Current Status and Future Challenges of Early Childhood Development, Care, and Education

Abstract

Infancy and early childhood constitute a period of particular importance in the context of human development. Human development in this early phase forms the foundation for subsequent physical, cognitive, social, and emotional growth. Thus, it is essential to ensure that the foundational development milestones for children from birth on are well on track, and that high-quality care and education services are provided to foster their healthy development down the line. In this article, I examine how things stand in Korea with early-childhood development—cognitive, linguistic, and social—and care, through a comparison of the results of the two latest rounds of the Comprehensive Survey on Children, one conducted in 2023 and the other in 2018. I also identify tasks that need to be undertaken in the area of childcare support policy in order to better support healthy development and at-home childcare for infants and young children.