Korean Teachers’ Beliefs and Teaching Practices in Korean Early Childhood Education*

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs and practices of early childhood teachers in Korea. 54 child care teachers, 58 private kindergarten teachers and 45 public kindergarten teachers participated in this study. The Teacher Questionnaire was adapted for the Korean situation using both Korean and American early childhood education experts to determine cultural appropriateness of items (i.e., a back translation procedure) and grammatical accuracy. Results indicated that public kindergarten teachers had more academic preparation and teaching experiences than other teachers. Public kindergarten teachers reported implementing significantly more appropriate teaching practics and fewer inappropriate practices in their classrooms than other teachers. There was a trend for all teachers who reported nondirective teaching strategy beliefs to use fewer inappropriate teaching practices; however, child care teachers used more inappropriate teaching strategies than other teachers. *This research is supported by funds from the Iowa State University College of Family and Consumer Science Development Fund. This study was submitted by the first author to the Graduate School, Iowa State University, as partial fulfilment for the requirements of a Master of Science degree.