'Reduction of Teacher-to-Child Ratio' in Seoul, Expanded from Public to Private and Home Daycare Centers

Expansion to 160 Centers Including 50 Private and Home Daycare Centers Following 110 Public Daycare Centers

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 16th that it will expand the pilot project to reduce the ‘teacher-to-child ratio’ in daycare centers, which was first implemented by a metropolitan local government targeting public daycare centers, to include private and home daycare centers starting in March.

Seoul City began improving the ‘teacher-to-child ratio’ in July last year for 110 public daycare centers, focusing on classes for infants aged 0 and 3 years old. This time, the city will provide the same support to 50 Seoul-type private and home daycare centers. The total number of pilot project daycare centers will increase to 160.

From March, the additional supported daycare centers will include 50 Seoul-type and government-supported daycare centers. The city will fully cover the personnel expenses so that each daycare center can newly hire one childcare teacher for the 0-year-old and 3-year-old classes.

As a result, the number of children cared for by one teacher in the ‘0-year-old class’ will decrease from 3 to 2, and in the ‘3-year-old class’ from 15 to 10 or fewer. Seoul City plans to prioritize improving the teacher-to-child ratio because the workload of childcare teachers is greatest in the 0-year-old class, which requires intensive care, and the 3-year-old class, which has a high density due to the large number of children.

Seoul City will also conduct monitoring to measure the outcomes and analyze the effects of the pilot project. Surveys comparing before and after the project implementation, in-depth interviews with teachers and caregivers, and expert observations will be conducted for project evaluation. Based on the effect analysis, Seoul City plans to continuously recommend to the government the criteria for personnel expense support for pilot project classes and the relaxation of childcare staff placement standards.

Meanwhile, reducing the ‘teacher-to-child ratio’ was the top priority demand from caregivers and childcare teachers seeking improvements in the childcare field. According to the 2020 Seoul City childcare policy demand survey, the analysis of the project effects in public daycare centers where Seoul City implemented the ‘teacher-to-child ratio reduction’ pilot project showed clear improvements in all areas, including teacher-child interactions, working conditions for childcare teachers, and communication between teachers and caregivers.

Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul City Women and Family Policy Office, said, “Lowering the child-to-teacher ratio is a way to improve the quality of childcare and make children, parents, and teachers all happier,” adding, “Based on the proven effects through public daycare centers last year, this year we have expanded the project to include Seoul-type private and home daycare centers.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.