Abstract
The purpose of this study was to clarify, by focusing on difficulties in career development, how a person who became early childhood education and care teacher immediately after obtaining their master’s degree (hereafter "master’s degree ECEC teacher") developped their career. I interviewed three former master’s degree ECEC teachers and analyzed the interview data by the "Ueno Qualitative Analysis method". The result revealed the following three findings regarding their career development. First, whether they recognized the gap between studying and practicing during their early careers depended on what they studied in the graduate school and how they were trained as ECEC teacher. Second, the reason why they regretted about leaving the ECEC teaching profession is more strongly related to how they enjoy teaching as teachers than how hey excercised their teaching abilities. Third, no role model was available for them to handle a difficult situation in career development. These findings suggest that to support their career development, the following two points should be addressed: (1) formation of a group of people with the same background so that an appropriate role model can be established, and (2) understanding by colleagues through conversation.
