The Revision of Japan’s National Guidelines for Care and Education at Day Nursery and Its Problems

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Takeo Shishido, Professor Emeritus, Department of Childhood Education at Aichi Prefectural University, Aichi Prefecture Nagakute-tyo 0561-64-1111, Japan, Electronic mail may be sent to [email protected] Welfare (MHLW) over day nurseries. In addition, the national curriculum for kindergartens (the Course of Study for Kindergarten) and for day nurseries (National Guidelines for Care and Education at Day Nursery) has been independently developed by each respective authority.1 Since the National Guidelines for Care and Education at Day Nursery were first devised in 1965, they were revised in 1990 and 1999 (henceforth, Old Guidelines). In March 2008, the fourth revised edition of the National Guidelines, that will be referred to as New Guidelines, were publicly announced by the The Revision of Japan’s National Guidelines for Care and Education at Day Nursery and Its Problems