Department of Education, Faculty of Letters, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research, Tokyo, Japan.
PLoS One. 2023 Feb 10;18(2):e0281635. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281635. eCollection 2023.
This study presents the first quantitative evaluation of the quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Japan to make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge accumulated on ECEC in countries where research has been limited. We observed 30 classes comprising 3-year-olds, 28 classes comprising 5-year-olds, and 30 classes comprising mixed-ages from publicly provided nursery centers under the jurisdiction of the Kanto metropolitan area, Japan. An internationally-recognized quality rating scale for ECEC called the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, 3rd edition, which consists of six subscales, was used for this study. In contrast to previous studies conducted in the US, the results of this study showed that the Japanese ECEC is characterized as showing higher scores in the two subscales, "Personal Care Routines" and "Interaction," and showing lower score in the subscale, "Learning Activities." In addition, this study showed that the quality of ECEC varied across nursery centers. Furthermore, with regard to the two subscales, "Interaction" and "Language and Literacy," the degree of variation within centers differed across nursery centers. This study analyzed how these characteristics of Japanese ECEC can be partly produced by the existence of national guideline for nursery centers authorized by the Japanese government. In addition, mechanisms producing differences in the quality of ECEC among and within centers were also discussed.
本研究对日本的幼儿教育与保育（ECEC）质量进行了首次量化评估，为那些研究有限的国家在 ECEC 领域积累的知识体系做出了重要贡献。我们观察了日本关东地区管辖下的公立托儿所的 30 个 3 岁班、28 个 5 岁班和 30 个混合年龄班。本研究使用了国际公认的 ECEC 质量评级量表——《幼儿环境评级量表》第 3 版，该量表由六个分量表组成。与之前在美国进行的研究不同，本研究结果表明，日本的 ECEC 特点是在“个人护理常规”和“互动”这两个分量表上得分较高，而在“学习活动”分量表上得分较低。此外，本研究还表明，ECEC 的质量在各个托儿所之间存在差异。此外，就“互动”和“语言和读写能力”这两个分量表而言，中心内部的变化程度在各个托儿所之间存在差异。本研究分析了日本 ECEC 的这些特点是如何部分由日本政府授权的国家托儿所指南的存在所产生的。此外，还讨论了产生中心内外 ECEC 质量差异的机制。
