Kyonggi University Child Care Service is the first education which brings up a responsible human resource of future society, and is one of very important policies to utilize women's manpower through compatibility of job and family, and to increase a ...
Kyonggi University Child Care Service is the first education which brings up a responsible human resource of future society, and is one of very important policies to utilize women's manpower through compatibility of job and family, and to increase a Birth Rate in a low fertility and aging society.
Korea has promoted a qualitative change of child care service through revising the Infant Care Act on January 8, 2004. Child care-related government budget has also largely increased to 405 billion won in 2004, 600.1 billion won in 2005, 791 billion won in 2006, and 1,043.4 billion won in 2007. But, the users' satisfaction on child care service is low.
Since the child care service users' desires for the child care service are not well reflected in the child care policy, there seem to be many social and cultural factors including a difference of recognition on the child care service between the child care service provider and deliverer, a method of communication between them, and certain influential factors in the policy-making process.
Accordingly, this study was intended to compare and analyze the difference of recognition among three parties; parents who are the daycare service user, a public official who is the daycare service provider, and a teacher who is the daycare service deliverer, and to make the new suggestions to provide the user-oriented child care service.
Through a theoretical consideration on the child care service, the meaning and purpose of child care service was derived. Then, the actual conditions of child care service such as the child care facilities, child care budget, and child care manpower in total 230 local governments in Korea were investigated, by considering that the child care service was delivered to the user in regions. Also, the difference of recognition among three parties were compared and analyzed by investigating the recognition on the child care service of child care user, provider and deliverer in Gyeonggi Province.
Based on the results of the study, this study makes the political proposals in terms of the child care facility, child care budget, child care manpower, and child care system in the child care delivery system as follows.
First, the current child care facilities have currently accommodated only 11.3%(111,911 kids) out of 989,390 kids who use the child care facility in order to acquisite publicity of child care. It is continuously necessary to extend the public facilities which accommodate only 2.95% out of total 3,799,000 kids subject to the child care.
According to the child-care plan published by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, as of 2005, the Government plans to newly build 1,348 facilities national and public child-care facilities by 2010. So, the current 1,352 national and public child-care facilities will be increased to 2,700 facilities. However, the supply of new child-care facilities doesn't still satisfy the new demand of 1500 facilities by 2010, even though the average cared kids are 80 persons per 1 facility, considering that the above child-care plan estimates the demand for the new child-care facility for about 120,000 kinds by 2010.
The expansion of national and public facilities is not simply a number of child-care facilities. The current national and public child-care facilities' allotment is 11.3%, but it must reach 30% by at least 2010. Accordingly, the resources plan and the plan which converts the private facility into the public facility must be supported for it.
Also, as of 2005, the mid-long term facility expansion plan is required to increase the child's facility utilization rate (26%) to the level of OECD's advanced country(50%).
Second, in the Government's child-care service budget distribution, 93.7% of total child-care budget is the working expense, 5.2% is invested in the child-care hardware infra. buildup such as the facility building and expansion, and only 1% is invested in the software infra. buildup such as a program development and child-care information center building. Accordingly, this child-care budget distribution system must be enhanced and the balanced budget distribution must be done.
The current budget distribution system disregards the long-term child-care infra. buildup such as the facility investment. Hence, it is hard to say that the national and public child-care facilities have the intention of improving the child-care system which accommodate only 2.95% (11.3% of facility-user children, Y2005) out of total 3,700,000 kids through the facility operation-oriented short term budget distribution.
The Government's allotment for the child-care budget is 38%. But, it needs to increase to 60% which is the average of OECD Countries and the efficient investment in a limited resources distribution is required.
In the local Government's child-care budget allotment, there was a big difference of child-care budget between the local Governments according to the local government's finance independency or the policy intention of local government head. The local government must strive to decrease the gap and needs to extend the corrective budget policy which differently supports the budget by the finance dependency.
Third, in terms of the child-care manpower, the child-care teacher training system and kindergarten teacher training system must be unified and the program must be standardized to provide the equal child-care service to facility users.
Through reducing the child-care teacher's wage difference between the national & public child-care facility and the private child-care facility and to improve the child-care teacher's wage system, the child-care teacher's working conditions must be stabilized. Also, through it, the children must receive the high quality child-care service.
Fourth, in terms of the child-care service system, the baby break system must be extended and the institutional supports for promising the return to the work after the baby break must be preferentially implemented. In particular, three parties of child-care service have all recognized that the return to the work after the baby break is the most urgent problem. But, the baby break system hasn't been well executed in the enterprise. According to the advanced country's research, the baby break system showed better cost effect than the extension of infant care facility. In order for the enterprise and government to allot the child-care's social costs commonly and to settle this system, the incentive policy and penalty polity needs to be simultaneously executed.
Local Government needs to extend the family-friendly enterprise's successful model through the agreement with local companies and to reach the social and cultural policy agreement for the child-care.
In addition, it is necessary to extend and execute the variety of systems including the increase of baby break period, home visiting child-care helper, temporary child-care and 24 hours child-care system, and installation of child-care facility in the cultural establishment.
Fifth, it is necessary to build the child-care information center which is currently installed in the metropolitan local government in all 230 local governments. Also, it is necessary to extend the build the networking system among the child-care service user, provider and deliverer and to extend the function as the child-care Community Center, as well as providing information on the child-care facility selection that the child-care service users feel its necessity.
To reduce the burden of budget requirement, the online-community must be built as the first step. Also, the strategic methods including the online space acquirement and function expansion must be considered. Child-care information center as the core child-care center in the region needs to exchange the child-care information with the child-care facilities each other and provide the standard child-care program. Especially, it is necessary to extend the various functions to reduce the service gap between the child-care facilities through implementing the system that the small-sized child-care facilities can jointly use the meal service, nursing and teaching aids.
Child Care Service tends to be not treated as the main issue in the local government's budgeting. It is the fact that the child care policy is not focused because it is in the trade-off relation with another welfare budget.
However, the child care service is one of the important project to protect the children's rights, to improve the quality of child care family's life, to cultivate the human resources which are the future growth engine, and to solve the problem of low fertility and aging society in Korea. The political implementation for the social responsibility of child care is urgently required. It is expected that the child care policy plan will be actively and deeply discussed through this study.