The purpose of this study was to examine the difficulties of married childcare teachers in striking a balance between work and child rearing.
A research question was posed:
1. What difficulties do childcare teachers face in striking a balance betw...
The purpose of this study was to examine the difficulties of married childcare teachers in striking a balance between work and child rearing.
A research question was posed:
1. What difficulties do childcare teachers face in striking a balance between work and child rearing?
The subjects in this study were five married childcare teachers and three retired married childcare teachers. The five teachers worked at daycare centers in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. In-depth interviews were carried out from August, 2011, to February, 2012. The interviews were recorded with their consent. After the data were transcribed, the transcribed data were categorized.
The major findings of the study were as follows:
First, the married childcare teachers were exclusively responsible for both household chores and child rearing since their husbands who took a stereotyped view of sex roles were different from them in the way of looking at the roles of husband and life. They had physical and psychological difficulties while they worked and raised their children at the same time because of their families who didn't approve of their work. Moreover, they thought they must become outstanding homemakers, good mothers and excellent childcare teachers, and their difficulties were compounded due to such a belief of their own.
Second, the married childcare teachers felt guilty that their child rearing at home wasn't as good as their childcare at work. They were afraid when others expected or believed that they would be very excellent in raising their own children as childcare teachers, and they had difficulties while they tried to meet their expectations.
Third, the married childcare teachers were in another trouble due to their colleagues who were female like them yet didn't understand them nor cared about them during their pregnancy or childbirth. As a matter of fact, childcare teachers weren't given good treatment, and the married teachers had to be conscious of their coworkers who feared that their workload would be heavier because of them in such harsh working conditions. Furthermore, their coworkers thought they worked just for economic reasons rather than for self-realization or to gain social experience, and they didn't consequently think highly of their work. The married teachers had another difficulties due to the bias of their colleagues. And the married teachers themselves set higher value on men's work than their own, and they had a hard time because of such a perception of their own.
Fourth, parents who were working mothers just regarded their work as a nonprofessional job that was done by women only. Thus, their work wasn't esteemed properly though they worked for the sake of other women. Such a contradictory phenomenon added to their difficulties.
Fifth, they were in further trouble because they were just judged by academic background, and because their work of caring was judged by that as well.
Sixth, the married childcare teachers served as executors of the national work-family balance policy by supporting women's child rearing, but they were in trouble because they themselves couldn't benefit from the national policy.
This study is of significance in that it attempted to empathize with married childcare teachers about their difficulties in striking a balance between work and child rearing to have a better understanding of married childcare teachers who live with infants and preschoolers at work and with their own children at home, and this study is expected to serve as an opportunity to develop a childcare center into a significant place of living.