본 연구의 목적은 영유아교육기관에 근무하고 있는 교사들이 인식하는 유아인성교육의 의미와 실행경험과 어려움 그리고 요구를 살펴봄으로써 영유아교육기관에서 실행하고 있는 유아인성교육에 대하여 효율적인 방향성을 제시하는 것이다. 이를 위하여 서울과 경기도 소재의 영유아교육기관에 근무하는 유아교사 20명을 대상으로 심층면담을 실시하였다. 연구결과 첫째, 면담에 참여한 교사들은 인성은 ‘사람 됨됨이’라고 인식하고 있었고, 유아인성교육의 의미는 교육과정을 토대로 한 관계 중심의 인성교육이라고하였다. 둘째, 유아인성교육에 대한 실행에 있어서 주로 하루일과 속에서 자연스럽게 기본생활습관지도와 함께 동화를 통한 극놀이, 이야기나누기 등 관계 중심의 대화를 통한 인성교육 방법을 실행하고 있었다. 이와 같은 인성교육의 방법은 유아들로 하여금 인성덕목을 쉽게 이해하도록 하는데 도움을 주며 실천적 교육 경험의 기회를 제공하는 효율적인 교수방법이라고 하였다. 또한 부모-자녀 체험활동, 교사의모델링을 통한 인성교육을 실시한다고 응답하면서 유아인성교육에 있어서 성인의 역할이 중요하며, 부모와 교사가 함께 할 때 긍정적인 교육의 효과가 일어난다고 하였다. 이를 통해 인성교육에 대한 부모-자녀체험활동의 연간계획을 수립하여 지속적으로 운영될 수 있도록 개선방향을 모색해야 함을 알 수 있었다. 셋째, 유아인성교육을 실행하는데 어려움으로는 가정과 연계되지 않는 인성교육 실행의 어려움, 장기적이고 반복적인 인성교육 실행에서 오는 소진의 어려움, 관계 중심의 인성교육 내용을 실행하는데 어려움을 겪고 있다고 토로하였다. 넷째, 유아인성교육 실행에 대한 교사들의 요구로는 유아인성교육에 대한부모들의 인식개선의 요구와 꾸준히 실천하는 유아인성교육의 요구, 연령별 특성과 개인차를 고려한 인성교육 프로그램 개발에 대한 요구가 있었다.
The purpose of this study was to examine meanings, practical experience, difficulties, and needs of early childhood character education for teachers working at early childhood education institutions, and to present the direction of effective early childhood character education. To achieve this purpose, in-depth interview carried out separately with 20 teachers who working at early childhood education institutions located on Seoul and Gyeonggi province. The results of this study were as follows. First, as for the meanings of early childhood character education in practicing early childhood education institutions, some teachers perceived that it was not easy for children to understand and access educationally because character education had a comprehensive meaning or frequently associated with creativity, so ambiguous or abstract in educational approach. On the other hand, most teachers said that character education was important in terms of making basic life habits and personality formation, and educated about the significance of relational character education such as consideration, empathy, cooperation and respect. Second, as for the practical experience of early childhood character education, most teachers instructed to mainly form the basic lifestyle habits naturally in the course of the day, and focused on the relational character education based on standard childcare and Nuri Curriculum. As for the method of character education, the educational approach using story telling and story sharing was an effective teaching method that helped children to understand the virtues of humanity and provided opportunity for practical education experience. In addition, character education through teacher modeling and parent-child experiential activities had positive effect on both parents and children. However, it was more effective when approaching periodically than one-time education. Third, as for the difficulties of early childhood character education in practicing early childhood education institutions, Difficulty of burnout from running long-term and repetitive personality education, and communicating the contents of the relational character education had difficulties of performing character education. Fourth, as for the needs of early childhood character education in practicing early childhood education institutions, most teachers hoped that much support would be ongoing with the expansion of education and training experience and opportunities for an effective educational approach to carry out character education in cooperation with the family, and medium suitable for the child's age, and to find teacher's self character.