|  | Current Issues | No.53 May 2008 |
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The Trend of Current Early Years Physical Education in Japan Takashi Kubo & Seiichiro Kihara |
1.The current situation & problems of the early years physical education system in Japan 1.1. Kindergartens & preschools The early years education system in Japan consists of kindergartens & preschools. A kindergarten as defined in ‘School Education Law (Section 77)’ is; ‘an educational body which takes care of infants & helps them develop mind and body by giving them an appropriate environment.’ Under the control of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, a public kindergarten is managed by the board of education in autonomy, and a private kindergarten is managed by the governor’s office in a prefecture. In 2006, there were 5,519 public kindergartens & 8,317 private kindergartens. On the other hand, a preschool is defined in the ‘Child Welfare Law (Section 39)’ as; ‘a child welfare facility which takes care of infants who lack care’. Under the control of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, a preschool is managed by the governor’s office in autonomy. In 2006, there were 11,842 public preschool & 10,890 private preschool. The words ‘lack care’ mean that a preschool was originally established for socially helping working parents in childcare by keeping their children. An eligible infant for kindergarten is between 3 & 5 years old. Admission is decided by contract between the parents & kindergarten’s establisher. An eligible infant for preschool is between 0 & 5 who ‘lacks care’, and the parents need to apply for admission. While a decrease in the number of children is a recent trend in Japanese society, there has been a different trend between the number of children in kindergartens and that in preschools. While the number of kindergartens and kindergarten infants has tended to decrease, the number of preschools and preschool infants has tended to increase (cf. Figure 1). Figure 1: Transition of number of facilities and children in kindergartens and nursery schools in Japan Source: Nursery schools: The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, ‘Social welfare administrative business annual report’ Source: Kindergartens: The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, ‘School basic survey annual report’ The duration of care/education in kindergarten is basically 4 hours per day, and is not supposed to be below 39 weeks per year at each grade. On the other hand, the duration of care/education in preschool is basically 8 hours per day but the principal of the preschool can change it subject to the situation of the individual. In addition, there is no regulation on the number of caring days. Recently, some kindergartens have started a ‘Caring service’ for infants who want care after normal caring time. There is a big difference both in the amount of money allotted to childcare and the tuition fees between kindergarten & preschool. In kindergarten the kindergarten’s establisher decides the tuition fees. These are fixed regardless of the parents’ income, and the average is JPY75,000 per year (with JPY 687,000 public expense) for a public kindergarten, and JPY 230.000 per year (with JPY 165,000 public expense) for a private kindergarten. There is a grant scheme (kindergarten bounty scheme) subject to parents’ income. As the number of infants increase in a family, the tuition fee for each infant decreases. On the other hand, in the case of preschools, autonomy regulates tuition fees subject to parents’ income, and the rate is the same whether it is a public preschool or private one, or whether it is an approved one or non-approved one. For example, in the case of a 3-year-old infant, there are 7 grades of parents’ income. The 1st grade is for those on social security (free tuition), and the 7th grade parents pay 924,000 per year. If we calculate an average tuition fee per infant, the tuition fee is JPY304,000 (with JPY 195,000 public expense) per year per infant (cf. Figure 2). 1: Governor, 100 million yen 2: Guardian, 27.1 billion yen" 3: Local Authority, 247.9 billion yen 1: Governor, 10 billion yen 2: Prefecture, 148.9 billion yen 3: Local Authority, 35.8 billion yen 4: Guardian, 337.8 billion yen 1: Governor, 422 billion yen 2: Prefecture, 211 billion yen 3: Local Authority, 211 billion yen 4: Guardian, 684.6 billion yen 1: Governor, 129.2 billion yen 2: Prefecture, 64.6 billion yen 3: Local Authority, 64.6 billion yen 4: Guardian 403.4 billion yen Figure 2: Ratio of defrayal between kindergarten and nursery school in 2003 (the facilities expense is excluded.) As for the figure in ( ), the total might not become 100.0% because of the half-adjust. Source: The National Liaison Conference for the Pre-Primary-Schools & the Institute for the Pre-Primary-Schools ed. White Paper on the Pre-Primary-Schools 2006, Hitonaru Syobo, p.64. There are two problems in the system of early years education. The first problem is regarding the relationship of the content of the caring/education between the pre-primary-school and the primary school. ‘School education law’ and ‘Child welfare law’ say both kindergarten & preschool ‘take care of’ infants in a kindergarten or preschool, but the issue is how the care in kindergarten or preschool can be connected to what is taught in the primary school. The background of the problem is the decrease in children’s achievement and the recent increase of undisciplined children in lower grades as well as ‘the first grade problem’ which will be explained later. The second problem is the relationship between kindergarten & preschool (merging kindergarten & preschool). Both kindergarten & preschool share the same role in caring for infants between 3 & 5 years old. However, recently, the original difference (eg whether parents cannot care for infants or not, whether the management is an education body or a labour/welfare body) has been becoming more obscure. In addition, the establishment of ‘Approved childcare centres’ adds more dimensions to the problem, where long-hour infants & short-hour infants are cared for together in the same classroom & with the same curriculum. 1.2. The education/care contents of physical exercise & health in kindergarten & preschool A course of study for kindergarten and a course of care for preschool provides a guideline for education/care. The area of content (equivalent to a subject in primary school) has been compromised between kindergarten & preschool recently. In other words, both courses include ‘Health’, ‘Human relationships’ ‘Environment’, ‘Language’ and ‘Expression’. However, in a practical education/caring activity, they do not do a separate activity in each area, but they do an activity combining those areas and focusing on only some. The subjects for training kindergarten teachers or preschool teachers in physical exercise & health include: How to teach ‘health’ (equivalent to ‘How to teach physical exercise’ in training primary school teachers), Physical exercise for infants (equivalent to ‘Physical exercise for elementary pupils’ in training primary school teachers), Infant’s health (equivalent to ‘’School health’ in training primary school teachers). Education in physical exercise & health in kindergarten and preschool is, generally, like ‘play’ with a mixture of those 5 areas, rather than a separate activity in each area. Although kindergartens and preschools follow a course of study in kindergarten or a course of care in preschool, the content of each is different. In the positive sense this could be regarded as creative but in the negative sense it is inconsistent. The examples are play with playground equipment in a park, tag, play with sand or mud, traditional play such as beanbags and spinning tops, play with rhythm or expression. Outside kindergarten and preschool, children go out for walk or excursion, or they have a sports day. In addition, there are activities like ball games, gymnastics, relay races or swimming, where they are more consistent with a connection to the primary school’s physical exercise program. Recently, being conscious of the decrease in infant’s physical ability or fitness, kindergartens and preschools have started to hire lecturers from outside to focus on developing fitness or organizing physical exercise class. According to Kuchino’s research in Fukuoka prefecture in 2006, 24 of 43 kindergartens, and 21 of 42 preschools had ‘Physical exercise classes’. The reason behind having such a physical exercise class was: ‘We can expect a professional physical exercise lecturers to provide us with a special class. On the other hand, the teacher might not be able to run a proper class because of limitations such as his/her age, or his/ her strength/weakness in physical exercise.’ On the other hand, one of the kindergartens that did not have a ‘physical exercise’ class said: ‘A lecturer from outside might be a professional, but we do not think he/she necessarily understands progress of infant’s growth. An inner teacher should train himself/herself to be able to train infants. He/she does not have to do what an exercise school does. Education before primary school is not a subcontractor of primary school. If our focus is to develop infant’s play continuously, it is not a good way in a pre-primary-school education to allocate time strictly like saying: ‘OK, it is time for physical exercise class.’ (Kuchino, 2007) 2. Problems of Japanese infant’s ‘Body & health’ 2.1. Anxiety for infant’s growth from the view of ‘1st grade problem’ As an introduction to investigating Japanese infant’s problems in body & health, the situation of children who are entering primary school after their infancy will be reviewed. According to Kubo (2001), the following are a list of conditions found as a result of a medical check & interview with children and parents in one of the primary schools in a local city where I used to live. Half of all children who were entering the primary school had the following conditions. Asthma (13 children) Allergy (7 children) Eyesight problem (7) Heart tone problem (5) Convulsion (4) Hearing problem (3) Autism (3) Lack of temper (2) Losing voice & control on arms/legs from mental stress (2) Speech impediment (2) Water on the brain (1) Hives from mentality (1) Tertiary obesity (1) Having no response when he/she is not interested (1) Children with such problems enter primary schools and become involved in study and school activities so the problem called ‘First grade problem’ has arisen in primary school education. ‘First grade problem’ refers to the situation where first grade children do not sit down in class, stand up or make noise at their discretion, or do not obey teacher’s order for lining up in a morning assembly. It is said that the cause of the problem is that kindergartens and preschools have focused on ‘Caring with liberty’, or there is gap between family, who tend to spoil children & lacks discipline, and ‘School life’ with study/life discipline. What about these children in physical exercise? A physical exercise class in a primary school has focused on studying sports culture such as gymnastics, athletics, swimming and ball games with the presumption that children have reasonably developed their body & movement at home or in everyday life and play. However, recently, because such physical development is lacking, there are children who cannot catch up with those physical exercise classes. Primary school teachers are concerned about this. 2.2. Infant’s physical strength & ability to exercise In Japan, the results of physical fitness tests and athletic ability tests for elementary, junior high and senior high school students have been collected, but there is only some data on infants. Let us see the reality of Japanese infants’ physical fitness & athletic ability. According to the research on Infants’ athletic ability, conducted by Mr. Sugihara in 1973, 1986, 1997 and 2002, there were some improving items (25m running, standing broad jump), declining items (throwing a softball), and stable items (Continuous jump with both legs) between 1966 & 1986. Between 1986 & 1997, there was a significant decline in all these skills. In addition, after comparing the results in 1986, 1997 & 2002 on a diagram, the results in 1986 in all skills were better than the other 2 years’ results, while there was little difference in the 1997 results and the 2002 results. In other words, Infants’ physical fitness declined dramatically between 1986 and 1997, but remains stable between 1997 & 2002.The research was conducted with 12,059 infants (6,126 male & 5,933 female) in 109 facilities (72 kindergartens, 37 preschools). In terms of the difference between male & female, there was little difference in ‘Continuous jump with both legs’, while male children were better than female children in 25m running, standing broad jump and throwing a softball. In particular, there is trend that the difference between male & female in throwing a softball increases as children grow. These tendencies are quite similar to those shown in research since 1966 (cf. Figure 3). () Figure 3: Annual transition of moving ability seen from development trajectory Source: Sugihara T. et al. (2004),. ‘Infants physical fitness in the national research in 2002 (in Japanese)’, in Taiikuno Kagaku, Vol. 54-2, pp.161-170. 2.3. Research on inconsistencies of Japanese children’s health and issues in physical exercise In October 1978, NHK’s general channel produced a special program called ‘Children’s body is undermined’. In Japan, the national sport test consists of a physical fitness test and an athletic ability test for elementary, junior high and senior high school students, which had been conducted annually during the period from 1964 to 1997 by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and culture, and the results of sport tests had been published annually. (The test has been replaced by a new one since 1998.) Figure 4 shows the total achievement of children’s physical fitness & athletic ability test during the period from 1964 to 1997. According to the diagram, the achievement was at the highest level in 1978 when the program was produced. In that case, what did the title ‘Children’s body is undermined’ mean? Figure 4: Annual transition of the total amount of physical fitness tests (upper) and athletic ability tests (lower) Source: The Liaison Conference for the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children ed. (2002), White Paper on the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children 2002 The problematic phenomena were; Decline in defensive reaction (Eg. Increase in head/face injury, because children do not use hands when falling over.) Increase of breaking a bone Falling down at a morning assembly Sign of adult disease (Eg. Arteriosclerosis, Stomach ulcer from mentality, Stiff back, Backache) Weakening ability of walking with 2 legs (Eg. Delay in developing arches, Decline in back muscle’s power, Scoliosis) Nosebleed Low body temperature Not sweating Giving an odd voice Yawning in the morning Level of cerebrum’s excitement (in Flicker’s test) These were features of a ‘Human being’s crisis that have appeared in young bodies as a result of a wealthy & convenient society and life’. The Infants’ education field in many kindergartens and preschools sensitively responded to those issues such as; Introducing ‘Bare foot/body care’ or rubdown with a dry towel, Introducing walks or excursions by researching number of steps children have per day with pedometer, Researching ‘Life rhythm’ in sleep and diet and attempting to fix it. For example, ‘Sakura-Sakuranbo’ Preschool started ‘Playing rhythm’, with the concept of ‘raising people’s children to human beings’. It starts from turning/crawling, to walking, running, jumping, skipping, galloping using a gymnastic facility. (Saito, 1994) (cf. Picture 1 & Picture 2) Since then, Mr. Masaki, who supported the production of the special TV program, has continuously called the national public to conduct research on Japanese children’s ‘Health & life’, and he has annually published the results in a ‘White paper of children’s health and mind.’ Here recent problems on children’s body & health can be found. The first problem was ‘Decline in muscle sense’ (Self-receptive sense). This sense is to get information of feedback about whether strength/speed/accuracy of physical exercise is done as a result of cerebrum orders. Decline of this sense relates to the decline of skillfulness/accuracy and control in physical exercise. The second problem was decline in the function of the autonomic nerve, which controls body temperature & blood pressure. Regarding body temperature, a problem was raised later in the 1970s in children with low body temperature. However, it has been understood that a change in body temperature in a day tends to follow air temperature. In other words, it has been understood that there is a trend of decline in function of controlling body temperature (See ‘Figure 5’). Figure 5: Daily changing of axillary temperature of the average and the low groups ( ●: Average group, ○: Low group). *: p＜0.05. Source: Noi Sh., Ozawa H., Masaki T., ‘Characteristics of Low Body Temperature in Secondary School Boys’, in International Journal of Sport and Health Science, 1(1), 182-187, 2003. Function of controlling body temperature is developed subject to how well a child is exposed in cold/hot air, so it is understood that it is largely influenced by an artificial environment. This declining trend of function of controlling blood pressure has been highlighted as a cause of feeling dizzy when children stand up and has been investigated. ‘Figure 6’ shows type of blood pressure control by ‘Method of examining blood pressure reflection by body positions’. Figure 6: Method of examining blood pressure reflection by body positions (left-hand) and the type of blood pressure control (right-hand) Source: The Liaison Conference for the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children ed. (2002), White Paper on the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children 2002 According to the figure, the number of people with a malfunction of blood pressure control decreased as people became older. However, a recent trend is that the number does not decrease, rather it increases, after children turn 5. (See ‘Figure 7’) Figure 7: The rate of appearance of the poor group on the blood pressure control and the transition of the rate according to aging Source: The Liaison Conference for the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children ed. (2002), White Paper on the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children 2002. Not only such immaturity of the autonomic nerve function, but dramatic increase in allergy disease such as atopic dermatitis, pollinosis and infant asthma tells us that there is an immaturity or malfunction in children’s immune system. Furthermore, there seems to be some immaturity in internal secretion though there is no data because there is no simple method of investigating this. The third problem is a decrease in the degree of the cerebrum’s awakening (ie. Flicker reading), which has been pointed out since the late 1970s. it is understood that this is partly because children’s life shifts to evening thanks to watching TV or computer games, and partly because of self-protective action under excessive excitement. The fourth problem is there is change in the development order of the frontal lobe’s activity pattern (Eg. Balance/development in excitement & suppression, easy reaction). This is investigated by ‘Luria’s reflection method of physical movement’, and the pattern consists of ; Both excitement and suppression are weak. (Inactive) Only excitement is dominating. (Excitement) Suppression increases as excitement increases. Both are in balance (Active, easy reaction) It was understood that children are in an ‘Inactive’ pattern during the infancy period, then children in ‘Excitement’ pattern increase in the later infancy period and lower/middle grade period in primary school, and children in the ‘Active’ pattern appear after ‘the wall of 9/10 years old’. However, it is a recent trend that ‘Inactive’ children do not decrease at primary school’s middle grade, and ‘Excitement’ children without suppression (especially male children) start to increase at the primary school’s high grade or in junior high school. Furthermore, most recently, it is remarkable that there are ‘Suppression’ children who are with excitement, but try to suppress excitement. It seems that such children are suppressed because of parents’ strict discipline. It is possible that such children’s emotion could explode when triggered if they fail to have a good balance between excitement & suppression. Figure 8-1: The transition of the rate of appearance of the inactive group for the frontal lobe’s activity pattern according to aging Source: The Liaison Conference for the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children ed. (2002), White Paper on the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children 2002 Figure 8-2: The transition of the rate of appearance of the excitement group for the frontal lobe’s activity pattern according to aging Source: The Liaison Conference for the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children ed. (2002), White Paper on the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children 2002 Figure 8-3: The transition of the rate of appearance of the active group for the frontal lobe’s activity pattern according to aging Source: The Liaison Conference for the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children ed. (2002), White Paper on the Body and the Mind of Japanese Children 2002 (Figure 8-1, 8-2, 8-3). (Noi, 2003a, Noi,2003b) It seems that there are several solutions to resolve this complex relationship between ‘Excitement’ & ‘Suppression’ in the frontal lobe. Most importantly, one of the solutions is flexible/active group play using the body, which helps develop excitement between later infancy period and the junior grades in primary school. An example of such activity is ‘Fawning play’ in ‘Satsuki Kindergarten in Tochigi prefecture. In ‘Fawning play’, infants and kindergarten teachers fawn together for 10 to 20 minutes just after the infants come to the kindergarten. By doing so, infants’ excitement & eagerness for exercise increases. It is also reported that infants gain temper & concentration after the play. (Masaki T., Inoue T., 2004) 3. Conclusion Japanese children’s physical ability dramatically decreased between 1986 & 1997, and remains almost stable between 1997 & 2002. While this is a very important issue, the situation of infants’ body & health seriously causes not only decreasing ability in physical exercise, but also immaturity or malfunction of autonomic nerve system, immune system and internal secretion, and odd type of frontal lobe’s activity. Mr. Tsunekazu Takeuchi, Professor in Education, points out that in such a situation the basement for people’s healthy life collapses: ‘In the past, people naturally developed the ability to keep in touch with things, situations and other people directly via the body in a natural uncontrolled life. However, we now face a very difficult situation where we have to artificially develop those abilities through education & care’. (Takeuchi Ts., 1998) For raising infants with a healthy body & mind, it is necessary to change infants’ life style with support from family & local community (Eg. Change nightly family life to morning one, Play outside rather than watching TV etc). Furthermore, it is also requested to run flexible/active group play using their body in public infant education such as kindergartens and preschools. Reference Kuchino T. (2007), ‘Child care environment around infants, part 2 (in Japanese)’ in Tanoshii Taiiku & Sport, pp.11-13, No. 201, March 2007. Kubo T., (2001), ‘Trend of Japanese children’s ‘Body & mind’ (in Japanese)’ in Tanoshii Taiiku & Sport, pp.1-8, February. Masaki T., Inoue T. (2004), Fawning play for training a brain (in Japanese), Shogakukan. Noi Sh. (2003a), ‘Children’s physical ability in defending & their school life (in Japanese)’, in Kodomo to Hatsuiku Hattatu, Vol.1-5, pp.335-364. Noi Sh. (2003b), ‘What is happening in children’s body (in Japanese)’, in Sport medicine, No. 56, pp.14-17. Saito K. (1994), Sakura-Sakuranbo’s rhythm & song (in Japanese), Gunyo-sya,. Sugihara T. et al. (2004),.‘infants physical fitness in the national research in 2002 (in Japanese)’, in Taiikuno Kagaku, Vol. 54-2, pp.161-170. Takeuchi Ts. (1998), Lack of boyhood (in Japanese), Aoki-Shoten. Contact Prof. Dr. Takashi Kubo Women’s Junior College of Nippon Sport Science University Fukazawa, Tokyo, Japan Prof. Dr. Seiichiro Kihara Hiroshima University Graduate School of Education Higashi-Hiroshima, JAPAN http://www.icsspe.org/portal/index.php?w=1&z=5 The Trend of Current Early Years Physical Education in Japan Takashi Kubo & Seiichiro Kihara