The impact of neo-liberal globalization on pre-school day-care service in South Korea: Tensions and dilemmas

The impact of globalization on the South Korean pre-school day-care system is examined in this article, which argues that market competition and deregulation that accompany neo-liberal globalization resulted in a decline in the quality of day-care service. The government loosened the qualifications for private service providers and teachers over a 10-year period beginning in the 1990s. This deregulation resulted in the low-service quality of private centers. Since 2003, the government has tried to improve the quality of private centers through subsidization and increased monitoring. However, these recent governmental efforts have not proved a success.