The purpose of teaching home economics is to nurture capability and attitude of women to manage constructive domestic life by acquiring necessary knowledge and skills as well as ideas, and thus the subject emphasizes its practicability to apply the kn...
The purpose of teaching home economics is to nurture capability and attitude of women to manage constructive domestic life by acquiring necessary knowledge and skills as well as ideas, and thus the subject emphasizes its practicability to apply the knowledge to a daily living. As the domestic life goes under dramatic changes in a modern society, the education content of the subject becomes increasingly specific and specialized. The topic of housing covers general knowledge and value regarding the residential aspect of a domestic life. Spatial dimension of a housing is critical in that it conceptualizes the physical space where family life unfolds, and works as a place where communication among family members take place and the basic rights as an individual can be fulfilled. The research strives to provide a basic data to construct education content of the topic of housing in home economics by examining two elements: value of married women on the housing , usefulness of the topic and its applicability in the reality. A survey was conducted for married women residing in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and Incheon area. A total of 377 questionnaires were collected for analysis. The SPSS(Version 12.0) is used for the analysis with frequency, factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, t-test, χ2 analysis, cluster analysis, ANOVA analysis and Duncan's multiful range test.
The analysis drew the following conclusions.
Firstly, the value of housing perceived by married women can be classified into five factors: adequacy for living, aesthetics, social aspect, location, and economic value. The survey showed that married women put priority on adequacy for living that includes safety, convenience, and pleasantness of a living space. The clustering of the respondents due to different emphasis on the value of a housing resulted in four distinct groups that pursue practical, aesthetic, external-housing, and internal-housing values respectively. The examination of criteria for choosing a residence by different groups showed that the group that pursues practical value has the highest perception about the criteria in choosing a house. The group that pursues aesthetic value emphasized visual quality of the interior space, and other three groups put the most value on users’ convenience. Married women showed preference for condominiums, and replied that they collect information on housing through the Internet and TV.
Secondly, the married women acknowledged that the education on housing provides practical value in a daily living. The extent of need on specific subjects came in the following order: housing management, understanding housing environment, others, housing maintenance and repair, and interior design. The extent of application of the subject was lower than necessity. Housing management was the most extensively applied subject. The stronger a respondent showed support for education on housing , the more she applied the knowledge to a daily living.
Thirdly, the four groups recognized that ‘housing management’ is a highly useful and practical field, and accordingly emphasized the importance of the subject. The group that pursues practical value showed high level of application, and except for the interior design, the group that pursues aesthetic housing value showed the least interest in applying the knowledge about the subject. In other words, the more the value is put on the aesthetic aspect, the less the need and use for the education on the housing life seems. On the contrary, the higher the perception on the housing life is, the stronger the need and use for the education of the same topic. Thus, the need and applicability of the topic of housing life depends on women’s perception on the value of housing.
Fourthly, married women in their 30s who reside in Gyeonggi-do and Incheon area showed stronger need for the education on housing. More specifically, for the field of ‘housing maintenance and repair,’ married women in their 30s with high-school education showed the strongest need for education. In terms of applicability, women with education level lower than high-school showed relatively higher application of the knowledge in a daily life.
The findings of the research suggest that the education content for the subject of housing in home economics need to be improved to contain more practical knowledge like ‘housing management’ and 'understanding housing environment'. Also, its education needs to be reinforced by developing practice-oriented learning tools to guide the students to establish desirable value system for housing in home economics, and consequently to be able to manage constructive housing life.