2023 Volume 90 Issue 1 Pages 63-75
The purpose of this study is to understand the educational practices that aim for the inclusion of cultural diversity by focusing on the teacher–parent dialogue surrounding “naming practice” at a preschool in Japan.
One of the educational practices aimed at promoting cultural diversity in Japan is the “practice of using real names,” which was initially part of the education of Zainichi Koreans, with the aim of making the minority visible and changing the majority's attitudes. Because the backgrounds of children and their choice of names have become more diverse, some studies suggest that we are at a turning point in strategies for diversity inclusion. It was also revealed that practitioners are missing opportunities to transform their practices.
Therefore, this study considered this pedagogical practice through the theory of dialogue, which encourages individuals to deepen their understanding of others and transform through interaction. Dialogue is expected to facilitate practitioners' reflection and thus lead to the reconstruction of their practice, as proposed in critical pedagogy and multicultural education.
While this preschool is known for its “ethnic education” for Zainichi Koreans in Japan, the practice has recently shifted toward “multicultural education” for children from culturally diverse families, one of which is naming practice. The analyzed data were collected by a qualitative study that included participant observation at the preschool and interviews with the preschool teachers and parents.
The main purpose of naming practice was to promote dialogue with parents by actively using the ethnic origin names referred to as “root names” at this preschool, which reflect the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the children and their families while respecting minority cultures. While the parents appreciated the practice as supporting the positive recognition of their children's identity and the cultural inheritance of their family origins, they also voiced concerns and conflicts about discrimination and prejudice. The practice also became an opportunity for parents and teachers to construct a dialogue through their children's names and reconstruct the purpose and the method of the practice. Specifically, each dialogue was grounded in the teachers' listening to the life histories of the minority families, rendering the practitioners and parents more collaborative.
