Description
South Korea is becoming a multicultural nation. As South Korea has entered a new stage of economic growth, the number of families with ethnically non-Korean and non-Korean-speaking members has increased. Furthermore, while the total number of elementary and secondary students is decreasing, the number of students who have culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds is increasing. However, due to South Korea’s historical background and lack of diversity, schools have not been adequately responsive to demographic changes. Research on multicultural education in South Korea has been growing, but there is little research that examines the views of parents. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore South Korea’s culturally and linguistically diverse children’s preschool experiences from the perspectives of these students’ parents. The theoretical framework for this study is based on “caring-centered multicultural education,” which is a model that Pang (2010, 2018) developed and which integrates the beliefs of caring, culture, and community. For the study, 30 parents from South Korea who have culturally and linguistically diverse preschool children (three to five years old) were interviewed. Ten classroom observations, along with preschool document analyses, were conducted following the interviews with the parents in order to gain another source of data. The research found that parents supported cultural diversity and affirmed the importance of caring in the classroom. However, there were many instances in which children were not considered Korean because they are interracial or were born to parents who are not considered Korean citizens. Many culturally diverse children were bullied by their classmates, and teachers also discriminated against them. In addition, there is a lack of knowledge about cultural and linguistic diversity in many preschools in South Korea. The teachers in this study thought they were providing multicultural education, but in fact, they were merely focusing on introducing different countries around the world. Taken together, the data suggest that the government should present basic guidelines for early childhood teacher education that include working with diverse students and treating them equitably. A form of teacher education must be implemented in the educational system that addresses the social and educational biases found in this study. Teachers should have a clear understanding of what culture means as a whole, and they should be educated about the importance of bilingual education. Also, the needs of students covered by this research differed according to the type of family to which they belonged. Educational support should be given to children according to their personal and familial characteristics.
