Seoul City Expands 'Reducing Number of Children per Childcare Teacher to One' to 400 Daycare Centers

Expansion from 160 to 400 National, Private, and Home Childcare Centers Next Year... Priority Selection for Centers Specialized in Children with Disabilities and Integrated Childcare Centers

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 19th that it will expand the ‘Teacher-to-Child Ratio Improvement Project,’ which reduces the number of children assigned to one childcare teacher below the legal standard to alleviate excessive workload and create a safer childcare environment, to 400 daycare centers next year.

The ‘Teacher-to-Child Ratio Improvement Project’ is a program in which the city fully supports the personnel expenses with city funds to allow daycare centers to hire one additional childcare teacher, thereby reducing the number of children cared for by one teacher. It was first launched in July 2021 as the first metropolitan local government initiative and is currently operating in 160 public, private, and home daycare centers.

Seoul City analyzed the effects of the pilot operation of the ‘Teacher-to-Child Ratio Improvement Project’ and found that positive interactions between teachers and young children and caregivers’ trust in daycare centers have continuously increased. In particular, working conditions have significantly improved, including reduced job stress and overtime for childcare teachers.

Perception of Service Quality Improvement Before and After the Pilot Project

Notably, in the case of daycare centers specializing in children with disabilities, the average interaction between teachers and young children improved by more than twice when one additional childcare teacher was assigned. The teacher-child interaction in disability-specialized daycare centers was analyzed by comparing observations of interactions in two classes (pilot target/non-target), each with five children with autism spectrum disorder attending.

Based on these effects and satisfaction, Seoul City plans to select an additional 240 sites for the pilot project next year to improve the quality of childcare services. Priority will be given to selecting disability-specialized and integrated daycare centers to support the improvement of operating conditions for daycare centers caring for socially vulnerable groups.

Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul City Women and Family Policy Office, said, “Through the performance analysis of the pilot project, we were able to confirm in various ways that the ‘Teacher-to-Child Ratio Improvement Project’ is creating positive changes in the quality of childcare. Moving forward, we will do our best to drastically improve the childcare environment for infants and children with disabilities in dual-income families to create a happy Seoul for moms and dads and a child-friendly Seoul.”

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