어린이집 유아반 교사의
전문성 발달과 어려움과의 관계

남상미

순천향대학교 교육대학원 유아교육 전공

(지도교수 고영미)

본 연구의 목적은 어린이집 유아반 교사의 전문성 발달과 어려움에 대한 인식이 어떠하며, 이는 교사의 내적․외적요인에 따라 차이가 있는지 알아보고, 전문성 발달과 어려움 간에 어떤 관계가 있는지 살펴보기 위한 것이었다. 이와 같은 연구 목적에 따라 설정된 연구 문제는 다음과 같다.

1. 어린이집 유아반 교사가 인식한 전문성 발달은 어떠하며, 이는 교사의 내적․외적요인에 따라 차이가 있는가?
2. 어린이집 유아반 교사가 인식한 어려움은 어떠하며, 이는 교사의 내적․외적요인에 따라 차이가 있는가?
3. 어린이집 유아반 교사가 인식한 전문성 발달과 어려움은 어떤 관계가 있는가?

본 연구의 대상은 충청남도 아산시에 소재한 어린이집 유아반 교사 356명이었다. 연구 도구는 백은주, 조부경(2004)의 ‘유치원 교사의 전문성 발달 수준 자기 평가 도구’를 본 연구자가 어린이집 교사에게 적합하게 수정․보완한 ‘어린이집 교사의 전문성 발달 인식 도구’와 본 연구자가 개발한 ‘어린이집 교사의 어려움 인식 도구’를 사용하였다. 질문지의 배부 및 회수는 2011년 3월 2일부터 3월 31일까지 우편 또는 연구자가 각 기관에 직접 방문하는 방식으로 이루어졌다. 회수된 질문지의 자료 처리는 어린이집 교사의 전문성 발달과 어려움에 대한 인식이 어떠한지를 알아보기 위하여 평균과 표준편차를 산출하였으며, 내적․외적요인에 따라 차이가 있는지 알아보기 위하여 t 또는 F 검증과 Scheffẻ 사후검증을 실시하였다. 어린이집 교사의 전문성 발달과 어려움에 대한 인식 간의 관계를 알아보기 위하여 Pearson의 상관분석을 실시하였다. 본 연구의 모든 통계처리는 SPSS 통계프로그램 12.0을 사용하였다.

본 연구에서 나타난 결과는 다음과 같다.

첫째, 어린이집 유아반 교사의 전문성 발달 전체와 하위 영역인 세 측면의 발달에 대한 인식 모두 평균 보다 높게 나타났으며, 하위 영역별로는 지식과 기술 측면의 발달이 가장 높게 나타났고, 다음으로 자기이해 측면의 발달, 생태적 측면의 발달 순으로 나타났다. 내적․외적 요인에 따라서는 경력이 높은 교사일수록 지식과 기술 측면의 발달에 대한 인식이 높았으며, 연수 참여 경험이 3회 이상인 교사일수록 전문성 발달 전체와 지식과 기술 측면의 발달에 대한 인식이 높게 나타났다.

둘째, 어린이집 교사의 어려움에 대한 인식은 어려움 전체와 하위 영역 모두 평균보다 낮게 나타났다. 하위영역별로는 근무여건의 어려움에 대한 인식이 가장 높았으며, 다음으로 교사의 전문성 신장의 어려움, 교사 행정업무와 관련된 어려움, 유아 교육 및 보육으로 인한 어려움, 관계 형성 및 유지의 어려움, 개인내적인 어려움의 순으로 나타났다.
교사의 내적․외적 요인에 따라서는 경력이 낮은 교사일수록 어려움의 하위 영역인 유아 교육 및 보육 영역의 어려움, 관계형성 및 유지의 어려움, 개인내적인 어려움에 대한 인식이 높게 나타났다. 미혼 교사는 유아 교육 및 보육 영역의 어려움에 대한 인식이 높은 반면, 기혼 교사는 개인 내적인 어려움에 대한 인식이 높게 나타났다. 3회 이상 이직한 교사가 이직 경험이 없는 교사 보다 근무 여건 영역의 어려움에 대한 인식이 높게 나타났다. 연수 참여 경험이 2회 미만이 교사가 3회 이상인 교사보다 유아 교육 및 보육으로 인한 어려움, 교사 행정 업무와 관련된 어려움, 관계 형성 및 유지의 어려움에 대한 인식이 높게 나타났다. 리 지역에 근무하는 교사가 시 지역에 근무하는 교사보다 어려움 전체와 하위 영역인 유아 교육 및 보육영역, 교사 행정 업무 영역, 교사의 전문성 신장의 영역, 관계 형성 및 유지 영역, 개인 내적인 영역의 어려움에 대한 인식이 높게 나타났다. 또한 11시간 이상 근무하는 교사가 8시간 근무하는 교사보다 어려움 전체와 하위 영역인 유아 교육 및 보육영역, 교사 행정 업무 영역, 교사의 전문성 신장의 영역, 관계 형성 및 유지 영역, 근무여건 영역의 어려움에 대한 인식이 높게 나타났다. 민간 어린이집 교사가 법인(외) 어린이집 교사 보다 어려움의 하위 영역인 근무여건의 어려움에 대한 인식이 높게 나타났다.

셋째, 어린이집 유아반 교사의 전문성 발달과 어려움에 대한 인식이 어떤 관계가 있는지 살펴본 결과, 전문성 발달 전체와 어려움 전체 간에 부적 상관을 보였다. 전문성 발달의 하위 영역과 어려움 전체에 대한 인식은 전문성 발달의 하위 영역과 어려움 전체 간 모두 부적 상관을 보였으며, 특히 자기 이해 측면의 발달과 어려움 전체 간에 가장 높은 부적 상관을 보였다. 어려움의 하위 영역과 전문성 발달 전체에 대한 인식은 어려움의 하위 영역과 전문성 발달 전체 간 모두 부적 상관을 보였으며, 특히 교사의 전문성 신장의 어려움과 전문성 발달 전체 간에 가장 높은 부적 상관을 보였다. 전문성 발달의 하위 영역과 어려움의 하위 영역에 대한 인식은 교사의 전문성 신장의 어려움과 자기 이해 측면의 발달 간에 가장 높은 부적 상관을 보인 반면, 개인내적인 어려움과 지식과 기술 측면의 발달 및 자기이해 측면의 발달은 상대적으로 낮은 부적 상관을 보였고, 개인내적인 어려움과 생태적 측면의 발달은 상관이 없는 것으로 나타났다.

Abstract

The Relations between the Professional Development and Difficulties of Child Care Center Teachers.

Sang-Mi Nam

Major in Early Childhood Education
Graduate School of Soonchunhyang University
Choong-Nam, KOREA

(Supervised by Professor Young-Mi Go, Ph. D)

The purpose of this research is in identifying the development of professionalism for teachers serving infant classes at child care centers and the difficulties they confront; any discrepancy deriving from both internal and external factors regarding the teachers; and the relationships between the development of the teachers' professionalism and the hardships they feel. The key items of study to accord this purpose are as follows:

1. How are the issues of developing professionalism as perceived by the teachers serving infant classes at child care centers, and are these issues showing any difference in accordance with internal and external factors regarding the teachers?

2. How are the difficulties perceived by those teachers, and are these issues showing any difference in accordance with internal and external factors regarding the teachers?
3. What kind of relationships are there between the development of professionalism and difficulties perceived by those teachers?

This research is targeting 356 teachers working at infant classes located in Asan city, Choongnam province. As a research tool, 'An instrument for perceiving the development of professionalism for teachers at child care centers' which has been adequately refined and modified by myself to suit real needs of the teachers, and has referenced 'A mechanism for self-evaluating the level of development of professionalism of the teachers at kindergartens' written by Eunjoo Baek & Bookyoung Cho(2004); and 'A device to support the perception of difficulties confronting the teachers working at child care centers' have been in use.
The distribution and collection of questionaires had been conducted from the 2nd to 31st day of March, 2011 by either mail or researcher's direct visitations to each and every relevant institutions. In order to certify the level of development of professionalism and difficulties perceived by the teachers at child care centers, both average and standard deviation have been produced as a result of processing collected questionaires. Also, either t or F verification and Scheffẻ's posteriori test have been applied to this research with a view to verify any discrepancy incurring from both internal and external factors. Pearson's correlation analysis had been made to identify the relationships between the development of professionalism for the teachers at child care centers and difficulties the teachers face. All statistic data are processed by the statistic software program, SPSS version 12.0 for this research.

The results obtained from this research are as follows:
First, the perception as to the holistic issue of development of professionalism and as to its three sub-domains(development in knowledge & technology, self-understanding, and ecology) had shown scores higher than the average; with regard to the three sub-domains, the issue of development of knowledge & technology ranks the highest score followed by development in self-understanding and then in ecology.
In terms of internal and external factors, the teachers with relatively better careers had retained better perception as to the knowledge-based, technological development; and the teachers with more than three participations in the professional training programs had shown better perception as to the holistic development of professionalism and knowledge-based, technological development.

Second, the teachers' perception of difficulties had shown scores lower than the average in the area of holistic difficulties and all sub-domains.
As for sub-domains, the teachers had shown the highest score in the perception of difficulties residing in service environment, sequentially followed by other factors of difficulties in the area such as: extending teachers' professionalism, taking charge of administrative duties, educating and care-giving infants, forming and maintaining relations, and overcoming individual mental troubles. According to the internal and external factors, teachers with less careers had shown higher level of perception as to the sub-domain of difficulties such as: educating and care-giving infants, forming and maintaining relations, and overcoming individual mental troubles. While unmarried teachers had shown high level of perception as to the difficulties of educating and care-giving infants, married teachers had shown high level of perception as to the difficulties of overcoming individual mental troubles. The teacher who had experienced more than three transfers had revealed higher level of perception as to the difficulties of service environment than those who had not. The teachers with less than two participations in professional training program had shown higher level of perception as to the difficulties such as educating and care-giving infants, taking charge of administrative duties, and forming and maintaining relations than those with more than three participations in the aforementioned program. The teacher stationed at Rhee(An administrative locality smaller than a city) had shown higher level of perception as to holistic difficulties, and the sub-domain of difficulties such as educating and care-giving infants, taking charge of administrative duties, extending teachers' professionalism, forming and maintaining relations, and overcoming individual mental troubles than those who are stationed at municipal areas. Also, the teachers who work more than 11 hours a day had shown higher level of perception as to holistic difficulties, and the sub-domain of difficulties such as educating and care-giving infants, taking charge of administrative duties, extending teachers' professionalism, forming and maintaining relations, and overcoming individual mental troubles than those who work less than 8 hours a day. The teachers working at private child care centers had shown higher level of perception as to the sub-domain of difficulties like service environment than those who work at corporate child care centers.

Third, as a result of examining the relationship between the development of professionalism of the teachers working at infant classes at child care centers and the perception of difficulties perceived by the teachers, a negative correlation had been found between the development of professionalism and the perceived difficulties as a whole. The perception of sub-domain of development of professionalism and holistic difficulties had shown a negative correlation between each other, and particularly the highest level of negative correlation between development in self-understanding and holistic difficulties. The perception as to the sub-domain of difficulties and holistic development of professionalism had shown a negative correlation between each other, and particularly the highest level of negative correlation between the difficulties in extending professionalism of teachers and holistic development of professionalism.
While the perception as to the sub-domain of development of professionalism and of difficulties had shown the highest level of negative correlation between the difficulties in extending professionalism of teachers and development in self-understanding, relatively low level of negative correlation had been found between the individual mental troubles, knowledge-based and technological development, and development in self-understanding; and no correlation had been found between individual mental troubles and ecological development.

Abstract

The Relations between the Professional Development and Difficulties of Child Care Center Teachers.

Sang-Mi Nam

Major in Early Childhood Education
Graduate School of Soonchunhyang University
Choong-Nam, KOREA

(Supervised by Professor Young-Mi Go, Ph. D)

The purpose of this research is in identifying the development of professionalism for teachers serving infant classes at child care centers and the difficulties they confront; any discrepancy deriving from both internal and external factors regarding the teachers; and the relationships between the development of the teachers' professionalism and the hardships they feel. The key items of study to accord this purpose are as follows:

1. How are the issues of developing professionalism as perceived by the teachers serving infant classes at child care centers, and are these issues showing any difference in accordance with internal and external factors regarding the teachers?

2. How are the difficulties perceived by those teachers, and are these issues showing any difference in accordance with internal and external factors regarding the teachers?
3. What kind of relationships are there between the development of professionalism and difficulties perceived by those teachers?

This research is targeting 356 teachers working at infant classes located in Asan city, Choongnam province. As a research tool, 'An instrument for perceiving the development of professionalism for teachers at child care centers' which has been adequately refined and modified by myself to suit real needs of the teachers, and has referenced 'A mechanism for self-evaluating the level of development of professionalism of the teachers at kindergartens' written by Eunjoo Baek & Bookyoung Cho(2004); and 'A device to support the perception of difficulties confronting the teachers working at child care centers' have been in use.
The distribution and collection of questionaires had been conducted from the 2nd to 31st day of March, 2011 by either mail or researcher's direct visitations to each and every relevant institutions. In order to certify the level of development of professionalism and difficulties perceived by the teachers at child care centers, both average and standard deviation have been produced as a result of processing collected questionaires. Also, either t or F verification and Scheffẻ's posteriori test have been applied to this research with a view to verify any discrepancy incurring from both internal and external factors. Pearson's correlation analysis had been made to identify the relationships between the development of professionalism for the teachers at child care centers and difficulties the teachers face. All statistic data are processed by the statistic software program, SPSS version 12.0 for this research.

The results obtained from this research are as follows:
First, the perception as to the holistic issue of development of professionalism and as to its three sub-domains(development in knowledge & technology, self-understanding, and ecology) had shown scores higher than the average; with regard to the three sub-domains, the issue of development of knowledge & technology ranks the highest score followed by development in self-understanding and then in ecology.
In terms of internal and external factors, the teachers with relatively better careers had retained better perception as to the knowledge-based, technological development; and the teachers with more than three participations in the professional training programs had shown better perception as to the holistic development of professionalism and knowledge-based, technological development.

Second, the teachers' perception of difficulties had shown scores lower than the average in the area of holistic difficulties and all sub-domains.
As for sub-domains, the teachers had shown the highest score in the perception of difficulties residing in service environment, sequentially followed by other factors of difficulties in the area such as: extending teachers' professionalism, taking charge of administrative duties, educating and care-giving infants, forming and maintaining relations, and overcoming individual mental troubles. According to the internal and external factors, teachers with less careers had shown higher level of perception as to the sub-domain of difficulties such as: educating and care-giving infants, forming and maintaining relations, and overcoming individual mental troubles. While unmarried teachers had shown high level of perception as to the difficulties of educating and care-giving infants, married teachers had shown high level of perception as to the difficulties of overcoming individual mental troubles. The teacher who had experienced more than three transfers had revealed higher level of perception as to the difficulties of service environment than those who had not. The teachers with less than two participations in professional training program had shown higher level of perception as to the difficulties such as educating and care-giving infants, taking charge of administrative duties, and forming and maintaining relations than those with more than three participations in the aforementioned program. The teacher stationed at Rhee(An administrative locality smaller than a city) had shown higher level of perception as to holistic difficulties, and the sub-domain of difficulties such as educating and care-giving infants, taking charge of administrative duties, extending teachers' professionalism, forming and maintaining relations, and overcoming individual mental troubles than those who are stationed at municipal areas. Also, the teachers who work more than 11 hours a day had shown higher level of perception as to holistic difficulties, and the sub-domain of difficulties such as educating and care-giving infants, taking charge of administrative duties, extending teachers' professionalism, forming and maintaining relations, and overcoming individual mental troubles than those who work less than 8 hours a day. The teachers working at private child care centers had shown higher level of perception as to the sub-domain of difficulties like service environment than those who work at corporate child care centers.

Third, as a result of examining the relationship between the development of professionalism of the teachers working at infant classes at child care centers and the perception of difficulties perceived by the teachers, a negative correlation had been found between the development of professionalism and the perceived difficulties as a whole. The perception of sub-domain of development of professionalism and holistic difficulties had shown a negative correlation between each other, and particularly the highest level of negative correlation between development in self-understanding and holistic difficulties. The perception as to the sub-domain of difficulties and holistic development of professionalism had shown a negative correlation between each other, and particularly the highest level of negative correlation between the difficulties in extending professionalism of teachers and holistic development of professionalism.
While the perception as to the sub-domain of development of professionalism and of difficulties had shown the highest level of negative correlation between the difficulties in extending professionalism of teachers and development in self-understanding, relatively low level of negative correlation had been found between the individual mental troubles, knowledge-based and technological development, and development in self-understanding; and no correlation had been found between individual mental troubles and ecological development.