ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

The purpose of this study was to explore ways to enhance teacher professionalism for the integration of early childhood education and care (ECEC) by examining how kindergarten and childcare center teachers shared and critically reflected on their educational philosophies and practices through a professional learning community. For data, three public kindergarten and four childcare center teachers participated in a professional learning community over four months. Using the tongue drum, an unfamiliar teaching medium, the participants shared and reflected on their classroom play practices. Play records, teacher journals, photographs and videos, and meeting transcripts were analyzed using qualitative methods. The results showed that the teachers shared differences arising from their distinct institutional and cultural contexts, which led to the deconstruction of existing beliefs and the generation of new relational knowledge. In particular, critical reflections on play experiences using the tongue drum served as a catalyst for reconstructing teachers’ practices and forming a unique pedagogy centered on young children. These findings suggest that teacher professionalism is a dynamic and relationally reconstructed process rather than a fixed competence, and that participation in a professional learning community can promote not only individual but also collective professional growth. This study is meaningful in that it proposes a direction for educational integration in the context of ECEC, beyond a mere institutional unification

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