Case study of children’s forest course operation from the perspective of agency

Objectives This study is a paper that explores Professor S’s case of operating a forest subject for children based on the ecological perspective of agency. Methods To this end, we observed the forest play class of the forest subject opened in the first semester of 2023 and interviewed Professor S using a cultural technology interview method to qualitatively study the development and operation of the class. Based on the class observation and interview contents, we coded the main words and concepts and conducted a structural analysis according to an ecological approach. Results As a result of the study, at an iterative level, past experience as a forest expert and early childhood educator resulted in the systematic operation of forest curriculum under the frame of early childhood education. At a projective level, the vision of the children's forest teacher as a teacher who feels comfortable in the forest, a teacher who creates forest play activities, and a teacher who coexists with nature was expressed through teaching methods. At the practical-evaluative level, Professor S was found to practice Korean-style kindergarten forest experience education tailored to the child's level in consideration of the student's level and guide the students. Professor S's agency like this contains the meaning of the process of increasing students' agency and supporting them to start as children's forest teachers. Conclusions The operation of the forest course was shown to be an expression of the agency to operate the course in accordance with the context of University B based on the professor’s life history, teaching experience, and vision for forest education and early childhood education. Through this, we proposed what students should experience in the course of the training course in order to play the role of early childhood teacher in the curriculum of the 2019 revised Nuri Curriculum.