Public seminar on “Do You Intervene Immediately or Wait and See in a Conflict Situation among Young Children? – Japanese Teachers’ Professionalism as Recognized by US Teachers” co-organised with The Yew Chung Education Foundation.

The Yew Chung Education Foundation and Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Association – Hong Kong Chapter (PECERA-HK) are very pleased to be co-organizing a public seminar on “Do You Intervene Immediately or Wait and See in a Conflict Situation among Young Children? – Japanese Teachers’ Professionalism as Recognized by US Teachers” by Professor Fuminori Nakatsubo.

For the provision of quality early childhood education and care (ECEC), teachers’ professionalism is considered one of the keys in many countries. However, what constitutes professionalism may be slightly different depending on cultural contexts. For example, in Japan, the speaker’s research found that the roles of teachers are slightly different from those in the US. In Japan, early childhood teachers not only expect children’s development and learning achievement, but they also focus on their socialization processes and holistic development which includes individual autonomy (Hayashi, 2011). Social and cultural differences shape the ideal image of the child and the model of child development. Some cultures emphasize cognitive development while others give the highest importance to social development. The differences in the socio-cultural context of ECEC may also lead to the differences in teachers’ attitude toward children. This presentation, based on a collaborative study conducted by Professor Nakatsubo and Dr Harumoto Ueda of Nagoya City University, examines the following questions: (1) How do Japanese early childhood teachers typically deal with conflict situations among young children? (2) Why don’t Japanese early childhood teachers intervene immediately in conflict situations among young children? and (3) How do US teachers recognize Japanese teachers’ professionalism?

Professor Fuminori Nakatsubo, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Research Institute of Early Childhood Education for the Graduate School of Education at the Hiroshima University, Japan. He is especially interested in early childhood teachers’ professionalism, qualitative research methodology in early childhood education and care, collaboration between early childhood teachers and researchers, emotional practice of early childhood teaching, design of case conferences for early childhood teachers, methodologies for understanding a young child, and the relations between the quality of early childhood education and care and young children’s development. Professor Nakatsubo’s research has been published in Current Issues and Best Practices in Early Childhood Education, Asia- Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education and International Journal of Early Childhood Education.