A study has found that private education for infants and toddlers does not significantly impact a child's academic performance in the future. Rather, this excessive private education during early childhood may negatively affect a child's development.
Kim Eun-young, a senior researcher at the Center for Childcare Policy, will present empirical research results on this topic during training for employees of the Ministry of Education aimed at improving perceptions of private education for infants and toddlers on the 15th.
This training was organized in response to the increasing interest in private education for infants and toddlers, to analyze its related impacts.
Earlier, in March, the Ministry of Education publicly released the results of the first survey on private education expenses for infants and toddlers. The survey, conducted from July to September last year among 13,241 parents of children under six years old, revealed that the overall participation rate in private education was 47.6%. Among them, 8 out of 10 five-year-olds (81.2%) attended private institutes.
During the presentation, Commissioner Kim will give a lecture on the topic of 'Research on private education experience and development during early childhood.' According to this research, private education experiences during early childhood show no correlation with language ability or vocabulary in the short term, and the impact appears to be negligible. In the long term, it also has no significant effects on academic performance.
Additionally, the experience of private education during early childhood has shown no positive effects or has had negative impacts in terms of social and emotional aspects such as self-esteem and life satisfaction. Commissioner Kim noted, 'Although the participation rate in private education for infants and toddlers is on the rise, it appears that such participation has no practical effects in the short or medium term,' adding, 'Excessive private education may reduce play and rest time, which can negatively affect a child's holistic development.'
The Ministry of Education plans to improve social perceptions of private education for infants and toddlers. To this end, it will promote the production of online content to provide professional and accurate information regarding appropriate nurturing and educational methods for child development.