International Comparison of Early Childhood Education and Care
: Insights from the OECD Starting Strong Survey 2018
On February 20th, 2020, NIER International Symposium on Education Reform FY,2019 was convened at the auditorium of MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan).
In October 2019, OECD released the results of the Starting Strong Survey, the first international survey focusing on the workforce in early childhood education and care (ECEC). This survey covering 9 countries including Japan, collected data on staff’s pedagogical practices, working conditions, professional development, etc. This symposium was held to consider and discuss what can be seen from international comparison of ECEC mainly in Japan, Norway and Korea,
based on the results of this survey. In total, 300 people, including researchers, persons in charge of ECEC administrations at the national or local level and teachers who are working at kindergartens, day-care centers, integrated centers for ECEC participated in this symposium.
The event kicked off with remarks by Mr. Nakagawa, Director General of NIER, The following keynote speeches delivered by Ms. Yuri Obara BELFALI, head of division, early childhood and schools directorate for education and skills, OECD and Dr. Kiyomi AKITA, dean, graduate school of education, the university of Tokyo.
After a short break, following short lectures by 3 speakers from Korea, Norway, and Japan, the panel discussion was held by speakers, which was moderated by Dr. Keiko Watanabe, director, early childhood education research center, NIER.
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Ms. Yuri Obara BELFALI from OECD delivered a keynote speech on the theme of “Worldwide Policy Trend for ECEC and Perspectives from the OECD Starting Strong Survey 2018”.
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Dr. Kiyomi AKITA gave a keynote speech on the theme of “Insight of Goodness and Challenges of ECEC in Japan from the Perspectives of International Comparison”.
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▲picture.3 : Mr. SUGIURA Kentaro, Senior Researcher, Early Childhood Education Research Center,
reporting the results of Starting Strong Survey in Japan.
▲picture.4 : Tove SLINDE, Senior Advisor, Department for Schools and Kindergartens Norwegian
Ministry of Education and Research, speaking on Norwegian ECEC based on this survey.
▲picture.5 : Panel discussion titled “Current Challenges and Future Perspectives of ECEC Viewed from
OECD Starting Strong Survey 2018 - Norway, Korea and Japan”.
