Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.15516/cje.v23i4.3980
The Educational Intention behind Non-Intervention: A Case on the Japanese Mimamoru Approach as Early Childhood Teachers’ Professionalism
Fuminori Nakatsubo
; Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences Hiroshima University 1-1-1, Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, 7398524, Hiroshima, Japan
Harutomo Ueda
orcid.org/0000-0001-8175-7731
; Graduate school of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nagoya City University Yamanohata 1, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 4678501 Aichi, Japan
Takako Yoshida
orcid.org/0000-0003-2655-0935
; Child Education and Welfare, Osaka International College 6-21-57 Tohdacho, Moriguchi-shi, 5708555, Osaka, Japan
Mariko Inoue
orcid.org/0000-0003-2637-8733
; Department of Early Childhood Education and Care Senzoku Junior College of Childhood Education 3-2-1 Hisamoto, Takatsu-ku Kawasaki-shi, 2138580, Kanagawa, Japan
Sayaka Nakanishi Nakanishi
; Faculty of Social Welfare Bukkyo University 96, Kitahananobo-cho, Murasakino, Kita-ku Kyoto, 6038301, Japan
Aiichiro Sakai
; Faculty of Home Economics Kyoritsu women’s University 1-43-6-1002 Sekiguchi Bunkyo-ku, 1120014, Tokyo, Japan
Lok-Wah Li
orcid.org/0000-0001-9129-6481
; Tufts University Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development 105 College Avenue, Medford, 02155, Massachusetts, USA
Abstract
Teachers’ moment-by-moment interactions with children are powerful determinants
of children’s learning outcomes and development. Successful guidance involves teachers’
intentionality, yet one’s intent to teach may be hard to discern. Teachers using indirect,
non-observable approaches are prone to be misunderstood as not actively guiding
children’s learning. Therefore, the present study revisited the conceptualization of
Intentional Teaching, using the Mimamoru Approach within the Japanese early
childhood education context as an exemplar. We investigated how Japanese
educators defined the Mimamoru Approach and how it meaningfully reflected their
professionalism. Three early childhood teachers participated in a focus group interview
and shared their reactions towards a short video about an incident in a preschool
classroom. Their narratives explicated the core values and processes of the Mimamoru
Approach: illustrating the non-intervening approach as indicative of trusting and
respecting children’s independence and initiative. Implications of this study suggested
the subtle Mimamoru Approach and the observable US practices in Intentional
Teaching should not be viewed as dichotomous, but as examples on a spectrum that
considers teachers’ professionalism within cultural contexts.
Keywords
Intentional Teaching; Japanese early childhood teachers; cross-cultural comparison; US early childhood teachers
Hrčak ID:
272632
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2021.
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