A qualitative study on the experience of infringement on childcare teachers’ rights and protection of their rights

As children's rights are emphasized, it is also necessary to guarantee the rights of childcare teachers. Therefore, this study aims to provide basic policy data for promoting childcare teachers' rights. To study the in-depth contents of the experience of infringement of the rights of childcare teachers and the protection of rights, 10 childcare teachers were selected as research participants. Qualitative inquiry was conducted by applying research techniques such as in-depth interviews and focus group interviews. As a result of analyzing the collected data, first, there was interference with childcare activities, violation of privacy, abuse, assault, harassment in the workplace, and violation of human rights due to the violation of the rights of childcare teachers. Second, to cope with such rights violations, childcare teachers had conversations, made suggestions, showed patience and compliance, and demonstrated resistance to quitting, and turnover. Third, the demands of childcare teachers to protect their rights and interests included strengthening the qualifications of childcare teachers, legislating the rights of childcare teachers, equal pay, and dedicated pensions. In particular, as the problem of infants' disability became serious due to the negative attitude of the parents, the teachers thought that it was an important value and had meaning in the field of child care that the authority to request the infant's disability test without the consent of the parents was required by law. In addition, the suggestion that the childcare teachers selected by introducing the national examination system are responsible for professional education and the non-examination short-term educators are responsible for professional nurturing suggests that it can be a way to coexist with short-term educators as a policy issue for improving the quality of childcare.