Understanding Korean early childhood teachers’ challenges in parent–teacher partnerships: Beyond individual matters

We conducted individual and group interviews with six early childhood teachers to better understand their difficulties in establishing parent–teacher partnerships, and to explore the underlying causes of such difficulties. The results show that all the teachers experienced various challenges in their relationships with parents because of fear of conflict, unexpected struggles, parents’ distrust, and unreasonable demands. However, these difficulties interconnect with broader sociocultural and structural factors that teachers cannot overcome simply through their individual efforts. Despite this, under the current system, teachers reported that they had to solve problems by themselves, no matter how unreasonable. In conflict with their intention to collaborate better with parents, the teachers became discouraged, passive, and defensive in their relationships, making it increasingly difficult for parent–teacher partnerships to form. The underlying causes that hinder parent–teacher partnerships and the implications of our findings are discussed.