본 연구는 부모교육 강사들의 전문성 발달 경험의 의미를 내러티브 탐구 방식을 통해 분석하는 데 목적이 있다. 부모교육 강사로 살아온 삶의 과정을 시간, 공간의 흐름에 따라 이야기로 재구성하여 부모교육 강사들이 부모, 교육자로서 자신의 정체 성을 어떻게 형성하고 전문성을 발달시켜 나앖는지를 심층적으로 고찰하고자 한다. 이를 위해 10년 이상 중단 없이 부모교육 강사로 활발히 활동하며 동료들과 수강생 들로부터 우수한 평가를 받은 3인의 부모교육 강사를 연구 참여자로 선정하였다. 자 료수집은 2024년 5월 27일부터 8월 20일까지 이루어졌고 인터뷰, E-mail, 일기, 메 모 등을 주요 현장 텍스트로 구성하였다. 연구 결과 부모교육 강사의 전문성 발달 경험의 의미는 <실패 경험, 성장의 동력이 되다>, <부모역할 변화로 깊어진 강의>, <실천적 지식, 강의에 스며들다>, <배움의 여정, 끝없이 펼쳐진 길>, <정성으로 빚어 낸 나만의 강의> 등 다섯 개의 주제로 도출되었다. 이러한 과정에서 부모교육 강사 로서의 전문성 발달 경험은 교육현장에서 겪은 실패와 좌절을 성장의 자양분으로 삼 아 다시 도약하는 도전의 연속이었으며, 자신의 부모역할 변화와 끊임없는 배움을 통해 독자적인 교육콘텐츠를 개발한 실천형 교육자로 성장해 나가는 삶의 여정임을 확인할 수 있었다.

The purpose of the present study is to learn about English conversation instructors, in particular, to find out (1) who they are; (2) how they cooperate with English teachers at schools; and (3) what needs they have to serve better as English teaching staff at schools. An online survey was administered to all English conversation instructors at elementary and secondary schools in Korea. Around 4,630 English conversation instructors- 2,920 at elementary schools and 1,710 at secondary schools- participated in the study. The collected data were analyzed: (1) to describe the characteristics of English conversation instructors; (2) to examine how they are sharing teaching duties with English teachers; and (3) to assess the needs for their competency development. The needs of English conversation instructors were analyzed by calculating the gap between the current competence and the expected competence. The difference of English conversation instructors competence development needs at the elementary level and at the secondary level were then further analyzed through Analysis of Variance. The results of this study can be used as basic data to establish the training system for English conversation instructors’ competence development.

It recently became evident that the EFL needs of secondary school students could not be met by the then-current complement of teachers. This led to an increase in the number of Conversational English Instructors in the public school system. This growing demand for EFL instructors in our nation‟s public schools requires an obligation to examine the selection criteria and process for incoming EFL instructors. Based on our analysis of a nationwide survey of EFL Instructors, we recommend reforms to the selection process system. A total of 199 EFL instructors in secondary schools including those in Seoul, metropolitan cities, medium-sized cities, and small communities participated in the main survey. The survey considered the entire EFL Instructor selection process including the 1st step of applicant specifications, the 2nd step of teaching-learning performance test and interview test. Our analysis suggests that the selection criteria should include the applicant‟s proficiency test score in spoken and written English, and the teaching-learning performance should be emphasized in a greater extent. This research suggests that the way of testing the applicants‟ teachinglearning performance in the 2nd step selection process should be changed into a more authentic microteaching situation, and that regional needs vary and must be considered in the selection process.