학생 미혼모 학습권 보장 방안

Policy to Secure the Student Single Mothers' Right to Learn

1. 연구의 필요성 및 목적 □ 헌법과 교육기본법이 학습권과 교육의 기회균등을 보장하고 있으나, 교육현장에서 학생 미혼모의 학습권은 사각지대에 놓여있음. 그러나 10대 미혼모가 학업을 중단할 경우 실업과 빈곤으로 이어져 미혼모 당사자는 물론 자녀들까지 빈곤을 대물림하면서 소외계층에 머무를 가능성이 높고 이는 국가ㆍ사회적 과제임. □ 2009년 국가인권위원회의 차별결정이 있기 전까지 학생 미혼모에 대한 학습권 침해는 당연시되어옴. 2010년 학생 미혼모의 학습권 보장을 위해 미혼모 위탁형 대안교육기관이 설립된 이래, 2013년 현재 전국에 18개 대안교육기관이 운영되고 있으나 대안교육기관이 미혼모 학습권 보장을 위한 교육기관으로서의 제 기능을 수행하고 있는지 전혀 파악되고 있지 않은 상황에서 미혼모 학습권 보장 문제가 정책 현안으로 대두되고 있음. □ 이러한 문제의식 하에 본 연구에서는 중등학령기에 임신이나 출산을 경험한 학생 미혼모들이 학업중단과 지속과정에서 부딪히는 어려움이나 장애요인, 지원 요구를 파악하는 한편, 정부의 미혼모 학습권 보장 정책의 일환으로 도입된 위탁형 대안교육기관 등 관련 조치가 이들의 학습권 보장에 실질적 기여를 하는 지를 분석함으로써 학생 미혼모의 학습권을 보장하기 위한 방안을 도출하는데 그 목적이 있음.

Constitution and Basic Educational Law in Korea secure every Korean's right to learn and equal opportunity in education, yet pregnant students in actual school systems are situated in blind spots of education. In Korean society, negative stereotypes of teenage single mothers prevail, and schools have enforced those students to drop out their schools on the basis of student regulation that makes it possible for schools to expel those pregnant students. In 2009, as National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea rules it as discriminative, Ministry of Education and provincial and metropolitan/municipal offices of education takes a measures of securing the student single mothers' right to learn by revising school regulations; for instance, they include current operation of eighteen contract alternative educational institutes for single mothers. But since the government has not checked feasibility of the measure of securing the student single mothers' right to learn, overall research to seek synthetic diagnosis of this measure and search for alternatives is necessary. As a methodology, this research conducts in-depth interviews with thirty teenage single mothers who have experienced pregnancy and childbirth during their secondary school-age years in order to understand their experiences of staying in schools or dropping out of schools in case they are already dropouts. Also, this research conducts an investigation of the operation condition of eighteen contract alternative schools for single mothers nationwide; it also inspects seventeen provincial and metropolitan/municipal offices of education regarding their taking the measure of securing the student single mothers' right to learn. Moreover, accompanying interviews with expert groups carried out, this study also endeavors to develop ways to secure teenage single mothers' right to learn by exploring policy cases for supporting teenage single mothers in the U.S. the UK, and Taiwan where the pregnancy rate of teens is high. The result of in-depth interviews shows that most participants tend to have experienced family disorganization and have such problems as runaways and school maladjustment, low academic achievement, etc. due to dysfunctional family culture and economic poverty. Though there are many cases of students' getting pregnant during schooling, there is also significant number of cases of getting pregnant when they are already dropouts. Most student single mothers are forced into a situation in which they cannot find any other measures than giving birth because they often find out their pregnancy after the middle phase of pregnancy. Currently, the only way for the pregnant students to continue her schooling without dropping out of school is to transfer to contract alternative educational institutes. But the process of transference to the alternative schools cannot help publicizing students' pregnancy, and schools are not very pleased with the fact that their students are pregnant so that they tend to be reluctant to cooperate in this process. Moreover, school sometimes insidiously urges the pregnant students to transfer secretly and not to disclose their pregnancy to other friends or acquaintances. Schools' such negative attitudes forces students, who are afraid of expulsion from schools due to pregnancy and deprived of will to consult with teachers, to quit school. Those students who have experienced contract alternative educational institutes are satisfied with the institutes because of the fact that the students can continue to learn, they have grown interest in learning due to the tailored teaching for small groups, and the institutes have much freer atmosphere than regular schools. To them, an alternative educational institute signifies "hope and possibility" and "space of self-reflection and epiphany" However, these students point out such drawbacks as the lower level of classes than those of their previous (regular) schools and relatively p