교육과정 실행과정에서 나타나는 교육내용 및 교과에 대한 유치원 교사의 인식

Abstract

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate kindergarten teachers' perception of curriculum contents and subject matter in implementing the curriculum.
 Methods 8 teachers from public kindergartens located in Seoul, Busan, and Gyeongnam participated in semi-structured, in-person, or online interviews individually in January 2023. The data collected to underwent a comprehensive analysis based on the “Inclusive Analytic Procedures Based on the Pragmatic Eclecticism,” which involved processes such as “iterative reading/management of qualitative data, writing analytic memo, 1st/2nd/ 3rd coding, representation of results.” However, in practice, each stage overlapped with others, and the analysis process occurred in a cyclical and iterative manner, transcending the boundaries of all stages.
 Results First, the teachers had different perceptions of the curriculum, such as recognizing the five content areas of the Nuri curriculum as developmental/life/educational content and the educational contents as changed/not changed according to the curriculum revision. The educational contents were also recognized by reflecting the distinctiveness of the early childhood curriculum such as play, teacher autonomy, and integrated curriculum. Second, the teachers showed a low level of acceptance towards the term “subject matter,” but they did not consider the contents of subject matters as unnecessary. The contents of subject matters were already being covered indirectly in implementing the curriculum. Third, the teachers were understanding and implementing the curriculum based on their past experiences. They faced various challenges during the implementation process of the curriculum.
 Conclusions Therefore, various supports are needed to help early childhood teachers understand the distinctiveness of the curriculum and to develop a curriculum pedagogy that takes into account their own educational beliefs and the interests and developmental levels of young children, while co-creating the educational contents with them. There is also a need to create novel meanings for subject matters in early childhood education that is different with other school levels, in order to overcome resistance to terminology and to enable teachers to borrow the contents of subject matters as pedagogical knowledge that they can recognize and use. Finally, it suggests that there is a need to understand that teachers do not simply understand and implement the curriculum as a text, and to be more concerned with and supportive of the lives and experiences of teachers who are the agents of curriculum implementation.