The purpose of this study was to examine the continuation of literacy education from kindergarten to elementary school in the mid-Meiji era, focusing on the abolition of literacy education in kindergarten. This study first analyzed how Froebel’s literacy education theory was adopted to Japanese kindergarten by reffering the theories of Nobuhachi Konishi and Goroku Nakamura. Froebel's literacy education theory emphasized that literacy education should be based on children’s interest using the Froebel’s gifts. However, educational focus shifted from an interest-based to compulsory subject. Later in the Meiji 20’s, literacy education was terminated in the kindergarten affiliated to Tokyo Women’s Normal School, resulting in the disconnection of kindergarten and elementary school in terms of literacy education.

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This study aimed to analyze how child education was practiced using gift blocks at public kindergartens and Christian kindergartens where early-childhood education was provided in Japan in the early 20th century. At public kindergartens, gift blocks were modified from the original form of Froebel’s gifts according to children’s age and combined with other teaching materials so that children could enjoy playing with the blocks more easily. By contrast, at Christian kindergartens, not only the original form the Froebel’s gifts were used with storytelling, but also Froebel’s methodologies and philosophy were highly respected. This practice at Christian kindergartens was similar to that provided in the United States.

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The National Standards for Early Childhood Curriculum: A Handbook of Early Childhood Education—the origin of early childhood education in contemporary Japan—was published in 1948 to thoroughly disseminate a method of providing appropriate early childhood education based on scientific evidence and practical experience. However, that purpose was not completely achieved, which was mainly due to its high price; most early childhood educators in that era, whose income was not high enough, could not afford to purchase the handbook. This is closely related to the economic situation of Japan that was devastatingly damaged by World War II. This finding suggested that it is important to consider the relationship between the economic situation and the quality of early childhood education.

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Kindergarten teaching licenses were granted to applicants without administering qualification examination in the Meiji era in Tokyo. This study investigated, by reviewing materials regarding kindergarten teaching licenses in Tokyo, in what conditions the licenses were granted. The following four conditions were identified: 1) an applicant possessed an elementary school teaching license issued by another prefecture, 2) an applicant possessed a kindergarten teacher license issued by another prefecture, 3) an applicant was graduated from a women’s high school, and 4) the governor of Tokyo approved the applicant as qualified. Furthermore, characteristics of approved applicants were analyzed in terms of their age, education, and work history.

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Health consultation business that started as a social business in the 1920s was reformed by wartime welfare during the World War II. This reformation was expected to strengthen the childcare improvement guidance for mothers. Counselors instructed mothers to take care of their children thoroughly according to their own children’s characters; however, childcare practice with visit consultation did not actually change. To address this issue, new health consultation business supported by multidisciplinary cooperation among various areas of childcare workers who were entrusted each other was initiated at the Aiiku-Rinpokan Settlement. This was qualitatively different from cooperation based on shared responsibilities.

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This study examined the developmental meaning of 3-to 5-year-old children’s sitting behavior in activities before leaving kindergartens. Each child’s sitting location, the time taken, and friends who sat next to the child were observed to analyze sitting behavior by age, kindergarten experience, and the stage of class building process. The following four sitting behaviors were identified as class building advanced: first, children preferred location near a teacher to have a personal relationship with a teacher; second, children sat in front in good manner to be recognized by a teacher; third, children liked to sit in back to sit with favorite friends; and finally, children tended to sit orderly with the classmates. These findings indicated that it was important for children to build a personal relationship with teachers first, then friendship became more important, and finally the feeling of belonging to the class developed.

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This longitudinal observational study sought to reveal how a child explored and interacted with musical instruments. Observation was conducted at a Japanese public kindergarten (for children aged between 3 and 6) from October 2015 to March 2018. Using the time allocated for free play, a small space at the kindergarten was designated as a play area and equipped with child-sized percussion instruments including a small djembe, guiro, woodblock, small maracas, sound shapes, and frog guiros. The author focused on a girl who frequently came to the area, and her behavior was evaluated when she explored a small djembe. Several episodes of her interaction, including unconventional use of the instrument, indicated that she encountered cultural aspects of the instrument during free exploration.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify how parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tried to organize their child-rearing practices and find their future prospects. To this end, interviews with parents of ASD children at a kindergarten were conducted. First of all, the interviews revealed that a kindergarten community consisting of teachers and a parent group played an important role in helping the parents look to the future of their children. In addition, the kindergarten community shared the emotions of individual children, and the teachers provided daily support to the parents. Furthermore, the study found that child-rearing practice was developed based on the following three factors: 1) decentralization of nursing, 2) aiming at inclusive childcare, and 3) improvement of communication skills of children. Finally, it became clear that parents who participated in the kindergarten community developed strategies for child-rearing practices that would change the dominant belief for education based on meritocracy.

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This study aimed to analyze how the interaction process between special needs children and their classmates changed over time. We performed temporal observation of how classmates interacted with two special needs children over two years from when they were in a four-year-old class to a five-year-old class. The result revealed that by the second half period of a five-year-old class, classmates interacted with special needs children as peers without treating them special. We classified the nature of their interactions as follows: 1) relationship based on secured superiority of their own, 2) relationship in sharing fun, and 3) interaction to accept the characteristics of the handicapped while seeking equality. We also found that the interaction of the classmates with the two special needs children became bi-directional and friendly.

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This study investigated the characteristics of teachers’ verbal support for 4- to 5-year-old children in cooperative play and activities in kindergarten. Based on observations of how teachers and children behave in pretend play and preparation activities for class play, we analyzed the characteristics of teachers’ verbal support by scene and grade. We identified the following three findings. (1) Questions from teachers to children were most frequently observed during cooperative play and activities in all grades. (2) Children’s initiative was respected more in cooperative play than in cooperative activities, and different verbal support characteristics were observed between grades. (3) Teachers were more frequently provided verbal support during cooperative activities compared to cooperative play; many of them were instructions, and the quality of instruction differed between grades.

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The purpose of this study was to visualize and clarify the growth and learning of kindergarten teachers at daily conferences which provided them with an opportunity for reviewing daily childcare activities. Qualitative analysis of discussion made at daily conferences confirmed that teachers developed their expertise on childcare by repeatedly reviewing discussion contents. This expertise development was promoted by encouraging a self-reflection and child-centered perspective. Evaluation of conditions that affected teachers in their expertise development revealed that the teacher’s learning process was directed based on three conditions (existence of suggestion, feasibility, and validity of the discussion).

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This study describes the development of the Nursery Teacher’s Reality Shock Scale, which explores structures of both the reality shock-inducing gaps and the reality shock responses. Twenty-seven items constructed the Gap Scale, and extracted 4 factors: “Heaviness of the burden on work”; “Problems in the workplace”, “Inadequacy of competence” and “Mentally isolations”. Ten items constructed the Response Scale, and extracted another 2 factors: “Internal responses” and “Expressive responses”. The subscales of the Gap Scale showed a low-middle level of correlation with the NTSS. The subscales of the Response Scale showed a middle level of correlation with the subscales of the Stress-Reaction Scale in JSS-R. The results of the case-control study design showed that Generalized Self-Efficacy, Pre- School Teacher Efficacy, and Social Skill will prevent Reality Shock.

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When making a suggestion for improving the quality of childcare practice, it is necessary to study childcare worker’s belief in the practice because belief influences practice. Previous studies showed that as a childcare worker gains experience, their belief changes from teacher-centered and directive to child-centered and receptive. Herein we studied the belief of 14 childcare workers by analyzing their comments on 42 images based on a visual-narrative method. We found that as childcare workers gained experience, they became convinced that both children and childcare workers are equally humans.

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This study evaluated the emotion of parents of a child with autism and intellectual disabilities, by focusing on the following two aspects: how parents understood the episode descriptions about their child in an ECEC center, and what supports they received for their child. The study was based on an interview with the parents. The parents’ narrative responses were analyzed qualitatively. The result revealed that parents’ emotions wavered between “we are the parents of our child regardless of the disability” and “we are the parents of a child with disabilities.” In addition, the parents were strongly emotionally supported by realizing the importance of their child being in the ECEC center and the child’s unique development without comparing to other children.

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This study aimed to analyze childcare policies regarding gender balance in Norway in the early 21st century. The analysis was conducted on government policy documents regarding gender equality at ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) facilities and related reports published by research institutes in Norway from 1997 to 2017. The result indicated that 1) various policies were issued by different ministries and related organizations to balance the gender of childcare workers, 2) male childcare workers were positioned as promoters to change the awareness of children and childcare workers toward gender equality, and 3) affirmative actions were taken to eliminate unconscious bias regarding the gender of childcare workers. This study revealed the importance of raising children's awareness of gender equality by showing them gender balance among childcare workers in early childhood.

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This study analyzed a transition process from home to childcare, called “inskolning” in Swedish, by conducting a field survey in Sweden, where a one-year-old child can enter a preschool as a start of lifelong education. The survey revealed that it is a common practice for a family to support their children to adapt to gradual transition from home life to preschool life. In addition, “inskolning” not only aims at helping children get used to preschool, but also encourages preschool teachers to engage in nursing care and education work based on a child-centered concept because respecting human rights and democracy is widespread in Sweden.

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This paper reports recent efforts to achieve equitable early childhood care and education (ECCE) and improve working conditions of childcare workers in the United States. Children attend different ECCE programs depending on their families’ socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity. According to “A Matter of Equity: Preschool in America” published by the U.S. Department of Education in 2015, 60% of young children cannot attend publicly funded early childhood education programs. Meanwhile, the ECCE-related organizations collaborated to propose a unifying framework, called “Power to the Profession,” to improve the compensation and professionalism of teachers and educators in 2020. Along with this movement, professional development systems in several states were revised and their effectiveness was examined. This paper presents the state-wide PDIS in Colorado to discuss factors necessary for effective PDISs.

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The purpose of this research was to evaluate a support program for childcare workers who assist child-rearing affects on-the-job education. This program was based on a recognition–behavior theory and self-reflection. Specifically, we evaluated how subjects felt effectiveness of the program by comparing childcare workers who were trained through the program (test group) and those who were not (control group). We found the (1) effectiveness that subjects in the test group felt increased compared to those in control; (2) the effect of the program became apparent after one month because the subjects felt the effectiveness; and (3) on-the-job education was effective for childcare workers to improve their effectiveness in child-rearing.

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This study explored how to best prepare an in-service education and training program for practitioners of early childhood education and care. The program consisted of a series of workshops for in-house practitioners of each facility and those for practitioners across several facilities. Participants engaged in tasks to explore and solve their questions through action research at each facility. The result indicated that their learning experiences through the workshop contributed to raising their awareness and inspiring their confidence in their roles. This program, which included processes involving staff members other than the participants at each facility, enabled not only the participants’ own professional development and improvement, but also enhanced opportunities for their colleagues’ and directors’ professional development. The finding of this study afforded a better understanding of designing in-service training strategies.

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