The objective of this study was to find the meanings of experiences in educational
service activities at kindergartens perceived by pre‐service early childhood teachers.
For this purpose, this study analyzed journals and interview records collected through
8 sessions from 63 pre‐service early childhood teachers attending the 2nd year at the
Early Childhood Education Department of Y University in Gyeonggi‐do. According to
the results of this study, the meanings of experiences in educational service activities
at kindergartens perceived by pre‐service early childhood teachers were summarized
into ‘finding the position as an educational service student,’ ‘looking into the field of
early childhood education to get answers to questions,’ and ‘taking a step toward the
career of early childhood teacher.’ These results suggest that educational service
activities at kindergartens are meaningful experiences in that they help early
childhood teachers make a contribution as human resources necessary in the field of
early childhood education and develop themselves as an early childhood teacher
through practical experiences.