Has the Universal Free Childcare Policy Been Successful? Issues and Challenges for Early Childhood Education and Care in Korea

Abstract

In many countries, public expenditure on childcare increased in recent decades as the childcare has become one of the key policy areas. Underlying beliefs of the increased public spending on childcare is that investment in childcare is the investment for future that can help to raise the birth rate and contribute to increase female labor market participation by reducing the burden of child-rearing for parents (Kalwij in Demography, 47(2), 503–519, 2010; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Doing better for families. Paris: OECD Publishing, 2011). In Korea childcare was proposed as a key solution to the complex problem caused by aging society and extremely low fertility rate. This chapter critically reviews childcare policy in Korea , outlining the main features of current early childhood education and care in Korea and discussing how the childcare policy has changed the lives of children and their families and as well as the landscape of childcare provision. Issues and challenges for Korean society posed by these policies are also discussed.