Current Situation and Policies of Early Childhood Care and Education in North Korea

In order to resolve the decline in population due to low birthrates, the South Korean government is expanding its free child care policies with an increased budget. In anticipating the effects and problems of our system, it will be worthy of attention to refer to the child care systems of other countries. In this paper, we reviewed the past and present policies and the current situation of the child care system in North Korea. North Korea started its free child care system earlier than that of South Korea, for the purpose of utilizing the women's labor force and rearing children to be revolutionary men of Juche type (Kimilsungism), in order to construct a communistic society. 'Child Care Education Law', which is the legal foundation of the child care system, regulates institutions for nursery schools and kindergarten and informs people that the country is responsible for support of child care. Despite their interest and progress in both quantity and quality in the child care system until the 1980s, the free child care system was partially disrupted, and discrepancies between ideology and actual situation were revealed due to economic difficulties from the 1990s. Because people's survival and physical health have been threatened, it is barely possible to find any study investigating the effect of institutional child care from early childhood and the instillation of unique ideology by group education from the preschool period on mental health.

Effects of Case-based Small Group Learning on Daycare Center Teachers' Coping Ability in Emergency Situations: Focus on Daily Life and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the effects of case-based learning on the coping ability of daycare center teachers in emergency situations. In the study knowledge of emergency treatment methods, attitude, intention and ability to perform CPR between were examined in an experimental group (daycare center teachers who participated in the small groups discussing case studies and comparing them with their own experience) and a control group. METHODS: The study was designed using a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. Sixty-four teachers were recruited from 40 child daycare centers in S city located in J province. Thirty-three teachers were assigned to experimental group and participated in the case-based small group learning. The data were analyzed using the SPSS 18.0 program to perform chi2-test, Pearson correlation coefficients and t-test. RESULTS: The experimental group showed significantly higher posttest scores in knowledge, attitude, intention, and performance ability than those of the control group. CONCLUSION: The study results indicate that case-based small group learning on coping ability in emergency situation is effective in increasing knowledge, attitude, intention, and performance ability for daycare center teachers.

Effects of Case-based Small Group Learning about Care of Infected Children for Daycare Center Teachers

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to develop and implement a case-based small group learning program on the care of children with infectious disease, and to examine its effects on knowledge, attitude and preventive practice behaviors of daycare center teachers compared to a control group. METHODS: Based on the need assessment, the case-based learning program for the management of infectious children was developed. For this quasi-experimental study, 69 teachers were recruited from 14 child daycare centers in a city located in J province. Thirty four teachers were assigned to experimental group and participated in the case-based small group learning once a week for 5 weeks. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 18.0 program to perform chi2-test and t-tests. Analysis of covariance was used to treat the covariate of the number of assigned children between experimental and control groups. RESULTS: The experimental group showed significantly higher posttest scores in knowledge, attitude and preventive practice behaviors than those of control group (p<.001). CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that case-based small group learning is an effective educational strategy for daycare center teachers to learn infection management through the emphasis of self-reflection and discussion.

Health Issues and Management for Children with Disabilities attending Daycare Centers

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to investigate health issues of children with disabilities attending daycare centers, and to identify the way of teachers' management on child health. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was performed with a convenience sampling of 127 teachers from 19 daycare centers for children with disabilities and 175 teachers from 17 general daycare centers. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data, and the data were analyzed using the SPSS 17.0 program. RESULTS: For the last one month, about 90% of the teachers working in daycare centers for children with disabilities had to care for sick children. When a child is sick, 50% of the teachers tended to contact with the parents of the child. The majority of the teachers caring for sick children experienced difficulties with no one available to give expert health care advice. CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicate that there are many health issues in daycare centers for children with disabilities and therefore health professionals need to be available to the centers. Specifically, health management services and programs need to be developed and provided for children with disabilities.