Australasian Journal of Early Childhood 56 Introduction Infant and toddler care in many countries today has undergone a dramatic transition from being the primary responsibility of mothers to becoming the shared responsibility of parents and childcare providers (National Audit Ofice, 2004; NICHD, 1997; Phillips & Adams, 2001). Early care and education (ECE) in South Korea has also experienced distinct changes in recent years due to the sharp decline in fertility and the increasing number of parents entering the workforce (Eurostat & Statistics Korea, 2012). The result has been a high demand for centre-based infant/toddler care 1 . In South Korea, non-maternal infant/toddler care has traditionally been provided by members of the family, most of whom are grandmothers. However, this trend 1 The Korean language does not distinguish between infants and toddlers. Both are referred to as ‘young-ah’, which translates as an infant but may also refer to children under the age of three. In this research, we used the term ‘infant/toddler’ to avoid any age confusion in the deinition. In centre-based infant/toddler care, age groups will commonly have different deinitions based on whether an individual centre has adopted the Korean or Western method for considering age. is changing rapidly. According to the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education (KICCE, 2012), the percentage of infants and toddlers enrolled in centre-based programs increased from 3.2 per cent to 32.5 per cent for 0-year- olds, from 13.3 per cent to 53.1 per cent for one-year- olds, and from 31 per cent to 77 per cent for two-year- olds from 2004 to 2011. As of 2011, more than half of all infants and toddlers in South Korea were attending centre-based childcare programs (KICCE, 2012). The Korean Government has recently implemented free child care for all children from birth to age ive. Given this beneit of free child care, parents who are able to stay home and provide child care nevertheless still send their children to group care programs, creating an even higher demand for infant/toddler care. Demand for child care and expansion of the ages served by centre-based child care have provoked national discussion and further research interest in the ield. However, the focus has primarily been on increasing the quantity of infant/toddler group care which may result in unforeseen issues concerning the quality of care, such as optimising the physical environment and ensuring the supply of qualiied staff. Speciic problems facing Are we experts? Perspectives of Korean teachers on their careers in infant and toddler care Soyeon Park Sungeun Yang San Francisco State University, USA Inha University, South Korea Su-Jeong Wee Purdue University Calumet, USA THE PRESENT STUDY INVESTIGATES how Korean infant/toddler teachers define their role in centre-based childcare settings and how their attitudes and perspectives influence their professional identities and relationships with parents. The study utilised the interpretive science paradigm and individual interviews for data collection, and the qualitative data analysis method explored the experiences of 19 infant/ toddler teachers. Participants defined their role as ‘teacher as mother’ and placed more emphasis on nurturing than educating despite their acknowledgement of the importance of the educational aspects of centre-based care. The consensus among infant/toddler teachers that it is best for mothers to care for children at home derives from 1) teachers’ consideration of infants/toddlers’ developmental characteristics, and 2) the limitations of centre-based programs to fulfill the developmental needs of infants and toddlers. This perspective affects their sense of professionalism and job satisfaction and can lower the quality of overall infant and toddler care.