Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, is entering the briefing room at the Seoul Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu last June to announce the plan for integrated operation of kindergartens and daycare centers. The government is set to introduce “Early Childhood Education Centers (Tentative)” starting from next month in preparation for the full integration of kindergartens and daycare centers. Over the course of three years of pilot operation, the focus will be on resolving tasks such as improving the ratio of teachers to young children, enhancing expertise in childcare and education, and standardizing quality.
The Ministry of Education has announced that it has selected 152 institutions as pilot schools for the “Early Childhood Education Center Pilot Project.” This accounts for 0.4% of all kindergartens and daycare centers, aiming to allow for tangible improvements in the quality of educational and childcare services that integrated operation aspires to achieve before kindergartens and daycare centers are fully integrated.
The selected pilot schools include 68 kindergartens, 84 daycare centers, 4 kindergartens with special education classes, 13 daycare centers for children with disabilities, and 3 specialized daycare centers for children with disabilities. These pilot schools will implement tasks that were much demanded in the field, starting with tasks like improving the teacher-to-child ratio. They will proactively apply integrated operation tasks, validate and refine the integration model through research and performance evaluations. In order to ensure sufficient operating time, in addition to the basic operating hours of “curriculum + extended curriculum (kindergarten after-school program) ” of 8 hours, an additional 4 hours of morning and evening care will be provided if there is a demand from parents.
Furthermore, they will reduce the number of young children each teacher is responsible for to enhance the quality of interaction between young children and teachers. Depending on the region, if the teacher-to-child ratio exceeds 1:2 for 0-1 year-olds, 1:13 for 2-3 year-olds, 1:15 for 4 year-olds, and 1:18 for 5 year-olds, additional educational curriculum teachers can be assigned. In cases where no dedicated teachers for the extended curriculum are available, dedicated teachers will be assigned. Additionally, working conditions will be improved to allow on-site teachers to enhance their capabilities through participation in training sessions.
Each provincial education office will implement characteristic projects tailored to the local situation. Seventeen provincial education offices will establish selection and management measures for pilot schools, form local advisory teams and principals’ councils, and establish a support system for pilot schools. They will operate various characteristic projects to universally enhance the quality of education and childcare facilities for all young children in the region.
Most education offices will establish a cooperative system among local governments, education offices, and relevant institutions to build a foundation for integrated operation and support the operation of learning communities for enhancing the capabilities of local young children’s teachers, as well as establishing various training plans like educational joint training in four major fields. Considering the increase in children with emotional and behavioral crises and the deepening gap in emotional development among young children due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, they will concentrate on supporting emotional well-being of young children by establishing emotional and psychological support centers and forming partnerships with experts and institutions within the region. In particular, six education offices including Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Sejong, and Chungbuk will support tailored services for children with special educational needs, such as developmental delays, disabilities, and immigrant backgrounds, by designating children in daycare centers with disabilities as special education beneficiaries and providing treatment.
The government will allocate a total of 26.2 billion won in special education grants. The maximum limit per pilot school institution is 100 million won, and each provincial education office will support an amount of around 1.5 billion won, including characteristic projects. However, the establishment of an integrated teaching staff system and the transfer of personnel to local governments have not yet been implemented, so the pilot projects are expected to remain at a preliminary stage. An official from the Ministry of Education explained that the pilot projects are aimed at implementing possible tasks through financial investment to achieve the goal of integrated operation within the current legal system, and that matters such as teacher qualification integration are subjects of legal revisions and not applicable in this pilot project.
Deputy Minister of Education Oh Seok-hwan expressed high interest in the fact that the “Early Childhood Education Centers” are representative institutions that proactively apply integration tasks before integrated operation is institutionalized, and hoped that the community would also support the operation of pilot schools in line with the purpose of the pilot project.
Translated by AI Translation Model