Japanese Preschools Research Articles

Young Children’s Responses to Social-Conventional Transgressions in Japanese Preschool Settings

<p style="text-align: justify;">This study investigated young children’s recognition of social rules and responses to social-conventional transgressions in Japanese preschool settings. One hundred twenty-six children aged three to six years old heard four hypothetical stories that describe typical social-conventional transgressions in Japanese preschools. They were asked about their feelings when they witnessed each transgression (emotional response), whether they thought it was better to follow social rules and act like everyone else (social convention judgment), their justification for the judgment, and their willingness to play with the transgressor (interaction judgment). Most participants in all age groups valued following social rules and judged that the transgressor should act like everyone else, but five-year-olds generated more group- and other-oriented justifications for the judgment. Although there were no significant age group differences in interaction judgment, further analysis showed that three-year-olds’ willingness to play with the transgressor was positively related to their positive emotion, whereas such relationships were not found in four- and five-year-olds. The results demonstrate that Japanese children’s responses to social-conventional transgressions become more social and complex throughout young childhood in the Japanese cultural context.</p>

Practices of peer inclusion

This paper explores children’s practices of social inclusion by focusing on their recruitment of peers into play activities. Utilizing data of naturally occurring interaction in Swedish and Japanese preschools, it details four episodes in which children deployed multimodal resources in recruiting peers to begin or join play. The analysis reveals how children can lay the groundwork for recruitments through pre-sequences aimed at securing peer attention and availability. It shows how, when faced with rejection, they can transform their recruitment strategies. The analysis also reveals how children collaborate in recruiting peers, and how they deploy certain strategies, such as the assignment of roles in ways that treat the peer as a willing participant. The findings are discussed in relation to peer inclusion as potentially having a reciprocal nature: in attempting to include someone, one also tries to be included in shared activity.

Japanese preschoolers’ cooperative engagement in lunch monitoring activities

In most Japanese preschools, children are involved in setting up lunches as monitors’ activities. The current study conducted six-month long naturalistic observations of lunch monitors’ activities in a nursery school in Tokyo. Ten five-year-old children were included in the analysis. By engaging in the activities with their peers, the lunch monitors learned serving skills and how to serve food and related items accurately. There were individual differences in the type of cue children relied on while placing items, based on which they were divided into two groups: self-helping and social groups. Between these two groups, role-sharing and cooperative commitment were observed. The obtained results were discussed in terms of development of peer cooperation, the effect of small group activities with same members, and teachers’ careful arrangements of small group activities.

保育内容(造形表現)における描画題材の設定内容に関する研究

保育内容(造形表現)における描画題材の設定内容に関する研究

Hypothesis Verification of Drawing Themes in Japanese Preschools

Hypothesis Verification of Drawing Themes in Japanese Preschools

Comparing ethnographies of teaching when comparison seems impossible

ABSTRACTThis essay examines comparison in a double sense. Focusing on ethnographies of teachers’ work in the published literature, I ask whether it is possible to compare ethnographic studies across national borders without losing the particularities of local context, and also without losing the distinctive theoretical perspective of ethnographers operating within different national traditions. Building on the volume Comparing ethnographies, I explore as a tool an expansion of Noblit and Hare’s ‘meta-ethnographic’ approach. Because meta-ethnography aims to remain faithful to local contexts, it works for cross-national comparison; because it is meant as an interpretation of the ethnographers’ interpretations, it can allow for national differences in scholarly traditions. I illustrate with a comparison of ethnographies of practices in Danish and in Japanese preschools, identifying ‘reciprocal’ translations, ‘refutational synthesis’ and ‘line-of-argument synthesis’. The essay demonstrates that meta-ethnography’s interpretive approach does permit comparison across national contexts and scholarly traditions, and that it actually encourages ‘theoretical generalisation’, the ability to expand our understanding, without obscuring local context.

Teaching Embodied: Cultural Practice in Japanese Preschools by Akiko Hayashi and Joseph Tobin

Teaching Embodied: Cultural Practice in Japanese Preschools by Akiko Hayashi and Joseph Tobin

Teaching embodied: cultural practice in Japanese preschools

When we look beyond lesson planning and curricula - those explicit facets that comprise so much of our discussion about education - we remember that teaching is an inherently social activity, shaped by a rich array of implicit habits, comportments, and ways of communicating. This is as true in the United States as it is in Japan, where Akiko Hayashi and Joseph Tobin have long studied early education from a cross-cultural perspective. Taking readers inside the classrooms of Japanese preschools, Teaching Embodied explores the everyday, implicit behaviors that form a crucially important - but grossly understudied-aspect of educational practice. Hayashi and Tobin embed themselves in the classrooms of three different teachers at three different schools to examine how teachers act, think, and talk. Drawing on extended interviews, their own real-time observations, and hours of video footage, they focus on how teachers embody their lessons: how they use their hands to gesture, comfort, or discipline; how they direct their posture, gaze, or physical location to indicate degrees of attention; and how they use the tone of their voice to communicate empathy, frustration, disapproval, or enthusiasm. Comparing teachers across schools and over time, they offer an illuminating analysis of the gestures that comprise a total body language, something that, while hardly ever explicitly discussed, the teachers all share to a remarkable degree. Showcasing the tremendous importance of - and dearth of attention to - this body language, they offer a powerful new inroad into educational study and practice and a deeper understanding of how teaching actually works, no matter what culture or country it is being practiced in.

Review of Teaching Embodied: Cultural Practice in Japanese Preschools by Akiko Hayashi and Joseph J. Tobin

Review of Teaching Embodied: Cultural Practice in Japanese Preschools by Akiko Hayashi and Joseph J. Tobin

Curricular, Relational, and Physical Spaces in the Japanese Hoikuen

Recent scholarship looks at the relationship of learning to space and place within educational research. The purpose of this article was to put data produced from teaching in four Japanese preschools into conversation with spatial theory and Ma, a Japanese spatial esthetic. We seek to understand how and what spaces (physical, curricular, and relational) are produced in Japanese hoikuen. We engage with Soja’s Firstspace, Secondspace, and Thirdspace in order to examine space in the Japanese preschools. We also think with concepts from Ma esthetics in order to understand the appreciation of unexpected moments and interactions. Specific insights gained from analysis focus on the design of the preschools, flexibility of furniture, shared workspaces, field trips, inquiries with nature, bonds between students, and addressing conflict. We present these insights to add to an emerging discussion of how spatial aspects of environments influence teaching and learning in early childhood education.

Die Organisation von Wohlbefinden in japanischen Kindergärten

Abstract Is it possible to organize well-being in an educational setting? The paper examines some possible conditions and forms by using the example of Japanese preschools and tries to track down the logic of the organization of well-being. Playful, but systematically learned selective rituals and routines, the specific handling of conflicts and the restraint of the educators create an environment, in which the children are able not only to play enthusiastically, but also to adjust their common activities to a large extent on their own. Well-being in a relaxed and happy social coexistence in the group - on the one hand an indispensable condition for all further educational processes, on the other hand also end in itself - is staged as joint task, for which everybody should try for together.

Dietary Intake of Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid Is Associated With Lower Blood Pressure in Japanese Preschool Children

An elevated plasma homocysteine level is an independent risk factor for high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, and its level is regulated by three vitamins; vitamin B6, B12, and folic acid. Until now, the association between the intake of these vitamins and blood pressure has been examined only in adult populations. We purposed to examine the association between dietary intake of these three vitamins and blood pressure of young children. We conducted a cross-sectional study at Japanese preschools in 2006. Blood pressure was measured among 418 children aged 3-6 years. Diets including vitamins were assessed by a 3-day dietary record. We compared the blood pressure levels among the four groups defined according to quartile of energy-adjusted vitamin intake by using analysis of covariance after controlling for age, sex, and body mass index. The mean systolic blood pressure was 6.6 mm Hg lower and the mean diastolic blood pressure was 5.7 mm Hg lower in the highest quartile than in the lowest quartile of vitamin B12 intake (P for trend was <0.001 and 0.006, respectively). The mean systolic blood pressure was 4.1 mm Hg lower in the highest quartile than in the lowest quartile of folic acid intake (P for trend = 0.004). Vitamin B6 intake was not significantly associated with blood pressure. The data suggest that high intakes of folic acid and vitamin B12 are associated with lower levels of blood pressure among preschool children.

The Japanese Preschool's Pedagogy of Peripheral Participation

Abstract This article examines Japanese teachers' beliefs about children's peripheral participation in emotional interactions in the classroom, and especially in fights. The article is based on a reanalysis of scenes of fighting in Japanese preschools from Tobin and colleagues' 2009 book and video, Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited. The reanalysis shifts the focus of attention from the protagonists in the fights, who occupy the center of the video frames, to the children on the margins. Japanese teachers have an emic cultural vocabulary for conceptualizing such peripheral participation, including the terms gyarari (gallery), gaiya (outfielders), seken (the generalized audience), and mawari no ko (the children around). Our analysis suggests that Japanese preschool teachers believe that in responding to children's fights their goal should be to give not only the protagonists but the class as a whole opportunities to experience emotions and to cultivate a sense of collective responsibility for events in their classroom community.

The Japanese Preschool's Pedagogy of Feeling: Cultural Strategies for Supporting Young Children's Emotional Development

Abstract Among the lessons to be learned in Japanese preschool is how to experience, present, and respond to feelings. We suggest that the feeling most emphasized in Japanese preschools is sabishiisa (loneliness). Japanese preschool educators draw attention to feelings of sabishiisa, or loneliness, to promote a desire in young children for social connection. This social connection is built on a foundation of amae (expressions of dependency needs) and omoiyari (responding empathically to expressions of amae). Using examples from everyday life in a Japanese preschool, we argue that the Japanese preschool's pedagogy of feeling emphasizes learning to respond empathetically to loneliness and other expressions of need. Our analysis suggests that sabishiisa, amae, and omoiyari (loneliness, dependence, and empathy) form a triad of emotional exchange, which, although not unique to Japan or to the Japanese preschool, have a particular cultural patterning and salience in Japan and in the Japanese approach to the socialization of emotions in early childhood. [emotion, feeling, Japan, preschool, amae]

A Consideration on the Present Situation of Biotopes and a Desirable Education through ESD concept in Japanese Preschools. －On the Basis of a Nationwide Questionnaire Survey and practical activities at preschools－.

A Consideration on the Present Situation of Biotopes and a Desirable Education through ESD concept in Japanese Preschools. －On the Basis of a Nationwide Questionnaire Survey and practical activities at preschools－.

Becoming Individuals Together: Socialisation in the Japanese Preschool

Early childhood educators and parents in New Zealand commonly express the hope that young children become independent, creative individuals. In contrast, Japanese preschools work towards a harmonious group of children whose views and behaviour are mirrored by their classmates. Dominated by lengthy periods of free play with little disciplinary action by teachers, classes as large a forty introduce children to 'life in the group' (shūdan seikatsu) and to essential Japanese social values. This approach is often at odds with stereotypical images New Zealanders may have of Asian children as academically driven from an early age. As New Zealand institutions face increasing numbers of Asian children entering the early childhood sector, this paper examines the ideology and practice of shūdan seikatsu socialisation methods prevalent in Japanese preschools in the hope of stimulating critical reflection by New Zealand educators on their own methods and goals.

Contested Childhood: Diversity and Change in Japanese Preschools. By Susan D. Holloway. New York: Routledge, 2000. 272 pp. $95.00 (cloth); $26.95 (paper).

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Accentuating the Negative: Views of Preschool Staff about Mothers in Japan

Japanese mothers are frequently portrayed in the American research literature as providing socialization experiences that complement—rather than replicate—the goals and strategies of the preschool. The present study expands upon this small empirical base, and challenges the assumption that there is widespread agreement within Japan concerning the appropriate roles of teacher and parent in educating and socializing young children. Staff members from 27 Japanese preschools were interviewed concerning their perspectives on the role of mother, their attitudes about the effectiveness of mothers' child-rearing strategies and their views about the home-school relationship. Qualitative analyses revealed that most directors and teachers believed that mothers should prioritize spending time with their children over other activities and should provide firm guidance regarding social behavior. They did not view cognitive stimulation as an important part of the maternal role. Few staff members felt that mothers were discharging these responsibilities in an adequate manner. Mothers were widely viewed as either overly permissive, overly protective, or detached and uninvolved. Additionally, many staff members thought mothers placed too much emphasis on structured academic learning. Staff attributed these limitations to a number of factors, including the small size of modem families, conflicting advice by professionals, isolation caused by apartment dwelling, and the incursion of such Western values as materialism, feminism and individualism. Staff views about parent involvement varied depending on the general philosophy of the preschool. These findings illustrate that concepts underlying the notion of "quality" depend on local cultural models in a particular society, as well as structural features of early childhood organizations.

Divergent cultural models of child rearing and pedagogy in Japanese preschools.

Divergent cultural models of child rearing and pedagogy in Japanese preschools.

Learning to Go to School in Japan: The Transition from Home to Preschool Life

Japanese two-year-olds are indulged, dependent, and undisciplined toddlers, but by the age of six they have become obedient, self-reliant, and cooperative students. When Lois Peak traveled to Japan in search of the 'magical childrearing technique' behind this transformation, she discovered that the answer lies not in the family but in the preschool, where teachers gently train their pupils in proper group behavior. Using case studies drawn from two contrasting schools, Peak documents the important early stages of socialization in Japanese culture. Contrary to popular perceptions, Japanese preschools are play-centered environments that pay little attention to academic preparation. It is here that Japanese children learn their first lessons in group life. The primary goal of these cheerful - even boisterous - settings is not to teach academic facts of learning-readiness skills but to inculcate behavior and attitudes appropriate to life in public social situations. Peak compares the behavior considered permissible at home with that required of children at preschool, and argues that the teacher is expected to be the primary agent in the child's transition. Step by step, she brings the socialization process to life, through a skillful combination of classroom observations, interviews with mothers and teachers, transcripts of classroom events, and quotations from Japanese professional literature.