Global Childcare Script

Alyssa: Good morning, everyone! *introduce selves* We are here to talk about Japan’s childcare system.

Sam (slide 2): Japan is an island located in the North Pacific off the coast of Russia and the Korean peninsula. Japan has 4 main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Tokyo is Japan’s capital city and is located in Honshu.

Sophia (slide 3): Japan has a population of 127, 078, 679. Japan mostly closed its borders to foreigners resulting in Japan’s very homogeneous society. Japan is 98.5% Japanese and the remaining 1.5% is composed of Koreans, Brazilians, Chinese, Filipino, and Ainu.

Andrea (slides 4 & 5): Nihongo is Japan’s official language. However, since English is part of the school curriculum, many Japanese people are also able to speak and write in English. Japan uses four alphabets: kanji, hiragana, katakana, and romaji. Kanji are Chinese characters. Hiragana is the phonetic alphabet used to write native words. Katakana is the phonetic alphabet to write foreign words. And romaji is the English alphabet. Now, let’s do an activity!

*activity*

Lucia (slide 6): Since the end of World War II, early childhood education has been divided into kindergarten and childcare with a distinction made between kindergarten teachers and childcare workers called hoikushi. The curriculum to train child care workers was completely revised in 1962.

Hyunah (slide 6): Revision of the Children’s Welfare Act in 1988 allowed men to become childcare workers. In the 2001 revision of the Children’s Welfare Act, the child care worker qualification was made a national qualification and in the 2002 revision, the “childcare worker” was given the duty of “providing childcare guidance to the child’s parent”.

Alyssa (slide 6): Japan’s early childhood education was divided into two separate systems until the Nintei Kodomo-en was proposed in 2006 which combines kindergarten and childcare facilities.

Sam (slide 7): There are 2 childcare systems in Japan: day care centres and kindergartens. Day care centres are designed as child care facilities for families with two working parents while kindergartens are supposed to be more learning oriented.

Sophia (slide 7): Japanese day cares have high standards and attention to detail. The number of childcare centres operated by private firms is still small because private day cares are still an emerging business. Babysitters are rare and frowned upon and are only used for emergencies. The fee is $15 an hour per child.

Andrea (slide 7): Strict immigration laws make live-in nannies an unrealistic option. Since childcare is intensive, higher supply costs means higher wages. Companies are offering day care for their employees at in-hour centres and many company men take advantage of these facilities. Substandard day care centres known as “baby hotels” are not illegal but are run without government approval.

Lucia (slide 7): In March 2010, a bill was approved to offer parents ¥13 000 per month for each child middle school age and younger. Municipalities made sure the payments were delivered. In December 2010, the Kan government proposed raising the child allowance to ¥20 000 per month for children under 3 years old. However, the money was used for the 2011 earthquake relief instead.

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Global Childcare Script

Hyunah (slide 8): Here, we have a video to show you.

*show video*

Hyunah (slide 8): Called the “Yokomine Method”, these children learn to read at 3 years old and taught to do handstands at an early age. Yokomine believes that by teaching children these physical and academic exercises, children “will be capable of learning anything they want at 11 or 12 and carving out their own path during adolescence."

Alyssa (slide 9): Japan has 22 800 publicly supported day care centres. Public day care systems are run by local governments so the services vary from community to community. The Japanese government plans to combine kindergarten and child day care centres in 2013. Children as young as 3 months can be enrolled in fun government-subsidized day care programs.

Sam (slide 9): Day care costs are relatively low for low-income families. Parents only pay for about 1/5 of the total cost of the childcare system in Japan. The rest is funded by the Japanese government that sees this as an investment in Japan’s future. However, the public system has issues of its own. Supply is still limited and hasn’t nearly kept up with demand.

Sophia (slide 9): So. How hard is it to get into a Japanese daycare? Very, it’s been compared to writing an entrance exam to a top Japanese university. Some daycares are even booked up two years ahead. Not being able to find a daycare means giving up your job or spending a lot of money on babysitters.

Andrea (slide 10): Training of child care workers began in 1900s and training of kindergarten teachers began in the 1950s. A curriculum for kindergarten teacher training, which had been offered only at private schools, was instituted at 8 national teacher training universities in 1967 along with the development of legal systems for teacher training.

Alyssa (slide 10): Child care providers must complete a two-year course and pass a competitive exam. A “Class 1” is given to university graduates and “Class 2” is given to junior-college graduates. Certification must be renewed every ten years. “Specialized” certification is given to those who finished graduate study.

Lucia (slide 11): These two daycares, East West and Sunshine Montessori in Okinawa have the following philosophies:

Alyssa (slide 11): East West Montessori’s philosophy is: “The Montessori environment is a wonderful place for your child to explore, develop and grow! They experience our classrooms through purposeful activities designed to stimulate their curiosity and build their confidence. The children are free to choose what lesson they wish to work on ... The teacher’s job is to observe the child in the environment ... The children at our school are allowed to progress at their own pace. We ‘Follow the Child’.”

Andrea (slide 11): Sunshine Montessori’s philosophy is: “The school is established in the principles and philosophies of Dr. Maria Montessori; that children are born peaceful in nature and are the key to a more peaceful society. Our prepared environment and teaching style at Sunshine Montessori models compassion for others while encouraging independence, constructive problem solving, positive self-esteem and improved self worth. ... At Sunshine Montessori we believe that your child's success is our success.”

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Global Childcare Script

Lucia (slide 12): Children often learn more discipline in school than at home and Japanese children tend to be well-mannered. When a child misbehaves, the parents are blamed and the saying, “Your bad behaviour reveals how badly you were brought up,” applies. Japanese mothers generally don’t scold their children and try to train their children as much as possible through encouragement and praise.

Hyunah (slide 12): As punishment, they show their disapproval with a mild scolding. Children are also sometimes punished by being locked out of the house compared to Canadian children who are often punished by being sent to the “time-out” corner or being sent to their room.

Alyssa (slide 12): Kejime is defined as “correctly reading the context for what it is and acting accordingly,” and it’s important to child socialization in Japan. At nursery school age, contexts include the how one should act at home, at school, or while being engaged in play.

Sam (slide 12): Japanese preschools purposely plan events throughout the day to train children to adapt from one mindset to the next. Boundary lines are drawn both attitudinally and behaviourally. “Make the distinction: when it’s time to do something, you do it. When it’s time to play, you play.” Society also restricts a lot on what children can and cannot do.

Sophia (slide 12): The ratio is 1 ECE for every 3 infants plus a nurse and a nutritionist in some cases and 1 ECE for every 20 children. It’s snack time! We’ll give you snacks to munch on while listening to the rest of our presentation.

Andrea (slide 13): Japanese children are more independent. It isn’t unusual for 6 year olds to take public transportation by themselves. First graders in Tokyo often go to school by themselves – taking the bus and getting on the subway. However, “before children can start commuting by themselves, they are given several trial runs accompanied by their mothers.” Why don’t their parents drive them to school? Because cars create traffic jams in front of the school and it becomes an inconvenience.

Lucia (slide 13): 31% of primary school students own cell phones. DoCoMo offers cell phones for children with software aimed to helping them learn. You might be saying, “Oh, wow. Those children are so young! Why do they have cell phones already?”

Hyunah (slide 13): On top of using cell phones as a learning tool, parents use these cell phones to keep track their kids. Some come with GPS devices connected to a system that provides parents with a map showing their child’s location.

Alyssa (slide 13): That’s a little creepy, don’t you think? Tracking their children? No, not really. About 5 or 6 times a year, a child is kidnapped for ransom. As a precaution, parents give their children cell phones so they’ll always know where their children are.

Sam (slide 14+): So, what’s a day in a Japanese day care like? In a day care centre, a child can meet friends and play with them and that’s important for development. Children learn to be more independent and do things on their own.

Sophia (slide 14+): Parents will receive a description in Japanese of all the things needed to prepare for their children’s entry into the day care and what’s needed every day. This differs across systems and age-groups. For example, age 0 class requires 5 wash clothes, 5 gauze clothes, 10 diapers, 2 bibs with pockets on the front, etc.

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Global Childcare Script

Andrea (slide 14+): Cornelia says, “From about 7:30 AM to 6:30 PM, the nurseries look after dozens of children ranging in age from a few months to six years. Divided into class by age group, [the children] spend the day playing, singing, making crafts ... There is at least one teacher for every three infants. But that ratio falls steadily, so that one teacher must look after six terrible two’s.”

Lucia (slide 14+): The children also learn how to brush their teeth after lunch and change into their pajamas when they take their afternoon nap. The children wear colour-coded hats that show what grade they’re in.

Hyunah (slide 14+): When they go for a walk or to the playground, the younger children are pushed around in cage-like carts that hold five or six children. Meals are prepared by the cooks and are healthy with portions of vegetables, meat, noodles or bread. After lunch, there is a diaper/clothes change, clean-up, then nap time.

Alyssa (slide 14+): Diaper polices vary across local systems. Dirty diapers are collected in a labelled bag and have to be taken home at the end of the day. The diapers and clothes are changed every hour regardless of whether or not a change was needed. Mothers come mid-week to wash the futons their and to supply changes of clean clothing.

Sam (slide 14+): There are certain rules everyone must abide by. All children are expected to be there by 9:30 AM. If a child arrives late, he or she will miss the sampo. All children must be picked up by 6:15 PM.

Sophia (slide 14+): Parents must pay fees to the parent’s association and are expected to attend certain meetings. Parents are also to serve on the parent’s committee for their child’s class.

Andrea (slide 14+): Parents will also receive monthly newsletters, menus, news from the day care staff union, flyers for pertinent performances, and various notices in Japanese on everything regularly.

Lucia (slide 14+): That is the end of our presentation! Do you have any questions or comments?

Hyunah (slide 14+): Thank you for listening to our presentation and for being a good audience. We hope you learned a thing or two about Japan’s childcare system.

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