Abstract
Rapid global changes in economics, politics, workforce demands and epistemic levels have accelerated the demand for early childhood education and care (OECD 2006, 2012). In response over the past decade, many governments have established educational reforms aimed at raising standards and improving the quality of early childhood education and care. As an example, in April 2015 the Japanese government announced a new system called ‘Comprehensive Support System for Children and Child-rearing’ in order to promote a quantitative expansion of and qualitative improvement in early childhood institutions (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [MECSST] 2015). The new system focuses on increasing the number of early childhood education institutions for families in order to reduce institution waiting lists. It is also intended to improve teacher-child ratios, aimed at enhancing the overall quality of child-rearing support services for families. However, the demand for and growth in early education has raised concern from stakeholders such as politicians, bureaucrats, researchers, educators and parents regarding the quality of services provided by these institutions (Wong et al. 2010).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bethel, D. (Ed.). (1989). Introduction (A. Birnbaum, Trans.). In D. Bethel (Ed.), Education for creative living: Ideas and proposals of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (pp. 3–15). Ames, Iowa: State University Press.
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., & Pence, A. (2013). Beyond quality early childhood education and care: Languages of evaluation (3rd ed.). London, England: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
Fenech, M. (2011). An analysis of the conceptualisation of ‘Quality’ in early childhood education and care empirical research: Promoting ‘blind spots’ as foci for future research. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 12(2), 102–117.
Fenech, M., Harrison, L., & Sumsion, J. (2011). Parent users of high-quality long day care: Informed consumers of child care? Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(1), 95–103.
Foucault, M. (1970). The order of things: An archaeology of the human sciences. New York: Vintage Books.
Foucault, M. (1972).The archaeology of knowledge and the discourse on language (A. M. Smith, Trans.). New York: Pantheon Books.
Foucault, M. (1984). What is an author? In P. Rabinow (Ed.), Foucault reader (pp. 101–120). New York: Pantheon Books.
Foucault, M. (2003). The subject and power. In P. Rabinow & N. Rose (Eds.), The essential Foucault: Selections from essential woks of Foucault, 1954–1984 (pp. 126–144). New York: The New Press.
Harms, T., Clifford, R. M., & Cryer, D. (2005). Early childhood environment rating scale revised (Rev ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
Ikeda, D. (1996). Thoughts on tolerance and global citizenship. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai.
Ikeda, D. (2003). Challenge of building peace. (2003, September 11). The Japan Times.
Ikeda, D. (2009). The new human revolution. USA: World Tribune Press.
Ikeda, D. (2010). Soka education: For the happiness of the individual (Rev ed.). CA: Middleway Press.
Ikeda, D., Endo, T., Saito, K., & Suda, H. (2000). The wisdom of the Lotus Sutra (Vol. 2). USA: World Tribune Press.
Ikegami, K. (2015). Exploration of quality early childhood education: The Soka kindergarten education model. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Monash University, VIC.
Karoly, L. A., Zellman, G. L., & Perlman, M. (2013). Understanding variation in classroom quality within early childhood centers: Evidence from Colorado’s quality rating and improvement system. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28(4), 645–657.
Logan, H., & Sumsion, J. (2010). Early childhood teachers’ understandings of and provision for quality. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 35(3), 42–50.
Lubeck, S. (1994). The politics of developmentally appropriate practice: Exploring issues of culture, class and curriculum. In B. L. Mallory & R. S. New (Eds.), Diversity and developmentally appropriate practices: Challenges for early childhood curriculum (pp. 17–43). New York: Teachers College Press.
Macartney, B., Ord, K., & Robinson, L. (2008). Three examples of using discourse analysis in New Zealand early childhood research. New Zealand of Research in Early Childhood Education, 11(1), 137–148.
Makiguchi, T. (1989a). Reflections on purpose in education (A. Birnbaum, Trans.). In D. Bethel (Ed.), Education for creative living: Ideas and proposals of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (pp. 17–52). Arme, Lowa: State University Press.
Makiguchi, T. (1989b). The fundamentals of value (A. Birnbaum, Trans.). In D. Bethel (Ed.), Education for creative living: Ideas and proposals of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (pp. 53–90). Arme, Lowa: State University Press.
Makiguchi, T. (1989c). Educational Methodology (A. Birnbaum, Trans.). In D. Bethel (Ed.), Education for creative living: Ideas and proposals of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (pp. 163–185). Arme, Lowa: State University Press.
Makiguchi, T. (1989d). The revitalization of education (A. Birnbaum, Trans.). In D. Bethel (Ed.), Education for creative living: Ideas and proposals of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (pp. 91–161). Arme, Lowa: State University Press.
Makiguchi, T. (1997). Soka kyoikugaku taikei: The system of value-creating pedagogy. Makiguchi Tsunesaburo zenshu (2nd ed.). Tokyo, Japan: Daisan Bunmeisha.
Makiguchi, T. (2002). A geography of human life. (D. Bethel, Ed.). San Francisco: Gaddo Gap Press.
Makiguchi, T. (2004). Soka education system (Vol. 1) (K. H. Kiu, Trans.). Taipei City: Cheng Yin Culture.
Makiguchi, T. (2006). Soka education system (Vol. 2) (K. H. Kiu, Trans.). Taipei City: Cheng Yin Culture.
Makiguchi, T. (2010). Soka education system (Vol. 3) (K. H. Kiu, Trans.). Taipei City: Cheng Yin Culture.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MECSST). (2015). Information booklet. Japan: MECSST and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2006). Starting strong II: Early childhood education and care. Paris: Author.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2012). Starting strong III: A quality toolbox for early childhood education and care. Paris: Author.
Pence, A., & Pacini-Ketchabaw, V. (2008). Discourses on quality care: The investigating ‘quality’ project and the Canadian experience. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 9(3), 241–255.
Rivalland, C. (2007). When are beliefs just ‘the tip of the iceberg’? Exploring early childhood professionals’ beliefs and practices about teaching and learning. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 32(1), 30–37.
Soka Gakkai International [SGI]. (2013a). Lotus sutra. Retrieved April 13, 2013, from http://www.sgi.org/buddhism/lotus-sutra.html.
Soka Gakkai International [SGI]. (2013b). Tsunesaburo Makiguchi: First president of Soka Gakkai. Retrieved May 28, 2013, from http://www.sgi.org/about-us/history-of-sgi/tsunesaburo-makiguchi-first-president-of-the-soka-gakkai.html.
Soka Gakkai International [SGI]. (2013c). Josei Toda: Second president of Soka Gakkai. Retrieved May 28, 2013, from http://www.sgi.org/about-us/history-of-sgi/josei-toda-second-president-of-the-soka-gakkai.html.
Soka Gakkai International [SGI]. (2013d). Biography of Daisaku Ikeda. Retrieved June 10, 2013, from http://www.sgi.org/sgi-president/biography-of-daisaku-ikeda.html.
Soka Gakkai International [SGI]. (2014). Bodhisattva never disparaging. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://www.sgi.org/about-us/buddhism-in-daily-life/bodhisattva-never-disparaging.html.
Soka Gakkai International [SGI]. (2015). The oneness of self and environment. Retrieved September 17, 2015, from http://www.sgi.org/about-us/buddhism-in-daily-life/oneness-of-self-and-environment.html.
Soka Gakkai International [SGI]. (2016a). Creating value. Retrieved January 11, 2016, from http://www.sgi.org/resources/introductory-materials/brief-history-of-sgi.html.
Soka Gakkai International [SGI]. (2016b). Soka education in practice. Retrieved January 12, 2016, from http://www.daisakuikeda.org/main/educator/edu/edu-04.html.
Soka Gakkai International Charter [SGI Charter]. (2016). Preamble. Retrieved January 13, 2016, from http://www.sgi.org/about-us/sgi-charter.html.
Stake, R. E. (2006). Multiple case study analysis. New York: The Guilford Press.
Thijs, J., Koomen, H., Roorda, D., & Hagen, J. (2011). Explaining teacher-student interactions in early childhood: An interpersonal theoretical approach. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 32(1), 34–43.
Tobin, J. (2005). Quality early childhood education: An anthropologist’s perspective. Early Education and Development, 16(4), 421–434.
Wong, M., Wang, X. C., & Li, H. (2010). Accountability and quality early childhood education: Perspectives from Asia. Early Childhood and Development, 21(2), 163–166.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ikegami, K., Grieshaber, S. (2017). Re-conceptualising Quality Early Childhood Education: What Does Soka Education Have to Offer?. In: Li, M., Fox, J., Grieshaber, S. (eds) Contemporary Issues and Challenge in Early Childhood Education in the Asia-Pacific Region. New Frontiers of Educational Research. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2207-4_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2207-4_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-2205-0
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2207-4
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)