The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning of the problem behaviors of
children based on the experience of teachers in various settings of early childhood education
institutions and their understanding of it. It's specifically meant to shed light on the aspects
and significance of early childhood problem behaviors according to the experience of
teachers and to interpret their perspective about problem behaviors. A research question was
posed:
What is the meaning of the problem behaviors of children according to the experience of
early childhood teachers who participate in this study?
Literature of children problem behaviors was analyzed, and domestic and foreign
literature of early childhood education from the perspective of the reconceptualization of that
education and from a reconceptualistic standpoint were analyzed.
As for data collection, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted after four
experienced teachers who had four years or more of experience were selected, and
triangulation was carried out by making a nonparticipant observation and by gathering
reference materials.
As a result, according to the experience of the teachers, the meaning and complexity of
problem behaviors could be classified into three aspects. One kind of problem behaviors
could be received in a different way depending on the contexts, and another problem
behaviors were double-sided depending on the contexts of place. The third problem
behaviors varied with the developmental contexts of children. The findings suggested that
it's required to take diverse approaches to the problem behaviors of children in
consideration of the circumstances of teachers and children, and that the reconceptualistic
perspective about education is necessary to understand both of them.