This study aimed to identify the practice and the perception on the necessity, the obstacles and the ways to promote grandparent participation in early childhood education center. The study subjects were 148 teachers and 152 grandparents in Daegu, Bus...
This study aimed to identify the practice and the perception on the necessity, the obstacles and the ways to promote grandparent participation in early childhood education center. The study subjects were 148 teachers and 152 grandparents in Daegu, Busan and Yeongnam area. The questionnaire was made up by modifying the precedent studies (An, 2004; Choi, 2007; Park, 2004; Um, 1999). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 12.0 program for general characters of teachers and grandparents, t-test. two-way ANOVA for finding perceptional differences of grandparent participation necessity according to subjects and regions. The results were as follows. First, the practice of grandparent participation in early childhood education center did not show any difference between the regions. However, the actual participation by grandparent had differences regarding teacher aid, volunteering, talking on the phone, face-to-face talk, participation in parent education, reading school letters, online participation, and use of text messages, in which the grandparents in rural regions participated more than those in urban regions. Second, in the necessity of grandparent involvement with early childhood education center according to subjects and regions, the teachers" awareness was higher than the grandparents" awareness. The grandparents" awareness was higher than the teachers" in terms of the necessity of teacher aid, volunteering, use of text message and communication through memos. Third, as for the obstacles of operating grandparent participation in early childhood education center, the teachers in urban areas showed higher awareness than those in rural areas. Fourth, as for the ways to promote grandparent involvement in early childhood education center, the teachers in urban areas showed higher awareness than those in rural areas regarding the necessity of grandparents" volunteering outside the classroom. However, there was no regional difference in grandparents" awareness of ways to promote grandparent involvement with early childhood education center. In conclusion, this study implies ways to promote the connection between the early childhood education center and the family with grandchildren.