South Korean parents have faith that the success of their children, or at least its likelihood, is guaranteed by one thing—entrance into a good university. With this aim, they enroll their children in various private... [ view full abstract ]
South Korean parents have faith that the success of their children, or at least its likelihood, is guaranteed by one thing—entrance into a good university. With this aim, they enroll their children in various private educational institutions. The objective of this research is to propose policy support measures that will point in the direction of improving private education so as to support the healthy growth and development of young children.
A survey was conducted to determine the general status and perception of private education. The study analyzed the responses of a total of 2,276 persons—537 parents with two-year-old children, 434 teachers teaching two-year-old children, 704 parents with five-year-old children, and 601 teachers teaching five-year-old children.
The study found that the hours devoted to private education were considerably high in the daily schedule of two-year-old and five-year-old children. Although differences exist depending on the types of private institutes, children attending full-time private institutes were spending considerably high number of hours being taught. Among the subjects of the survey, 35.5% of two-year-old children and 83.6% of five-year-old children were found to receive private education. It was also found that two-year-old children are taking 1.7 types of private education, 2.6 times per week and 47.6 minutes per session whereas five-year-old children are taking 2.2 types of private education, 5.2 times per week and 50.1 minutes per session.
Based on the result, the study proposes ways to improve private education. These ways include securing the rights of healthy growth and development of young children, the creation of an environment for parents to safely rear their children without any burden, the creation of social atmosphere that encourages cooperation over competition and that acknowledges diversity.
Keywords: Private education of young children, extracurricular activity, after-school specialization program, daily schedule of young children
