A Case of the "First Grader Problem" in Three Early Childhood Classrooms in Japan

• In Event: A Global Perspective on Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Curricular reforms for early childhood education worldwide are often situated between two competing visions: a nurturing child-centered space for play, or an academic foundation for later success. In his study, two researchers–an education policy scholar in Japan and a curriculum scholar in the United States–collaborated to investigate the status of child-centered curriculum, as it relates to recent early childhood curriculum reforms in Japan. Findings show that while these reforms focused on student issues with transitioning from pre- to primary school, observed curricular networks in pre- and primary schools comprised vastly different sets of actors, positioning children differently in the production of curriculum. We compare these policy framings to international discourses of achievement gaps in early-grade students.

Authors

• Daniel E. Ferguson, George Mason University

• Satoshi Takahashi, Osaka University