The purpose of this study is to analyze the practical knowledge of preschool and nursery at clean-up time, namely how teachers help children who carefully tidy up, but do not enough time to complete the next activity. It analyzes preschool and nursery teachers' answers to the questionnaire survey. The result runs as follows: (1) teachers admit or accept that the child carefully puts things away; (2) answers of teachers associated with how preschool and nursery students usually clean up; (3) each preschool and nursery has their own practical knowledge about how to help children who carefully put things away, but do not have enough time to complete the next activity.

This study investigated the changes over the years in fundamental movement skills of prekindergarten 2-yearolds in terms of motor development. We observed and examined the movements of the 2-year-olds (N = 112) in 2004/2005 (Wave 1) and the 2-year-olds (N = 112) in 2010/2011 (Wave 2) during mother-child play. The results indicated a significant difference in eight of thirty-five fundamental children's movements between Wave 1 and Wave 2. Wave 2 was characterized by a decrease in the number of children who could perform movements requiring certain postural balance control such as bending over, squatting, and stepping over. Moreover, the number of children who stumbled and fell down increased between Wave-1 and Wave-2. Our findings suggest a novel sign of decreased motor abilities over the years, specifically emerging from 2-year olds.

This study examined how children' showing objects and their creative processes change depending on the peer relationship development in design-and-make activities. Participatory observation was conducted in two kindergarten classes of four-year-olds for one year. Episodes of a four-year-old were analyzed. The analysis indicated that functions of showing objects varied according to the relationship among peers. Namely, at the beginning of the year, children confirmed ‘being the same’ through showing each other their own objects they made; in the middle of the year, they pursued ‘being the same’ through negotiating making the same objects; near the end of the observation, they accepted ‘being different’ through communicating the difference of their own objects. In the last period, the process of “appropriation” to create new products, different from peers', was found.

In this paper, we analyzed the process of a gradual change of a nursery school arising from acceptance of ‘care for children with special needs’. Especially, we focused on the organizational aspects of a nursery school affected by institutional environments. In previous research, the influences on individual teachers from broad contexts have been reported as ‘troubled’ situations or as psychological difficulties for them.

Through fieldwork, we found the signs of organizational change and improvement in a nursery school by acceptance of ‘care for children with special needs’. We pointed out a good change of atmosphere and a configuration of the ‘adhocracy’ in the nursery school to invent new programs for children. These changes can influence not only children with special needs, but also can have a positive outcome for all children.

This study investigates the relationship between assessments using the “credit model” and caregiving practices by analyzing “Learning Stories” assessments on the early childhood care and education for children with special needs over six months. From the early stages of creating stories, caregivers were ready to actively seek out the learning disposition of children, but their reflections on caregiving practices were restricted to the conventional view, which aimed to improve children's immature and problematic behavior through instructions. However, the accumulation of story creations provoked the change of their viewpoints to adjust the caregiving environment for children's plays and relationships. In conclusion, the importance of assessments from “credit model” concerning childcare practices with children with special needs is discussed.

This study aims to investigate the structure of conflicts nursery school teachers face in providing support for parents based on their expertise in early childhood care and education, attended by the dual role of nursery school teachers. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews of nursery school teachers were conducted, followed by SCAT analysis. The results showed that the teachers faced two conflicts: 1) they were torn by the conflicting needs between parents and children and 2) they found it difficult to deal with the changes in needs expressed by the children. The belief that “the best interests of children are not being considered” underlies these conflicts. Therefore, teachers face an ethical dilemma; the background to this includes the uncertainty regarding the best interests of children and the psychological proximity of the teachers to the children.