers' working environment and job satisfaction, those with a monthly salary of 1 million Won or higher displayed a high level of satisfaction, and the higher the compensation, the higher the job satisfaction. There were no statistically significant disparities in terms of the average number of daily hours working at the nursery school, overtime work, overtime pay, work intelligence, proportion of the work, the number of children in the class, and the age of the children the teachers were responsible for.
Based on the survey results, the means for improving job satisfaction for the nursery school teachers can be proposed as follows. Since the level of satisfaction experienced by the teachers have direct and indirect effects on educational services provided to the children, there must be institutional considerations made so that the teachers do not suffer from excessive workload, and policy alternatives are called for in terms of the teachers' wages, welfare compensation and benefits.