The purpose of this research is to understand the current situation of extra curriculum activities in public kindergartens and how the teachers and parents perceive those activities. Based on this understanding, the research aims to provide suggestion...
The purpose of this research is to understand the current situation of extra curriculum activities in public kindergartens and how the teachers and parents perceive those activities. Based on this understanding, the research aims to provide suggestions to improve and strengthen the quality of extra curriculum activities for a better education environment. In order to meet the purpose of above, research questions have been set as below;
1. What is the current situation of full-day extra curriculum activities in public kindergartens?
2. What is the perception of teachers towards full-day extra curriculum activities in public kindergartens?
3. What is the perception of parents towards full-day extra curriculum activities in public kindergartens?
The research is based on the data collected from 81 teachers in public kindergartens located in Seoul and 151 parents. The research tool was developed in consultation with an expert in early childhood education taking references such as questionnaires developed by Kim Beop Jeong(2005), Park Min Seong(2005), Choi Su Yeon(2010), official notice on extra curriculum activities and opinions from the teachers and parents etc.
The findings of the research are as follows;
First, it was found that most public kindergartens run 1-2, sometimes as many as 6 different types of extra curriculum activities. Looking at the type of activity, physical education was most common with art, science and music following after respectively. Most children in full-day classes and more than half of children in half-day classes were participating in extra curriculum activities. The size of these activities were mainly in large groups, physical education classes being the largest where as science, art, music classes relatively in smaller groups. The frequency of these activities was mostly once a week and usually lasted 40-50 minutes. Fees to participate in such activities were either free-of-charge or costed between the range of 10,000 won to 20,000 won per child. Instructors of the extra curriculum activities were mostly college graduates majoring in arts and physical education. Besides the extra curriculum activities in kindergartens, over half of the children were taking part in other activities privately, about 1.6 activities per child. In addition, most public kindergartens were utilizing extra curriculum programs developed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology but some were running their own. Kindergarten teachers usually participated in the activities as assistant teachers while negotiating and discussing actively with the instructors hired from outside.
Second, in regards to the perception of the teachers towards extra curriculum activities, 71.6% of the teachers endorsed the activities with the top reason being ‘able to provide various experience to children’. On the hand, teachers who were against the activities disapproved mainly due to overload of work. When asked about which activities are required in extra curriculum programs, teachers replied in the order of physical education, music, science, art, foreign language etc. Teachers highly regarded the expertise of the instructors and their understanding on early childhood education and on the overall, expressed more than average level of satisfaction. More importantly, they thought children were also satisfied with the activities without much stress and perceived parents did not feel big financial burden to support these activities. They replied 2-3 activities, 1-2 times a week, each activity duration of 40-50 minutes as adequate. Interestingly , opinions on whether to link the regular curriculum to these extra curriculum and whether class teachers should participate or not were divergent. In regards to difficulties they face, recruiting the right eligible instructors from outside and overload of work etc were addressed.
Third, in regards to the perception of the parents towards extra curriculum activities, 93.4% of the parents endorsed the activities with the top reason being ‘able to provide various experience to children’ in par with the teachers’ view. It was found that most parents choose kindergartens regardless of whether they have extra curriculum or not and listed physical education, art, music, science, foreign language etc as necessary activities. Most parents expressed satisfaction with the expertise of the instructors, the appropriateness of the content and the understanding level on early childhood education etc. More importantly, they thought children were also satisfied with the activities without much stress and that financial burden of supporting these activities was low below average. They replied 2-3 activities, 1-2 times a week, each activity duration of 30-40 minutes as adequate. In addition, parents addressed the content of extra curriculum activities, lack of information on the instructors, lack of variety in programs, insufficient understanding on children by the instructors etc as problems to be solved.