A Study of the Political Background and Characteristics of the Handbook of Early Childhood Education and Care （1956）
Yoto OOKA
This paper is positioned as a study about views of early childhood education, the content of teaching guidelines, and practice at kindergartens during the postwar period, when kindergartens made a new start.
After the Second World War, the School Education Law was established in 1947 under the Al- lied General Headquarters, and kindergartens were defined as being schools equal to other schools.
This definition did not exist before the war. Kindergartens clearly became one of the educational insti- tutions in early childhood education by being positioned within the school system.
With regard to the curricula after the war, the Handbook of Early Childhood Education and Care was published in 1948 as government curriculum guidelines but was evaluated as being a preliminary plan. The Handbook of Early Childhood Education and Care was revised and renamed as the National Curriculum Standards for Kindergartens, and was published in 1956. I have already previously examined how the Handbook of Early Childhood Education and Care was made and its characteristics. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine how the Handbook of Early Childhood Education and Care was revised and what kind of early childhood education was especially emphasized in the National Curricu- lum Standards for Kindergartens in 1956.
This paper shows the characteristics of the National Curriculum Standards for Kindergartens in 1956 as well as its process of its creation, its background, and the controversy during its creation, which was related to the revision of the Handbook of Early Childhood Education and Care. Additionally, this paper seeks to uncover how educational experts grasped the meaning of the National Curriculum Standards for Kindergartens in 1956.
While the Handbook of Early Childhood Education and Care in 1948 emphasized children s experi- ence, the National Curriculum Standards for Kindergartens in 1956 were systematic and organizational in character and were designed to have consistent educational contents.
This paper helps to clarify the influences on the new education for early childhood after the Sec- ond World War and on the kindergarten curriculum, since this influence extends to the current early childhood education system and curriculum in Japan.
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