희망유치원의 가족참여 활동 개선을 위한 실행연구

Abstract

본 연구는 희망유치원 희망반의 담임교사인 본 연구자가 유치원에서 이루어지는 가족참여 활동의 개선에 관심을 갖고 수행한 실행연구(Action research)이다. 따라서 본 연구는 희망유치원 가족참여 활동의 문제점을 파악하고 이를 개선하기 위한 과정에서 나타나는 교사와 유치원, 가족들의 변화양상을 분석하여 유아교육현장에서의 효과적인 가족참여 활동을 운영하는데 목적이 있다. 이와 같은 연구목적에 따라 다음과 같은 연구문제를 설정하였다.

첫째, 희망유치원 가족참여 활동의 문제점과 개선방안은 무엇인가? 둘째, 희망유치원의 가족참여 활동의 개선과정에서 나타나는 변화양상은 어떠한가?

본 연구의 대상은 경기도 B지역에 위치한 희망유치원 만4세 희망반의 유아 및 유아의 가족들과 담임교사인 본 연구자이다. 연구 기간은 2010년 1월 13일부터 12월 23일까지이며, 문제파악을 위한 2회의 가족참여 활동을 진행한 후에 문제점을 개선하기 위한 12회의 가족참여 활동을 실시하였다. 본 실행연구 과정은 Kemmis와 McTaggart의 4주기 자기반성적 실행연구 사이클 모형을 사용하여 문제 파악과 변화의 계획, 계획의 실천과 변화의 과정 및 결과에 대한 관찰, 이러한 과정 및 결과에 대한 반성, 수정된 계획에 의한 실천과 관찰 및 이에 대한 반성의 반복으로 진행되었다. 수집된 자료는 유형별로 나누어 해석하고 이를 범주화하여 분석하였다. 본 연구의 결과를 연구문제 중심으로 요약하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 희망유치원 가족참여 활동에서는 희망유치원의 다양한 가족구조와 특성을 지닌 가정들에 대한 유치원의 이해와 배려의 부족, 희망유치원의 가족들의 저조한 참여율, 희망반의 가족들의 다양한 요구들이 반영되지 못하는 점이 문제점으로 제기되었다. 둘째, 총 12회, 4차에 걸친 가족참여 활동 개선과정에서 연구자와 유치원을 포함한 유치원과 유아를 포함한 가족들에게서는 다양한 변화양상을 관찰할 수 있었다. 준비기(1회기~2회기)에서 유아들은 가족참여 활동을 부모와 함께 유치원에 오는 날로 인식하고 있었고, 교사 중 일부는 가족참여 활동의 필요성과 의미를 크게 인식하지 못하고 있었으며 일부 부모들은 가족참여 활동에 대한 참여의지나 필요성을 크게 인식하지 못하고 있었다. 초기(3회기~5회기)-1차 개선과정에서는 가족들의 특성을 파악하고 이해하기 위한 실태조사와 선호하는 가족참여 활동에 대한 조사가 이루어졌다. 이 과정에서 가족들은 가족참여 활동의 대상을 부모 이외의 성인으로 확장해서 인식하게 되었으며, 가족참여 활동의 문제점을 개선하기 위한 유치원의 노력을 인식하여 활동에의 참여 의지를 갖게 되었다. 중기(6회기~8회기)-2차 개선과정에서 연구자는 희망반의 다양한 특성을 가진 가족들과 유아를 위한 상담 및 관찰일지를 제작하고 이를 동료 교사들과 공유하였으며, 가족참여 활동에 대한 참여 결정권을 행사하는 가족을 직접 설득하며 참여를 지지하였고, 효율적인 의사소통에 대한 부모교육과 상담을 실시하였다. 연구자를 포함한 교사들은 가족들의 다양한 특성에 더욱 관심을 갖고 이해하기 시작하였으며, 가족들에게 즐거움을 줄 수 있는 방안을 고민하고 실천하기 시작하였고, 가족들의 요구사항을 좀 더 적극적으로 살펴보며 반영할 수 있는 개선방안을 모색하게 되었다. 희망유치원 가족들은 가족 구조에 따른 특성에 개의치 않고 더욱 적극적으로 참여하였으며, 가족참여 활동에 나름대로의 의미를 부여하며 애착을 갖기 시작하는 모습을 보여주었다. 후기(9회기~11회기)-3차 개선에서는 희망반의 여러 가족들을 이해하고 도움을 주어 참여율을 높이기 위한 전문가를 초청하여 부모교육을 실시하였으며,「3세대 전통문화 체험」활동에서는 다문화 멘토 및 전통문화 지도사 3인의 도움을 받아 다문화 가정들이 전통문화를 이해할 수 있도록 도왔다. 또한 연구자와 원장이 가족참여 활동에 잘 참여하지 않는 가족들을 직접 격려하였고, 가족들의 불편함이나 요구사항을 파악하여 다음 회기 가족참여 활동에 반영할 계획을 세웠다. 또한 지난 회기에서 발견된 문제점인 저조한 조부모 참여율을 높이고 조부모의 소극적 태도를 변화시키기 위하여 기존의 전통문화체험 활동의 제목을 바꾸고 조부모들이 나설 수 있는 코너를 도입하였다. 그리고 여전히 가족참여 활동에 참여하지 않는 가정에는 가정방문 상담을 실시하였다. 연구자를 포함한 교사들은 가족참여 활동의 대상이 가족 구성원 전체로 확장되어야 함을 인식하였고, 점차 가족들을 이해하고 배려하며 자발적으로 유아의 형제들을 위한 준비를 하는 모습으로 변화되었다. 희망반의 가족에게서는 이전의 소극적인 모습과는 달리「3세대 전통문화체험」에서 적극적으로 나서 시범을 보이고 다른 가족들을 돕고, 설명을 하는 조부모들의 새로운 변화를 확인할 수 있었으며, 유아들에게서는 가족참여 활동을 부모와 유아 자신을 비롯한 조부모, 형제 등의 모든 가족이 참여하는 활동으로 인식하게 된 변화를 관찰할 수 있었다. 완성기(12회기~14회기)-4차 개선과정에서는 연구자와 교사, 원장이 「다문화 가정 멘토-멘티 결연 및 우정캠프」에 희망반 어머니와 함께 참여하였다. 연구자는 가정방문을 통하여 이와 유사하게 그 동안 참여율이 현저히 낮았고 결석이 많았으며 의사소통이 어려웠던 가정의 어려움과 환경에 대하여 알게 되었으며, 가족들은 가정방문을 통한 상담으로 유치원과 담임교사에 대한 친밀감과 신뢰를 확고하게 인식하였고, 앞으로의 가족참여 활동에 참여할 의지를 갖게 되었다. 지난 후기에서 파악한 가족들의 요구를 반영하여 가정연계활동은 현장 체험으로 대체하였고, 참여시간을 탄력적으로 운영하였다. 또한 희망유치원의 교사들은 가족들을 우선으로 배려하며 더욱 친밀해진 모습을 보였다. 희망반 가족들은 완성기의 가족참여 활동에서 모든 회기의 참여율 중 가장 큰 참여율을 보였으며, 가족참여 활동을 개선하기 위한 유치원의 노력을 인식하고, 유치원과 교사를 더욱 신뢰하게 되었으며, 가족참여 활동은 가족들을 위한 것이라는 의미를 새롭게 인지하게 되었다. 또한 가족참여 활동이 부자간, 부부간의 관계에도 영향을 준다고 인식하거나 가족참여 활동에 흥미를 느끼게 되어 참여의지가 높아지기도 하였다.

|ABSTRACT

An Action Study on the Improvement of Family-Involvement Activities in Heemang Kindergarten

Lee Se-Na Department of Early Childhood Education Graduate School of Education Sungshin Women's University (Directed by Professor Bae Ji-Hi)

The purpose of this study was to make an action research in family- involvement activities conducted by a kindergarten in an effort to seek ways of improving these activities. This researcher was concerned about how to improve kindergarten family-involvement activities as a homeroom teacher who was in charge of Heemang class at Heemang Kindergarten. It's basically meant to investigate family-involvement activities provided by the kindergarten and the aspects of changes in the kindergarten, teachers and families during the process of the improvement of the activities in an effort to help ensure the effectiveness of family-involvement activities in the early childhood education sector. Two research questions were posed:

1. What are the problems with family-involvement activities and possible reform measures at Heemang Kindergarten?

2. How many changes take place in the process of the improvement of family-involvement activities at Heemang Kindergarten?

The subjects in this study were the preschoolers in Heemang class of Western age 4, their families and this researcher at Heemang Kindergarten located in the region of B, Gyeonggi Province. This study was implemented from January 13 to December 23, 2010. A family-involvement activity was conducted twice to grasp what problems there were, and then more family-involvement activities were conducted 12 times. According to Kemmis and McToggart's four-cycle self-reflective action research cycle model, this study was carried out in the following procedure: problem grasping, planning for change, acting, observing and reflecting. After the initial plan was modified in this process, the modified plan was carried out again, and then observing and reflecting were carried out again as well. The collected data were categorized, analyzed and interpreted.

The major findings of the study about the research questions were as follows:

First, there were several problems with the family-involvement activities at the kindergarten, such as the kindergarten's poor understanding of the diverse family structures and characteristics of the families, lack of consideration and a low participation rate of the families. Another problem was that the needs of the families in the class weren't reflected. Second, while the family-involvement activities were conducted 12 times, the improvement of the activities was attempted four times. In that process, it was possible to find a wide variety of changes in this researcher, the kindergarten, the preschoolers and their families. In the preparation stage of the 1st and 2nd sessions, the preschoolers regarded the family-involvement activities as the activity that they went to the kindergarten with their parents together. Some of the teachers weren't aware of the necessity and meaning of the family-involvement activities, and some of the parents didn't have an intention to participate in the activities nor felt the need for that, either. In the early improvement stage of the third to fifth sessions, a survey was conducted to understand the characteristics of the families, and their favorite family-involvement activities were investigated. As for the changes of the parents, they became aware of the necessity of the participation of every family member, and they got to think that not only parents but other adult family members could participated in these activities. In addition, they felt that the kindergarten tried to improve the problems with these activities, and they got to have a will to participate. In the middle improvement stage of the sixth to eighth sessions, this researcher kept counseling and observation journals for the sake of the preschoolers and their families in the class, whose characteristics were all different, and this researcher shared the journals with fellow teachers. The family members of the preschoolers who made a decision about participation in the family-involvement activities were persuaded to participate, and parent education and counseling were provided for the families about effective communication. All the teachers involving this researcher got interested in the diverse characteristics of the families, began to understand them, thought over how to give them pleasure, and actually tried to do that. The teachers were carefully concerned about their needs and sought ways of improving the family-involvement activities in response to their needs. In terms of the families, there appeared various changes as well. Some families participated without being conscious of their own characteristics related to family structure, and other families found a meaning in these activities and became fond of the activities. In the late improvement stage of the ninth to 11th sessions, an expert was invited to offer parent education so that all the teachers could have a better understanding of the families and boost their participation. Specifically, the hands-on three-generational traditional culture activities were carried out with the help of three people who were multicultural mentors and experts in cultural heritage in order to let multicultural families understand traditional culture. The families who didn't make up their mind whether to participate or not were persuaded by this researcher and the principal, and whether they felt any inconveniences and what they expected were investigated to map out better family- involvement plans. In the previous sessions, the grandparents of the preschoolers took a passive attitude and didn't participate a lot. To remedy this situation, the titles of existing hands-on traditional culture activities were changed, and the kind of activities that the grandparents could participate in were newly introduced. And the families that continued not to participate were visited for the purpose of counseling. The teachers including this researcher got to view family-involvement activities as the activities in which every family member could participate. They gradually understood the families, became more considerate of them and started to make preparations for the siblings of the preschoolers spontaneously. The grandparents who were initially passive underwent a positive change as well. They gave a demonstration, helped the other families and gave them explanation when they participated in the hands-on three-generational traditional culture activities. The preschoolers underwent a change at the same time. They got to look upon family-involvement activities as activities in which every family member could participate involving their parents, grandparents and siblings. In the final improvement stage of the 12th to 14th sessions, this researcher, the other teachers and the principal participated in a program with the mothers of the class to form a mentor-mentee relationship for multicultural families. This researcher got to know about the environments of the families who didn't participate in the activities, whose preschool children often failed to attend and whom it was not easy to communicate with by visiting these families, and learned what difficulties they faced. These families got more familiar with the kindergarten and the homeroom teacher of their children and put confidence in them when they were visited for the purpose of counseling, and they had a will to participate in family-involvement activities. Existing family-connected activities were replaced with hands-on activities by considering their needs that were found in the previous sessions, and a flexible schedule was prepared about family-involvement activities. The teachers became more considerate of families and were on better terms with them. This researcher found that active efforts by teachers would make it possible for families to tide over their difficulties, and the teachers realized the meaning and significance of family-involvement activities and found it rewarding to conduct these activities. The rate of the participation of the families of the class in the family-involvement activities was highest in the final stage than in any other stage. They perceived that the kindergarten tried to improve family-involvement activities, and put more faith in the kindergarten and the teachers. At the same time, they realized that family-involvement activities were for the sake of families, and they also realized that family-involvement activities had an impact on parent-child relationships or marital relations, or got interested in these activities, which served as an opportunity to stir up their will to participate.