Teacher Expertise in Kindergarten Education

As a provider of education that takes place through the environment

Abstract

Although kindergartens are positioned as schools under the School Education Law, they differ from school education after elementary school, and thus the expertise of teachers differs in some respects from that of elementary school and beyond. This study analyzes the meaning of teacher expertise in kindergarten by tracing the history of the transition from the postwar guidelines for childcare to those for kindergarten education, with “education through the environment” defined as unique to early childhood education. The history of changes in kindergarten education guidelines since the publication of “Guidelines for Child Care and Education” in 1948 can be seen as a trail of trial-and-error in trying to incorporate the difficult concepts of “providing an appropriate environment” and “education through the environment” into the practice of kindergarten education. One of the reasons this concept is difficult to understand is that kindergartens have a history of providing education in advance of elementary school education or emphasizing watching over the children without providing any educational activities. Since the 1998 revision, when the term “planned environmental composition” was used, “education through the environment” has finally come to permeate practice in childcare settings. However, the concept remains ambiguous and difficult to understand. How to teach “education through the environment” in the field of teacher training is an issue for the future.