Toward an integrative "educare" system: an investigation of teachers' understanding and uses of developmentally appropriate practices for young children in Korea.

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to investigate how early childhood teachers in Korea understand developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) and follow DAP's instructional guidelines. In order to obtain insights for developing "educare," an integrated system for the education and care of young children in Korea, a comparison of early childhood teachers' beliefs and instructional activities by center type (i.e., kindergarten vs. child care) was conducted. Findings indicated that early childhood teachers in Korea showed positive beliefs in DAP and utilization of its practices. However, a large percentage of teachers reported inconsistent profiles of DAP beliefs and activities. In particular, it is unclear whether teachers differentiate appropriate and inappropriate uses of DAP. Only 45 (21.3 percent) of 211 kindergarten teachers and 26 (12.5 percent) of 208 child care teachers reported consistent DAP beliefs and activities. In terms of group differences, kindergarten teachers showed more positive profiles than child care teachers. Based upon the results of MANOVA and discriminant analyses, the main group differences were related to teachers' inappropriate beliefs and practices. Suggestions for future research studies also were discussed.

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Developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) in early childhood education aim to provide individually appropriate service for young children (Bredekamp, 1987, 1997; Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). Many research studies have documented the value of DAP for children. Bredekamp and Shepard (1989), Burts, Hart, Charlesworth, and Kirk (1990), Burts et al. (1992), and Marcon (1992) reported positive effects of DAP on young children's development, and provided empirical evidence supporting its effectiveness. This interest in DAP is not limited to the United States.

Korean researchers utilize DAP as both a theoretical foundation and guide for practice in the development of "educare," an integrated early childhood service system for both early childhood care and formal primary schooling. Since DAP was introduced to Korean early childhood educators as an alternative concept to traditional practice in the early 1990s, the number of research studies on DAP has been increasing. General studies (Hong, 1996; Kang, 1993; Park, 1994; Seo, 1996) on the basic philosophy of and concepts behind DAP, as well as specific application studies focusing on math (Kim, 1995) and science (Kim, 1994; Park, 1995), have been conducted. In addition, its usage extended beyond the pedagogical tool kit for Korean teachers and practitioners. DAP became the theoretical base of the 5th (1995-1999) and 6th (2000-present) national curriculum on kindergarten. Through applying DAP concepts to the national curriculum development plan, it was hoped that overall quality of early childhood services in Korea could be enhanced.

Although DAP was accepted as a legitimate model by academics and policymakers, and thus integrated into the new kindergarten curriculum, its understanding by those who use it, as well as its practical application in the classroom, is best understood within the context of the Korean educational system. On the one hand, early childhood education for children older than 3 years of age is managed by the Ministry of Education. This division stresses academic development for children under its charge. On the other hand, child care for young children under the age of 3 is overseen by the Ministry of Welfare. This division supports a care-oriented approach to child care. Historically, these two groups have struggled to reach consensus on policy decisions for the children under their charge. In other words, this dual system for young children has made it difficult to provide effective, efficient, and continual services that meet the needs of children and their parents.

Given the fact that Korea's early childhood system is shared by two governmental agencies, the country sought to offer an integrated structure for education and child care for young children. Na, Cheon, and Chang (1996) proposed to develop a new school system for young children that would include different types of service centers. They proposed that service centers for young children (e.g., child care centers, home-care centers, private institutes for academic/athletic training) be integrated into a new kindergarten school system. Moreover, they suggested that the new school system should be the first stage in the public education system. Lee (1999) also proposed a similar idea with a series of stages under the public education system. According to her suggestions, the integration process would begin gradually, with education and child care centers first sharing their resources and ideas, then eventually offering child care centers for infants and a new school for preschoolers. Finally, the process ends with the development of an integrated school system for young children, which would be part of the public education system in Korea.

Although many researchers discussed possibilities for developing an integrated system, the suggested ideas were oriented toward a resolution of administrative conflicts that the governmental agencies, and their respective programs, experienced. In other words, the focus of the discussion was on how to combine two different centers (i.e., kindergarten vs. child care) into one type of center. However, investigation into the manner in which a consensus should be obtained between the two centers, focusing on high-quality service for young children, was not thoroughly conducted.

According to the results of a survey study (Shim & Lee, 1996), preschool and kindergarten directors agreed that DAP serves as a fundamental basis for meeting the objectives of both child care centers and kindergarten classes. However, despite such positive perspectives on DAP in terms of a theoretical foundation for the national curriculum in early childhood education and kindergarten programs in Korea, we do not have a complete understanding of DAP. For example, although DAP was introduced as an alternative theoretical foundation for high-quality service in early childhood, we do not know the extent to which early childhood teachers in Korea understand DAP's philosophy and use its practices in the classroom. A small number of studies report early childhood teachers' moderate beliefs of DAP (Kang, 1993; Oh, 1991), yet these studies are compromised because of their small and convenience samples. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how Korean early childhood teachers in kindergarten and child care centers understand DAP and follow its instructional guidelines. In order to obtain insights for developing an integrated system for Korea's educare system that is based on the understanding and utilization of DAP in the classroom, a comparison of early childhood teachers' beliefs and instructional activities by center type (i.e., kindergarten vs. child care) was conducted.

Method

Subjects and Procedures

Two hundred eleven kindergarten teachers and 208 child care center teachers in Seoul participated in this study. After seven centers were randomly selected from each of 25 local counties in Seoul, teachers were identified using a cluster sampling design. The survey was distributed to 500 teachers at the selected centers. Four hundred thirty of 500 surveys were returned. Responses deemed inappropriate for this study included those from a Montessori program and those from 10 uncertified teachers. As a result, responses from 419 teachers were utilized for the final analysis. The subjects' average teaching experience was 44.5 (SD=38.3) and 29.6 (SD =27.6) months for kindergarten and child care center teachers, respectively. Kindergarten teachers had higher educational backgrounds than teachers at the child care centers. More than 95 percent of kindergarten teachers and 75 percent of child care center teachers who participated in this study earned a degree from a two-year college. Teachers who did not have a college degree were certified through child development training centers.

Measures

Teacher Beliefs Scale (TBS) and Instructional Activities Scale (IAS), developed by Charlesworth, Hart, Butt, and Hernandez (1991), were used to measure the teachers' DAP beliefs and activities. These instruments were developed based on the guidelines for developmentally appropriate practices of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Based on the results of a validation research study, these two scales were found to be good instruments measuring the beliefs and practices of DAP (Charlesworth et al., 1993). TBS and IAS consist of 36 and 34 items, respectively. Among the 36 and 34 items, 14 and 15 items include inappropriate beliefs (e.g., utilization of standardized tests) and inappropriate instructional activities (e.g., memorization of numbers), respectively. The teachers' responses on the TBS were coded using a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (not important at all) to 5 (extremely important). The teachers also rated the frequency of DAP activities in their classrooms using a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (almost never: less than monthly) to 5 (very often: daily). Before distributing the scales to the teachers, the translated items were examined by a group of university faculty in the area of early childhood education.

Results

Table 1 provides descriptive statistics of DAP beliefs and activities. Korean early childhood teachers reported positive DAP beliefs (M=3.84), and utilized DAP activities (M=3.64). The teachers showed high agreement with appropriate beliefs (M=4.07, SD=.48), and their responses on inappropriate beliefs showed negative agreement (M=2.53, SD=.43). The frequency of utilizing appropriate activities was reported between "sometimes" and "regularly" (M=3.64, SD=.49). Their responses on inappropriate activities were close to "sometimes" (M=2.36, SD=.57). In terms of group differences, kindergarten teachers showed stronger agreement with developmentally appropriate beliefs (M=4.14 vs. M=.40) as well as weaker agreement with inappropriate beliefs (M=2.43 vs. M=2.63) compared to the child care teachers. The kindergarten teachers also reported more frequent use of developmentally appropriate activities (M=.70 vs. M=3.58) and less frequent use of inappropriate activities (M=2.19 vs. M=2.53) than child care teachers.

In order to compare the differences of early childhood teachers' DAP beliefs and activities by center type (kindergarten vs. child care center), two separate Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVA) were conducted (see Table 2). If a significant difference was found, a descriptive discriminant analysis was conducted as a post-hoc analysis of the MANOVA. Based upon statistically significant discriminant function, the results were interpreted to determine the more significant contributor to the group difference.

In the first MANOVA, developmentally appropriate and inappropriate beliefs served as dependent variables. Results of the descriptive discriminant analysis, as shown in Table 2, revealed that the inappropriate beliefs category (standardized canonical coefficient = .878) was a more important contributor to the group difference than appropriate beliefs (Wilks' criterion, F(2, 366) = 11.25, p<.01). In the second MANOVA, developmentally appropriate and inappropriate activities served as the dependent variables. Results of this descriptive discriminant analysis indicated that the inappropriate activities (standardized canonical coefficient = .916) was a more important contributor to the group difference than appropriate beliefs (Wilks' criterion, F(2, 342) = 18.41, p<.01).

Two cluster analyses also were performed to classify the sample participants into groups on the basis of their pattern of responses to four variables: developmentally appropriate beliefs, developmentally inappropriate beliefs, developmentally appropriate activities, and developmentally inappropriate activities. Our reason for cluster analysis was to identify participants' responses that could be grouped on the basis of their similarity. For the cluster analysis, Euclidean distance between individuals for these four variables was used as the measure of similarity. The Ward method for hierarchical clustering was used to form the clusters. For the measure of similarity, inappropriate beliefs and inappropriate activities were recoded. Thus, in the results of cluster analyses (see Tables 3 and 4), higher scores of developmentally inappropriate beliefs and inappropriate activities mean stronger disagreement and less frequent utilization of DAP, respectively.

Results of the first cluster analysis, using the kindergarten teacher sample, revealed three distinct groups (see Table 3). The first group can be defined as teachers who have strong agreement with developmentally appropriate beliefs (M=4.18) only. They showed relatively lower scores in the other three areas (M=3.25, 3.50, 3.33). The second group describes teachers who do not utilize developmentally inappropriate activities (M=4.07), but whose scores in other areas are low (M=3.82, 3.67, 3.58). Although they reported not using inappropriate activities, their inappropriate beliefs mean score was not high (M=3.58). The third group appeared to have the most positive profile. Their mean scores in all four areas were higher than those of the first and second groups.

The second cluster analysis, using child care teachers, resulted in four distinct clusters (see Table 4). The first group describes child care teachers who showed strong agreement with developmentally appropriate beliefs (M=4.22) and weak agreement with developmentally inappropriate beliefs (M=3.90) compared to the other groups. They also showed more and less frequent utilization of developmentally appropriate (M=3.91) and inappropriate (M=4.06) activities, respectively. Among the four groups, the first group showed the most positive profile, and is comparable to the third group in the kindergarten teacher sample. However, the sample size (n=22) was smaller than that of the kindergarten sample (n=56). The second group also showed high mean scores in their developmentally appropriate beliefs (M=4.32) and activities (M=4.00), but their scores in developmentally inappropriate beliefs (M=3.12) and inappropriate activities (M=3.25) were not high. The second group reported a better profile only in appropriate beliefs and activities. The third group showed high scores only in developmentally appropriate beliefs (M=3.92), but mean scores in other areas showed very low. In particular, utilization of developmentally inappropriate activities showed a very low mean (M=3.18). Finally, the fourth group showed relatively stronger emphasis on less utilization of developmentally inappropriate activities (M=3.94).

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to investigate Korean early childhood teachers' DAP beliefs and activities. For this purpose, 208 kindergarten and 211 child care center teachers participated in this study. According to the results of this survey, Korean early childhood teachers reported a positive level of DAP beliefs (M=3.84) and utilization of DAP activities (M=3.64). These findings support similar results of other Korean researchers' studies (Kang, 1993; Oh, 1991).

Although the early childhood teachers' overall agreement with DAP beliefs and activities was not strong, the results of analyses by subconstruct showed somewhat different patterns. For instance, their developmentally appropriate beliefs were found to be strong (M=4.07), but the average of developmentally inappropriate belief scores was between "not very important" and "fairly important" (M=2.53). In other words, early childhood teachers' appropriate beliefs and inappropriate beliefs cancel out each other and result in a low total score (M=3.84). It seems that the early childhood teachers may not clearly distinguish the differences between appropriate and inappropriate beliefs.

The child care and kindergarten teachers' responses on DAP activities (i.e., total scores in Table 1) appeared to be between "sometimes" and "regularly" (M=3.64). Given the teachers' responses on the appropriate beliefs (M=4.07), their activities showed somewhat low frequencies. Although they accepted DAP, especially appropriate beliefs, they may not frequently utilize DAP activities. In other words, there is a gap between their beliefs and practices. Moreover, their responses on appropriate and inappropriate activities did not show a consistency. That is, the average of developmentally inappropriate activity scores was close to "sometimes" (M = 2.64). This result reflects that some teachers, especially in child care settings, utilize inappropriate activities in their classrooms while they also utilize appropriate activities.

In terms of group differences between the kindergarten and child care samples, teachers in the two groups showed different patterns in their DAP beliefs and activities. By and large, kindergarten teachers reported having stronger DAP beliefs and frequent utilization of DAP activities (see Table 1) than the child care center teachers. Specifically, the kindergarten teachers reported stronger appropriate beliefs (4.14 vs. 4.00) and more frequent utilization of appropriate activities (3.70 vs. 3.58). The kindergarten teachers also reported weaker inappropriate beliefs (2.43 vs. 2.63) and less frequent utilization of inappropriate activities (2.19 vs. 2.53). Interestingly, based upon the results of MANOVA and discriminant analyses, the main group differences were related to their inappropriate beliefs and inappropriate activities (see Table 2). In other words, strong inappropriate beliefs and frequent utilization of inappropriate activities were the main contributors to the differences between kindergarten and child care teachers.

Similar group differences between kindergarten and child care teacher samples were also found in the results of cluster analyses. According to the results of cluster analyses (see Tables 3 and 4), kindergarten teachers showed better group profiles. For instance, compared to the kindergarten teacher sample, only the first group in the child care sample showed an appropriate profile. Many of the teachers showed inappropriate profiles, such as "strong emphasis on appropriate beliefs only" (first group in kindergarten and third group in child care teacher sample) or "less utilization of inappropriate activities only" (second group in kindergarten and fourth group in child care teacher sample). Only 45 (third group) and 26 (first group) teachers in the kindergarten and child care samples respectively showed balanced DAP beliefs and activities. These results of cluster analyses indicate that a large percentage of teachers have inconsistent profiles of DAP beliefs and activities. In addition, child care center teachers are shown to have a more complex structure in their understanding and utilization of DAP compared to the kindergarten teachers.

How can we situate these findings in terms of early childhood teachers in Korea? First, the results may be indicative of a condition inherent in the Korean educational system. Many early childhood teachers lack autonomy to develop curriculum and select instructional strategies to use in their classrooms. Their decision-making process is influenced by national curriculum, their center's philosophy, parents' needs, and the policies of local school districts.

Second, the child care teachers' responses of DAP beliefs and practices were not as positive as the kindergarten teachers' responses. This may be because child care teachers in Korea usually have less teaching experience, lower education levels, and higher turnover ratios (Na, 2001), as well as fewer hours logged at inservice training sessions (Kim et al., 2000) than kindergarten teachers. Given that DAP philosophy and techniques are often learned in the work setting and in courses, child care teachers are less likely to understand and utilize DAP.

Third, these findings provide several insights for developing an integrated "educare" system in Korea. The study shows that both child care and kindergarten teachers, in general, agree with the DAP beliefs and activities. Given the teachers' positive responses on DAP beliefs and activities, DAP can be used as an ideological and practical structure for education in Korea. Based on these results, we can expect that both kindergarten and child care teachers in Korea can provide services utilizing DAP philosophy and practice for young children. However, although the general philosophy and practice of DAP are understood by the professionals who provide education for young children in Korea, we do not know if early childhood teachers can differentiate appropriate and inappropriate developmentally appropriate practices. Based on the results of this study, many teachers have mixed understandings about these practices. As a result, teachers might utilize inappropriate activities, even though they strongly believe in DAP. Thus, it is necessary to continue to educate early childhood teachers in order for them to understand DAP and clearly distinguish the differences between appropriate and inappropriate developmentally appropriate practices.

Finally, we would be remiss if we neglected to discuss the limitations to our study. The primary limitation of this study is its sample. Although we utilized a cluster sampling technique, the participants were only recruited from a metropolitan area in Korea. Thus, it is difficult to generalize the results of this study to all early childhood teachers in Korea. Given the variability of "educare" environments in each local community, it is necessary to conduct more studies investigating the meaning of DAP across multiple areas.

Another limitation is related to validity of the DAP beliefs and activities scales. Although they have been utilized since early 1990s, validation evidences using Korean samples are not strong enough. In particular, the cultural appropriateness of DAP in Korean society requires more thoughtful consideration. For instance, DAP items measure multicultural awareness. However, Korean society is largely homogeneous. A deliberate study that investigates the culturally appropriate ideology of DAP in the Korean setting should be conducted.

In sum, this research contributes to a growing body of literature on the understanding and uses of DAP for education in Korea. This work adds to the scholarly literature by critically examining the complex facets of DAP for professionals in the field of early childhood education.

Authors' Note. Juhu Kim, Division of Educational Evaluation, Korean Educational Development Institute, Korea; Sun-Young Kim, Department of Child Development and Education, Myongji University, Korea; Mary Ann Maslak, Department of Early Childhood, Childhood and Adolescent Education, School of Education, St. John's University, U.S.A. Correspondence concerning the article can be directed to Sun-Young Kim Department of Child Development and Education, College of Humanities Myongji University 50-3 Namgajwadong, Seodaemungu Seoul, Korea 120-728 E-mail: sunyoung@ mju.ac.kr Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone]

References

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Juhu Kim

Korean Educational Development Institute, Korea

Sun-Young Kim

Myongji University, Korea

Mary Ann Maslak

St. John's University, New York 

Table 1
Means and Standard Deviations on DAP Beliefs and Practices Scores

Variables                  Kindergarten  Child Care Center  Total

Appropriate Beliefs        4.14 (.49)    4.00 (.47)         4.07 (.48)
Inappropriate Beliefs      2.43 (.41)    2.63 (.43)         2.53 (.43)
Appropriate Activities     3.70 (.53)    3.58 (.43)         3.63 (.43)
Inappropriate Activities   2.19 (.53)    2.53 (.57)         2.37 (.57)
Beliefs--total             3.91 (.33)    3.76 (.31)         3.84 (.33)
Activities--total          3.75 (.42)    3.53 (.34)         3.63 (.37)

Note: For the calculation of total scores, inappropriate beliefs and
activities were recorded.

Table 2
Discriminant Analysis and Univariate ANOVA Using DAP Belief and
Practice Scores by Center Type (Kindergarten vs. Child Care Center).

MANOVA        Variables             Standardized   Univariate F
Model                                Canonical
                                    Coefficients

  1      Appropriate Beliefs            .538           5.26 *
         Inappropriate Beliefs          .878          16.01 **

  2      Appropriate Activities         .316           6.28 *
         Inappropriate Activities       .916          33.27 **

* p < .05,
** p < .01

Table 3 Comparison of Cluster Means on the DAP Beliefs and Activities
(Kindergarten Teacher)

Dimension                  Group 1    Group 2   Group 3       F
                           (N= 59)    (N =45)   (N = 45)

Appropriate Beliefs         4.18a      3.82b     4.50c      32.9 ***
Inappropriate Beliefs       3.25a      3.67b     3.88c      59.9 ***
Appropriate Activities      3.50a      3.58a     4.04b      32.5 ***
Inappropriate Activities    3.33a      4.07b     4.21c     108.7 ***

*** p<.001

Note: Means with different subscripts differ at .05

Table 4
Comparison of Cluster Means on the DAP Beliefs and Activities
(Child Care Teacher)

Dimension                  Group 1    Group 2   Group 3
                           (N= 26)    (N =31)    (N=70)

Appropriate Beliefs         4.22a      4.32a     3.92b
Inappropriate Beliefs       3.90a      3.12b     3.29c
Appropriate Activities      3.91a      4.00a     3.42b
Inappropriate Activities    4.06a      3.25b     3.18c

Dimension                  Group 4      F
                           (N = 22)

Appropriate Beliefs        3.38c      37.15 ***
Inappropriate Beliefs      3.40d      33.18 ***
Appropriate Activities     3.06c      65.45 ***
Inappropriate Activities   3.94c      38.65 ***

*** p<.001

Note: Means with different subscripts differ at .05.