There are various types of licensed (government certified)kindergartens or nursery schools as you know. You have childcare facility for foreigners in one of those types. This type of nursery school and daycare center are basically located in the region where there are a lot of non-Japanese residents.
Such nursery facilities has mostly been started by foreign people concerned initiatively by looking ahead to its growing demand in small ethnic communities such as Vietnamese community, Chinese community, Brazilian community, Filipino community. As is often the case with hyphenated Japanese, they mostly work for a factory all day long, both husband and wife so nursery services are indispensable for them.
Not a few children who haven’t been long in Japan since they moved with their families are completely disability to understanding Japanese and they need someone to teach language intensively in parallel with nursery education. The Japanese government’s pragmatic approach is now required because the number of qualified nursery teachers who can communicate in the languages of countries that those foreigners are from are really few at the moment.
At the current situation, each nursery facilities for non-Japanese children proceed with countermeasure for communication based problems, which is allocating expats or hyphenated Japanese who originate from a country that enrolled children came from as a language supporter of nursery teachers. According to the supervisory guideline standards of childcare, the number of nursery teachers shall be one in every three people in every licensed childcare facilities.
About more than one third of people engaged in a childcare facility shall be qualified as a nursery teacher or a nurse (including assistant nurse )
Referred from the supervisory guideline standards of childcare
For that reason, the majority of nursery facilities for foreigners that don’t satisfy the above condition cannot help managing as a non-licensed nursery school because language supporters significantly passes the number of qualified teachers and there are also problem that few qualified teachers apply for those nursery facilities.
As I told above that, a licensed nursery school can hire a non-qualified person as a language supporter but many foreign parents who have children without understanding Japanese make up their mind to make children enter a nursery school for foreigners regardless of wether it is licensed one or not. Thus, non-qualified language supporters tend to apply for a nursery school for foreigners that attract their ethnicity.
After all, few language supporters apply for a licensed one and a foreign families that hasn’t been long since they came to Japan tries to make a child to enter nursery school for foreigners and otherwise, they look after for themselves if they couldn’t find or can’t afford to leave a child to such a childcare facility.
Both a licensed nursery school and a nursery school for foreigners are somehow segregated between Japanese and non-Japanese in each regions. This is where things are currently.
Contents
Influences on free of charge for childcare policy in 2019
Nursery fees for foreigners are different depending on the facility. It costs you about 20,000 to 30,000 per month only in the daytime and about 50,000 to 60,000 per month for 12 hours from early morning to evening time. These are the rough estimated market price of nursery fees in my sense. There are not a few parents who leave their children who don’t understand Japanese to a nursery school because of their worries that children’s language disability is the trigger for being isolated in a class so they leave children to a non-licensed nursery school for foreigners in the knowledge that they need to pay expensive nursery fee.
Its scenario may change after the free of charge for childcare policy is implemented by the government in April, this year because nobody doesn’t want to prioritize domestic financial situation more than worries of children after entering a nursery school.
So many foreigners coming to Japan as a expatriate labor keep taking care of their families left in their countries financially by transferring a part of their small salary and sustain difficulties in Japan. Impact that Nursery fees becomes free acts as an incentive for foreign parents to leave children in a licensed nursery school even though they understand children face communication difficulties in school.
Supposing the government or a municipality announces an ordinance to absorb licensed nursery schools for foreigners into one of licensed nursery facility group, these nursery schools cannot be labeled as “for foreigners” because a municipality or the government requires fairness in spending time in Japanese nursery school to every children regardless of nationality. As a result, even if there tend to be a lot of foreign children in a licensed school, foreign children are simply the ones who are educated in a Japanese nursery school.
There are lot of problems piling up to look after non-Japanese children in a licensed school
As the present position, it can hardly say that preparation for non-Japanese children is not being smoothly made prior to the start of the free of charge for childcare policy in this April. It is impossible for quite busy nursery teachers who are full of tasks and don’t even have spare time to do new things, to learn new language for newly entering non-Japanese children.
The regulation that the number of nursery teachers shall be one in every three people doesn’t allow sufficient number of language supporters to assist nursery teachers as full-time. For that reason, a licensed nursery school doesn’t have the headspace to deal with non-Japanese children who don’t understand teacher’s indication in Japanese.
Such following troubles between nursery teachers and non-Japanese parents were occurred for example.
- Although a teacher carefully prepared list of baggage contents for children for outing to a park, parents got children to bring painting tools without lunch box in a backpack.
- A teacher gave tabooed foods to a child having faith in a specific religion without religious knowledge
- Teacher’s behavior that touched child’s head softy to try to admire annoyed child as badly as he cried over and his parents fulminated against what a teacher did.
- A teacher told necessary baggage list orally to a child in Japanese but he didn’t understand and brought nothing a teacher indicated.
- Although a teacher asked a child not to speak a language except for Japanese for the purpose of language education ,parents who misunderstood this treatment as racial discrimination protested against what a teacher required to a child
- Even 5 year-old child still wearing diaper makes teacher feel strange and a teacher questioned this directly to parents, it is quite natural for 5 year old children to wear diaper in the country.
It really takes pains to bury a gap between Japanese nursery teachers who is unattractive their studies to languages or countries of children they look after because of being too busy and foreign parents who don’t get used to Japanese culture.
Moreover, it is not easy to train new staff to be able to take care of children property even if hiring new language supporters. Things are really complicated and difficult.
With even insufficient preparation for non-Japanese children, the government need to put its effort to improve the nursery system
So many problems are now accumulated if simulating non-Japanese children enters a licensed nursery school. However, the Japanese nursery system needs to improve to treat non-Japanese children fairly in multi lingual environment and strengthen Japanese language education because most of them go on to Japanese elementary school if their families stay long and form the basis of their livelihood in Japan regardless of if they are permanent residents or not.
To survive in Japan, knowing Japanese culture and having Japanese language ability are essential for foreigners except for the case that you can belong to 100 percent American society such as military bases and live there in plenty or the case you have sufficient money to make your child to enter special international school that speaks only English.
Most of parents want to make their children to enter Japanese public school because of domestic financial situation. So the government needs to prepare the system that a foreign children can somehow survive in Japan independently. Until children who don’t totally understand Japanese can behave a collective action in elementary school, it takes long time but it is impossible to be be able to do it in one year. At least they need 2 to 3 years to get used to it. If you leave your child in a nursery school for foreigners, your child’s learning speed of Japanese is very slow and it is very doubtful your child can follow up a classwork if going on to elementary school.
Conclusion
Too relying on the government’s policy changing for non-Japanese childcare system is not really good. It is important to put your effort to make your child get used to the Japanese culture and environment little by little like buying Japanese book, watching Japanese TV program, joining in some events that can connect to neighbors in order for your child to reduce difficulties after entering if you want to leave your child in a licensed nursery school prior to the start of free of charge of childcare in April, 2019