Improvement to Prevent One Teacher from Caring for More Than 13 Children in Three-Year-Old Classes

Seoul Education Office to Provide Additional Staff Support
for Three-Year-Old Classes

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced on August 13 that it will officially launch the "Improvement of Teacher-to-Child Ratio Project," one of the four major standardization initiatives for the integration of early childhood education and care.

This project targets three-year-old classes in kindergartens and daycare centers, where the demand for additional staff is highest. If the teacher-to-child ratio exceeds 1:13, the project will provide funding for the salary of one additional support staff member within the allocated budget. This measure reflects the Ministry of Education's "2025 Early Childhood School Pilot Project Plan," which requires the assignment of an additional teacher if the ratio in three-year-old classes exceeds 1:13.

The teacher-to-child ratio improvement project is the most highly requested and satisfactory initiative among the standardization tasks for integrating kindergartens and daycare centers, according to field staff and parents. However, due to difficulties in recruiting and managing personnel, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is the only local education office nationwide to implement this project.

A total of 378 institutions and 502 classes are expected to participate in this pilot project, including 161 kindergartens (250 classes) and 217 daycare centers (252 classes). The project budget is estimated to be around 8.5 billion won. The Office plans to provide support within the budget, taking into account the number of three-year-old children.

Salary support will differ depending on the type of institution. In kindergartens, one support staff member will be assigned to each three-year-old class for up to five hours per day. In daycare centers, one assistant teacher will be assigned to each three-year-old class for up to seven hours per day.

Jung Keunsik, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "Through this pilot project, we expect to enhance the quality of interaction between teachers and young children, and to lay the foundation for a successful integration of early childhood education and care by enabling teachers to focus more on education and care."

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