Exploring the early childhood landscape in other countries can provide invaluable insight into the challenges and opportunities in child-rearing environments around the world. In March, a group of SUSS students from various majors had the opportunity to travel to Shirayuri University in Tokyo, Japan, where we gained firsthand experience in the Japanese early childhood education system. During our visit, we encountered issues such as child abuse, developmental disabilities, and declining birth rates that are shaping the landscape of child-rearing in Japan. In this blog post, we will share our experiences and learnings in relation to the similarities and differences between the early childhood landscapes in Japan and Singapore.
19 different individuals travelling together for the first time but interacted like we’ve known each other for years.
One would not have anticipated the degree of resemblance between Japan and Singapore concerning the obstacles they encounter in early childhood education. Issues like teachers’ turnover rate, improvement of management, declining birth rates and many more. Feels really relatable, isn’t it? Professor Sakakihara mentioned the issue of adverse childhood experiences which sparked the first of many discussions. How can we, as educators, identify and support children who are battling with adverse childhood experiences?
“Many of us agreed that it is indeed difficult to identify children with such backgrounds in Singapore because of parents’ need for ‘not losing face’ and there is a likelihood for educators to overlook these children. However, I believe that forming secure attachments with the children would be helpful as I become much more genuine and intentional in wanting to know more about the children.”
- Ivy Leong (ECE)
Most of us signed up for this OE programme because of this – Forest Therapy!
What do you do when you are stressed? We explored the idea of forest therapy where we practiced mindfulness through a walk in the forest, stretching exercises and making fragrance bags. Mental wellness of children and their parents is also an issue influencing the child-rearing landscape in both Japan and Singapore. The forest therapy was modelled after the five pillars of German Kneipp Therapy – water, plant, exercise, nutrition, and balance. Engaging in forest therapy has a wide array of benefits that range from stress reduction to increased anticancer protein production.
“Being in the forest with children is something very familiar to me. But to foster mental well-being and mindfulness into the forest experience was a new experience. Intentionality is important – in engaging children’s five senses, to take in the sights, sounds and explore the different textures within their environment. It will be a challenge that needs to be faced head on, for educators to incorporate these into the curriculum – not just in the forest but in daily practices, be it outdoors or indoors.”
- Joleen Chan (ECE)
Exercising mindfulness as we stretched our bodies.
Who slept – better own up now.
Following issues that need to be resolved, comes intentionality in mitigating these problems. We were honoured to observe the programme planned out by Sengawa Drama Theatre where the educators made full use of their voices and engaged every single one of us! The theatre collaborates with Shirayuri University to organise ‘Parenting Support Room – Workshop for Infants’ for families with young children. The support room offered families with a safe space to share about challenges faced, to build a community where parenting knowledge and tips can be shared among families.
Who would have thought that a simple book, paired with props and voices, could engage every single one of us – without understanding Japanese!
They even made it rain Sakura! This is where you say, “Wah!”
This session was in preparation for the ‘Workshop for Infants’ that was held on the fourth day. We were given a chance to teach two fingerplay songs – ‘Open, Shut Them’ and ‘Family Song’ – as well as showcase a dramatisation of the book, ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’. These were also implemented during the workshop session itself with young children and their families.
~ Open, shut them. Open, shut them. Give a little clap, clap, clap! ~
The day has come for us to implement the ‘Workshop for Infants’! Everyone welcomed the families with big smiles and warm greetings and the language barriers didn’t seem to have an impact on us as we were all having fun interacting in our own ways with the families!
It was a great story-dramatisation session by Jessica, Lenard, Ann, Qi, Georgia, and behind-the-scenes, Christopher!
We ended off the session with an interview with the families, to find out some challenges that Japanese families face with regards to child-rearing. Here is a summary of the challenges that was shared to us:
- High cost: 100,000YEN for childbirth, 20,000YEN for kindergarten
- Loss of time spent between both parents
- Lack of kindergartens / daycare centres / ECEC centres (waiting list)
“The family that we interviewed shared with us their concerns about child rearing in Japan. They described how most families in Japan, to have children, must have a stay-at-home parent (usually the mother). They feel that couple time is hard to come by, as the father works long hours and the mother is busy with child-rearing responsibilities. It makes me think about Singaporean family structures, with dual working parents. Even though family time is set aside during weekends, if the couple feels that couple time is slowly becoming less of a priority, then strains may begin to appear in the relationship.
My personal takeaway would then be to treasure time spent with my partner and remind ourselves to be constantly open in communicating our grievances and blissful moments.”
- Lenard Ang (ECE)
Have you ever attended a seminar conducted by the founders of curriculum approaches? Well, we have! Professor Fujimori founded the Mimamoru approach where practitioners view the children as competent individuals which leads to practitioners often taking a step back for children to problem solve and help their peers. Prof Fujimori shared that practitioners value the act of watching and waiting, to provide children with a sense of empowerment and opportunities to be independent. Some centres in Singapore have approached Prof Fujimori and adopted the Mimamoru approach into the curriculum. Many of us were heartened and inspired to adopt the practice of watching and waiting before responding back in the preschools in Singapore.
“The concept of Mimamoru which is the hands-off free approach of disciplining children had left a strong impression on me. In contrast to child-rearing in Singapore in which there is a lot of intervention from the caretaker/educator, I think the Mimamoru method will give children the chance to learn from their mistakes and conflicts by handling them through their voluntary actions, rather than just being told what to do all the time. If I were to become a parent in the future, the Mimamoru approach is definitely something that I will experiment with my children in order to give them the autonomy to nurture their own social and interpersonal skills.”
- Olivier Lee (MKT)
As shared by Olivier, the Mimamoru approach fosters the development of children’s social skills when adults allow children to be independent in managing conflicts and problems. Prof Fujimori also shared that with a low birth rate in Japan, the families are growing smaller, leading to a decrease in opportunities to interact with other children in the household. It is therefore important for an increase in the intentionality to create such opportunities for social interaction when educators begin to take a step back. WOW, we were all inspired by the approach!
The only sounds we made when we saw all these were, “Ooo” and “Wow”.
Welcome to Sukoyaka, a child and family support centre that provides community-wide support for children and families to allow healthy growth of individual children! The centre provides the necessary services to individual families through mutual cooperation with childcare support programmes. We may not have the same resources like Japan has to operate a centre as such. Food for thought: How can we then provide similar supports with the children and families in Singapore preschools?
A place where families can receive child-rearing knowledge and supports while building a community with other families.
Café Aona, presents a similar concept where families can come together to talk about the issues they face or are unsure of. Similar to the collaboration with Shirayuri University and Sengawa Drama Theatre, this café builds up a support system whereby families can share and gain knowledge about children’s development and parenting tips. Healthy food is served in the café to promote a healthy diet for children and families to support the development of young children.
“The OE programme with Shirayuri University was so enjoyable! It was a holistic approach to learning more about Japan's ECE landscape – we got to visit their childcare support centre which was built upon a robust transdisciplinary system and enjoy a session of mindfulness via forest therapy among many other meaningful programmes! My favourite memory during the trip was interacting with the infant and toddlers & presenting a live version of "We're Going on A Bear Hunt" for them in collaboration with Sengawa Theatre. I'm looking forward to exploring more ECE fields outside of Singapore.”
- Ann Ang (ECE)
Thankful to every single individual here who made the trip a memorable adventure!
~ Joleen