Multicultural Childcare in Nagasaki : Current Circumstances and Future Perspectives

Abstract

This paper continues our research into pre-school care for foreign children in Nagasaki city, reporting the results of interviews with selected nursery schools and kindergartens, and with foreign parents of children attending those facilities. The first part reviews previous research and highlights relevant issues. The second part examines foreign parents' largely positive perceptions of the childcare their children received. The third part examines the situation from the perspective of the facilities themselves in relation to intercultural understanding of the caregivers' intercultural understanding of Japanese children and foreign parents and children's acclimatization to Japan. The fourth part examines the potential for miscommunication between foreign parents and caregivers. The fifth part considers issues relating to prejudice and the need for anti-bias awareness. The sixth part proposes attitudes and practices advisable for childcare workers in order to promote multicultural education.