New Frontiers of Educational Research Liyan HUO Susan B. NEUMAN Atsushi NANAKIDA Editors Early Childhood Education in Three Cultures China, Japan and the United States New Frontiers of Educational Research Series editors Zhongying Shi, Beijing, China Ronghuai Huang, Beijing, China Zuoyu Zhou, Beijing, China Editorial Board Chengwen Hong, Beijing, China Cynthia Gerstl-Pepin, Vermont, USA David Osher, Washington, DC, USA Felix Rauner, Bremen, Germany Huajun Zhang, Beijing, China Jonathan Michael Spector, Georgia, USA Kenneth Zeichner, Washington, USA Kerry Mallan, Brisbane, Australia Levin Ben, Toronto, Canada Liyan Huo, Beijing, China Mang Li, Beijing, China Qi Li, Beijing, China Ronghuai Huang, Beijing, China Shinohara Kyoaki, Gifu, Japan Susan Neuman, Michigan, USA Wei Kan, Beijing, China Xudong Zhu, Beijing, China Yan Wu, Beijing, China Yanyan Li, Beijing, China Yaqing Mao, Beijing, China Yong Zhao, Oregon, USA Zhikui Niu, Beijing, China Zhiqun Zhao, Beijing, China Zhongying Shi, Beijing, China Zuoyu Zhou, Beijing, China More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10795 Liyan HUO · Susan B. NEUMAN Atsushi NANAKIDA Editors Early Childhood Education in Three Cultures China, Japan and the United States 1 3 Editors Liyan HUO Atsushi NANAKIDA Beijing Normal University Department of Education Beijing Early Childhood Education China Hiroshima University Higashi-Hiroshima Susan B. NEUMAN Japan School of Education University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI USA ISSN 2195-3473 ISSN 2195-349X (electronic) ISBN 978-3-662-44985-1 ISBN 978-3-662-44986-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-44986-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2014951700 Springer Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 This work is subject to copyright. 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Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Contents Part I B eing, Belonging and Becoming: Child Image and Curriculum Reforms 1 The Centennial Change from Imitation to Innovation: Early Childhood Education and Curriculum Reform in China ...... 3 Liyan HUO 2 Early Childhood Education and Care Curriculum in Japan ........ 25 Atsushi NANAKIDA 3 Play with a Purpose: Creating Meaningful Environments with Children, Families, and Communities in the United States ..... 39 James F. Christie and Kathleen A. Roskos Part II Childcare Policies in Changing Contexts 4 Describing the Early Childhood Policy Landscape in the USA ...... 53 Susan B. NEUMAN 5 Latest Development of Japanese Kindergarten Education Policy .... 61 Akiko Kimata and Yoshihide Kaneko 6 The Evolution and Innovation of China’s Preschool Education Financial System ............................................ 83 Yingqi Cai and Xiaoxia Feng v vi Contents Part III B est Practices for Early Childhood Teacher Professional Development 7 Early Childhood Challenge: Preparing High-Quality Teachers for a Changing Society in the USA ............................. 101 Martha A. Adler 8 Current Issues in ECEC Teacher Education in Japan ............. 111 Kyoko Iwatate 9 How to Advance the Initial Training System for Chinese Kindergarten Teachers in a New Era ........................... 127 Minyi Li, Feng Deng and Liwei Liu Conclusion .................................................... 143 Editors and Contributors About the Editors Liyan HUO is a Professor of Institute of Early Childhood Education, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University. Professor HUO is currently a committee member in China Committee of World’s Pre-school Organization, member of the Steering Committee of Early Childhood Education Organization in the Asia-Pacific Region, excellent Doctoral Dissertation Accreditation Expert of Education, and served in many other educational organizations and committees. Her researches focus on preschool education, preschool curriculum and instruction, preschool teachers’ professional development, preschool education and research methods and preschool evaluation and supervision. Professor HUO has presided over a number of research projects, including Report on ECE in Several Countries (Project of National Philosophy and Social Science Fund); The International Comparative Study of Furthering the Curriculum Reform in Elementary Education and Promoting Quality Education (Major Projects of Key Research Base, Ministry of Education), and so on. She has published more than 10 academic works, including A Comparative study on Early Childhood Education System in the US, UK, Japan, and India (included in the national library of philosophy and social science achievements); published over 10 academic translations including Essentials of Active Learning in Preschool (2012); and authored over 70 academic treatise including On Experience of Early Childhood Education; which were reproduced by Xinhua Digest, Education Information and universally praised and widely quoted by a number of media outlets. vii viii Editors and Contributors Susan B. NEUMAN is a Professor and Chair of Teaching and Learning at New York University specializing in early literacy development. Previously, she has been a Professor at the University of Michigan and has served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education. In her role as Assistant Secretary, she established the Early Reading First program, the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program, and was responsible for all activities in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Act. She has served on the IRA Board of Directors (2001– 2003) and other numerous boards of nonprofit organizations. She is currently the Editor of Reading Research Quarterly, the most prestigious journal in reading research. Her research and teaching interests include early childhood policy, curriculum, and early reading instruction, preK-grade 3 for children who live in poverty. She has written over 100 articles, and authored and edited 11 books, including the Handbook of Early Literacy Research (Volumes I, II, III) with David Dickinson, “Changing the Odds for Children at Risk” (Teachers College Press 2009), “Educating the Other America” (Brookes 2008), and “Multimedia and Literacy Development (Taylor & Francis 2008). Her most recent books are “Giving our children a fighting chance: Poverty literacy, and the development of information capital.” (Teachers College Press 2012); and “All about Words: Improving vocabulary in the age of Common Core Standards, preK-grade 2. Atsushi NANAKIDA B.A. (Yokohama National Univer- sity), M.Ed. (Yokohama National University), M.Sc. (Western Oregon University, USA), Ph.D. (Hiroshima University). Professor NANAKIDA has been interested in the early childhood education of children with special needs, including transition to school, collaboration with families. After completing Ph.D. in Education for young children at Hiroshima University, he became an Assistant Professor at the Hyogo University of Education in 1993. In 2001, he lectured on Early Childhood Education in Hiroshima University as a Prof. Dr. NANAKIDA was a visiting researcher at the Children’s issues Centre, Otago University, New Zealand in 2003. While serving as a director of Research Institute of Early Childhood Education (RIECE), Hiroshima University since 2005, he lectured not only on education for young children but also the support system for child rearing; he has been engaged in child abuse, case study research, and project research. He is currently an editorial board member of the Journal of Japan Society of Research on Early Childhood Care and Education. He acts as the representative committee of Japan Society of Research on Early Childhood Care and Education, Editors and Contributors ix Japanese Society for the Education of Young Children. Since 2011, RIECE is working with the Institute for Early Childhood Education Research, Faculty of Education, and Beijing Normal University to study on ECEC. Contributors Martha A. Adler is an Associate Professor in Reading, Language Arts and English as a Second Language, and the Director of Field Placement at the University of Michigan-Dearborn College of Education, Health, and Human Services. Dr. Adler is involved on a regular basis with local public schools through her research and professional development activities. Her primary research and publications are qualitative, particularly using case study analysis and ethnography, in the fields of early literacy, tutoring programs for struggling readers, professional development, and urban education. Yingqi Cai is a Professor in Central China Normal University (CCNU), and the Principal of the Department of Early Childhood Education in CCNU. Professor Cai is the Chinese member and secretary-general of OMEP, an academic member of China National Society of Early Childhood Education, and the director and vice-chairman of Hubei Society of Early Childhood Education. She is interested in preschool economy, preschool administration and policies, preschool theories and science education in preschool education. She has conducted about 20 national and post-doctoral projects, published more than 60 academic papers, and authored six books. James F. Christie is Professor Emeritus in the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University. His research interests include children’s play and early literacy development. He has published numerous books, chapters, and articles on these topics, including Play, Development, and Early Education (Allyn and Bacon 2005) and Play and Literacy in Early Childhood, 2nd ed. (Erlbaum 2007). Dr. Christie has been a member of the Board of Directors of Playing for Keeps and the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Council for Children’s Play. He is a past president of The Association for the Study of Play and served for many years as an editorial advisor for Sesame Street magazine. Feng Deng is an Assistant Professor of Institute of Education, Beijing Institute of Technology. His research interests concentrate on educational evaluation and assessment, large-scale data analysis, and higher education. Xiaoxia Feng is a retired Professor of Institute of Early Childhood Education, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University. Professor Feng is currently the chairman and the director of the academic committee of China National Society