Why the initiative of free childcare failed to be an effective policy implementation of universal childcare in South Korea

Journal article


Lee, Sung-Hee 2021. Why the initiative of free childcare failed to be an effective policy implementation of universal childcare in South Korea. Journal of Asian Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/17516234.2021.1955644
AuthorsLee, Sung-Hee
Abstract

Free childcare (‘moo-sang-bo-yuk’ in Korean) for all children aged 0-5 was implemented for the first time in South Korea in 2012, initially being aimed at establishing universal childcare in order to alleviate parents’ childcare burden. Despite the headlines grabbing policy reform, it still remains questionable whether the policy implementation has had any positive impact on parents’ childcare burden, in terms of the state taking on more responsibility in this regard. The paper is aimed at exploring how the meaning of universal childcare was communicated during the policy initiation process. In order to do so, interpretative policy analysis was utilised as a methodological approach, whilst relevant policy documents and in-depth interviews were used for data collection. Why the policy implementation could not succeed in bringing universal childcare to the fore is critically examined. I argue that these failings occurred because the policy implementation was placed on the agenda with a lack of commitment to increasing the number of public childcare centres, as well as disengagement from understanding the gender relations necessary for delivering universal childcare effectively.

KeywordsFree childcare; Universal childcare; marketisation of care; policy interpretive analysis; gender relations; South Korea
Year2021
JournalJournal of Asian Public Policy
PublisherTaylors & Francis Online
ISSN1751-6242
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/17516234.2021.1955644
Web address (URL)http://hdl.handle.net/10545/625895
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
hdl:10545/625895
Publication dates22 Jul 2021
Publication process dates
Deposited27 Jul 2021, 09:02
Accepted11 Jul 2021
Rights

CC0 1.0 Universal

ContributorsUniversity of Derby
File
File Access Level
Open
File
File Access Level
Open
File
Permalink -

https://repository.derby.ac.uk/item/94q86/why-the-initiative-of-free-childcare-failed-to-be-an-effective-policy-implementation-of-universal-childcare-in-south-korea

Download files

  • 15
    total views
  • 1
    total downloads
  • 0
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Why are childcare costs expensive in the UK?
Lee, S. 2022. Why are childcare costs expensive in the UK? International Social Security Review . (23), pp. 53-62. https://doi.org/10.23063/2022.12.5
Ideas, Coalition Magnets and Policy Change: Comparing variation in early childhood education and care policy expansion across four latecomer countries
Lee, S. and Himmelweit, S. M. 2022. Ideas, Coalition Magnets and Policy Change: Comparing variation in early childhood education and care policy expansion across four latecomer countries. Government and Opposition. https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2022.35
Towards optimising children's capability and tackling relative child poverty in high-income countries: the cases of Japan, Sweden and the UK since 2000
Lee, S., Takeuchi, H. and Ivarsson, A. 2022. Towards optimising children's capability and tackling relative child poverty in high-income countries: the cases of Japan, Sweden and the UK since 2000. Global Health Action. 15 (1), pp. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2022.2084230
Work-family policy expansion and the idea of social investment: the cases of Germany, England, South Korea and Japan
Lee, Sung-Hee and Mohun Himmelweit, Samuel 2021. Work-family policy expansion and the idea of social investment: the cases of Germany, England, South Korea and Japan. in: Policy Press.
Social policy discourses around caring society in Europe
Lee, Sung-Hee 2018. Social policy discourses around caring society in Europe. Korean Women's Development Institute.
A comparative study on social service sector workers' working conditions
Lee, Sung-Hee 2020. A comparative study on social service sector workers' working conditions. Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.
Beyond the policy rhetoric: the limitations of gender mainstreaming in South Korea relating to women and childcare
Lee, Sung-Hee 2019. Beyond the policy rhetoric: the limitations of gender mainstreaming in South Korea relating to women and childcare. Social Policy and Society. https://doi.org/10.1017/S147474619000484
Social Care Service Provision in UK
Lee, Sung-Hee 2016. Social Care Service Provision in UK. Chung-Ang University Collaboration Institute.
가족수당 (Family Allowances in UK)
Lee, Sung-Hee 2017. 가족수당 (Family Allowances in UK). Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.
The socialization of childcare and a missed opportunity through path dependence: The case of South Korea
Lee, Sung-Hee 2017. The socialization of childcare and a missed opportunity through path dependence: The case of South Korea. Social Politics. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxx001
Gender mainstreaming in South Korea – a critical analysis through discursive institutionalism around the issue of childcare
Lee, Sung-Hee 2016. Gender mainstreaming in South Korea – a critical analysis through discursive institutionalism around the issue of childcare. LHSS, University of Derby.
Has childcare become less of a burden in South Korea? Exploring the nature of pre-and post-reform childcare provision
Sung-Hee Lee 2016. Has childcare become less of a burden in South Korea? Exploring the nature of pre-and post-reform childcare provision. Asian Journal of Women's Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/12259276.2016.1242941