Changes and Difficulties in Play Support Experienced by Early Childhood Teachers in the Implementation of the 2019 Revised Nuri Curriculum

The purpose of this study is to understand the changes and difficulties of play support experienced by teachers in the implementation of the 2019 revised Nuri curriculum and to examine what is required for teachers' play support. Accordingly, five teachers from private kindergartens in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do were selected as participants in the study and the results analyzed are as follows. First, the study participants recognized the changes in play support experienced in the process of implementing the revised Nuri curriculum from activity-centered to play-centered, from the teacher's intended free-choice activities to children's free-play time, from subject-centered to interest-centered, and from curriculum implementers to a curriculum created with children. Second, the difficulties experienced in the implementation of the revised Nuri curriculum included anxiety between safety and play, conflict felt in the curriculum that conflicts with the needs of society and parents, anxiety felt in connection with adaptation in elementary school, ambiguity about the allowable range of real play and play, difficulties caused by institutional causes, the burden on the curriculum, and fear of the implementation of the new curriculum. Reflecting this result, it was suggested what support and needs are needed for the play-centered revised Nuri curriculum to be settled in the field.