Effects and Difficulties of Extended Childcare and Pickup Services for Kindergarten Students: A Case Study of Suburban Tokyo Practices

Abstract

Some local governments of the Tokyo suburbs launched extended childcare and pickup services for kindergarten students in the 2010s. The services take children to a kindergarten and back from a small day nursery established near a mainline station, which provides extended childcare in the early morning and in the evening. This study was undertaken to elucidate effects and difficulties of the services based on results of interviews with service providers, and on questionnaires and interviews administrated to service users. The services contribute to the active use of quotas of kindergartens and provides dual-income families with the possibility of using kindergartens. However, some difficulties remain for managing the services properly. It requires a suitable route of pickup, fine-tuned childcare, and detailed contacts between childcare workers in day nurseries, kindergarten teachers, and parents.