Comparison of Early Childhood Frameworks in Singapore and Japan

This essay compares the early childhood frameworks of Singapore and Japan, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. It discusses the importance of early childhood development and the gaps in the frameworks.

Running Head: BACHELOR IN EARLY YEARS
1
Bachelor in early years
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The program, curriculum and environment for a country’s early childhood framework
are flexible for meeting the requirements of the young children. The international framework
is building and aims on the positive interactions and the development of warm and fruitful
relationships. Aiming the articulation of the rights of the children towards the holistic
development, several countries have initiated to embark the journey of the development or
the construction of the framework for the envisioning a quality care for the early years. The
framework for the early child development programs in the countries for the young children
is an essential investment for the future an strategy including cost effective techniques for the
economic development (Black et al. 2017). The early year’s development framework sets the
standard for the quality of the learning practises and care that are specific and essential for the
developmental requirements of the toddlers and the infant children. With the reference to the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the framework for the early
childhood for the countries through out the world was developed. The integration of the care,
stimulation, health, nurturance in the comprehensive early childhood frameworks for the
youngsters contributes to the full participation at the labour force and also at the productivity
and the economic growth of the nation. The essay highlights the early childhood framework
of both Singapore and Japan. The essay states a vivid explanation of both the frameworks
drawing the gap among them. The thesis statement for the essay argues with the discussion of
the most effective early childhood framework among the two countries in comparison by the
identification of the strengths and the weakness of both the frameworks.
Grid for summarization
Build on the foundation laid by the centre of the child care, the framework for the
early childhood care in the country of Singapore weaves a theme of development towards the

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routine practise and serves as the compass of professionalism for the educarers of the child
care centres. The framework in the Singapore serves as a tool for the developmental plan for
the infants. The framework articulates the role of the families that are indispensible towards
the factor of care and development of the children. It furthermore advocates a strong and
vivid sense of the professionalism and accountability for the young generation in the country.
The early childhood framework of Singapore targets towards the framing of a vision for the
quality in the early years (Richter et al. 2017). To summarize, the framework of the early
childhood care of the country of Singapore embraces a broad vision of the centre based
quality on the security, involvement and the community connections of the children.
Japan, on the hand has been noted as one of the most advanced countries among most
of the notable countries in the world. Throughout the past 64 years since the end of The
Second World War, the education system and the framework of the early childhood education
and care has maintained two of the major kinds of the institutions for the pre school and the
early years education. This include day care and kindergarten.
Analysis/ Main Body -
In the current years, the notion of the early childhood curriculums of education and the child
related care have been attracting increased levels of attention through out all the countries in
the globe. Most of the efforts tends to identify on the improvement and the revision of the
quality and the curriculum of the early childhood education. The essay summarizes the
framework of the early child education of the Singapore and compares it vividly with that of
the early childhood framework of Japan.
In the context of the framework for the early childhood care of Singapore, there lies
five key pillars that upholds the broad vision that are focused on the centre based quality
(Harte, Theobald and Trost 2018). These include the development of the child, the

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international program, the professional educarers, an involved family and an engaged
community. The early year’s development framework of Singapore basically targets the
young infants of 3 years and below. The framework constructed certain age groups including
infants from the age 2 to 12 months, Toddlers 13 to 30 months and Nursery children from the
age 31 to 36 months. The framework recognises the wide developmental variations among
the range of 2 months towards 3 years. The framework furthermore enhances the
development of the children targeting the valuable role played by the educarers, families and
the partnership with the families and the community (McLachlan, Fleer and Edwards 2018).
The early childhood framework of Singapore constitutes of five major guiding principles that
constitutes the main target or the goal of the framework of the country and targets towards the
effective support towards the best interest of the children and the infants of the child care
centres. Anchored on the literature of the development of the child and the factors of
UNCRC, these principles are relevant to all the age groups of the children.
Singapore Early Childhood Framework includes the following guidelines.
 Development of a secure attachments and confidence among the children with the
adults who are nurturing.
 Generation of developmentally and culturally appropriate chances or opportunities for
the holistic development of the children together with the learning of the children in a
healthy and safe environment.
 Commitment towards the professional standards and the ethics towards working with
the families, children and the educarers personal professional development (Hujala et
al. 2016)
 Involvement of the families as partners in the development, care and the education of
the children irrespective of the age

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 Engagement of the community as the resources and support for the centre and for the
home.
The framework of Singapore recognises each of the child to be unique with the cultural and
the developmental variations. The early years attachments and the relationships are essential
to the young infant. The framework and the practises are intended towards the facilitation of
the growth, development and the learning for the children. The youngsters thrive towards the
effective interaction that are responsive, respectful and reciprocal with the adults.
The framework of the early childhood care helps in a secure attachment of the
children for being more confident towards the exploration of the new environments and form.
In the context of the child care centre, the Singapore framework highlight the development of
the children as the procedure in which a child can learn towards the handling of even more
complex levels of the thinking, moving and feeling. Some of the characteristics of the
framework of the Singapore is as follows.
As the infants progress to class, they tend to face numerous challenges and a new class for the
increase of the development. The framework highlights some of the only constant who
progress towards the next level with them. During the time of the transition phase, the
educarers from both the levels tend to minimise the drastic changes in the routine especially
for the younger gap. It is furthermore essential to remember that the infants or the young
child need their time towards doing nothing and retreat towards a quite space where they just
can be themselves with their favourite items (Sullivan and Bers 2017). The framework
encourages the educarers with good understanding of the different and varied milestones.
Some of the various levels of the factors concerned with the development of the early
childhood model of the country. This include the recognition of the primary caregiver and the
educarer when the infants see them, displaying of the pleasure in the time of the interaction

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with the adults of the family. Furthermore factors such as the acceptance and response
towards the comfort level, expression of the emotions and the showcasing of the empathy
together with the initiation of the conversations and the interactions with the caregivers are
some of the major factors included in the framework of child care of Singapore (Osgood and
Robinson 2017). The international program of framework in the country generates the
culturally and the developmentally appropriates advances towards the holistic development of
the children and learning of them in a safe and a healthy environment.
As per the comparable early childhood framework of the country of Japan, the
characteristics of the framework in the country is somewhat different in nature. The main
four characteristics that can be generally identified in the early childhood framework in Japan
are as follows.
 There lies various of philosophical streams in the category of the early childhood
education with some of the distinct methodologies for each. In case of the actual
practises, these streams are based upon a finely tunes approach towards the life and
the action regarding each of the child.
 The classroom teachers of the early childhood educational framework of Japan
collaborate with the researchers for the reviewing of the practises and strive towards
the improvements.
 The early childhood framework of education in Japan comes in a diverse array of the
forms (Mukherji and Albon 2018). Each of the kindergarten of the country works
towards the establishment of the personal methods for the education and the care units
by the means of productive interactions regarding specified content and methodology
related to multiple forms.
 The connection or the relationship among the classroom and the training school of the
teacher is very close in the early childhood educational framework and the framework

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enhances support towards thorough development of the methodology regarding the
practical utility of the early childhood care.
In the country of Japan, the education and the care for the little children in basically
divided in the day care centres and the kindergartens. The forms of the early childhood
education included in the early childhood framework provides years of care for the children.
The day acre centres accepts the children and the infants of a very tender age who are also
under the elementary age of the school (Aboud and Yousafzai 2015). The general directional
frameworks in case of the early years of childhood education are basically indicated by the
culture, the ministry of the education, science and technology. The framework of the early
childhood education in Japan targets on the major factors that includes a form of the early
childhood care and education that is based on the nurturing of the relationship of the human
within the groups. Furthermore the framework enhances form of the early childhood care
and the education that extends the ability of the child towards the performance of the
functions and which is basically child centred.
Personal and professional philosophy
The content of the early childhood framework includes the education and care is
regulated by the course of the study for the kindergarten that is mainly stipulated by the
ministry of the education, technology and science while the day care centres are generally
regulated for the nursery care prescribed by the minister of the labour, health and welfare.
In the context of the framework of the early childhood care for both the Singapore and
Japan, some of the gap that has been identified are as follows.
In the context of the framework in Singapore, the framework highlights the intention
towards the effective facilitation of the growth of the child. Some of the gap identified are the
lack of the security and the level of the confidence of the children, the professional attire of

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the edcarers and the lack of the engagement of them towards the reflective practises. Some of
the other identified gaps include lack of strong relationship and partnership with the families
and the provision of the community for the network of resources and the support for the
centre and home (Inoue, O'Gorman and Davis, 2016). Although the early years development
framework of the country of Singapore basically deals with the infants and the young
children, the absence lies on the fact that the framework does not provide any sort of extra
benefits and care to the children belonging to the age group more than 5 years. Furthermore
there is lack among the educators towards the understanding of the development in the early
years that goes beyond the preparation of the children for school (Askell-Williams and
Murray-Harvey 2016). The framework lacks to highlight the fact that development is not only
about the outcomes but it is the day to day experience that matters the most. Overall, the
framework of the early childhood education describes the practises and the principles towards
the fostering of the development in the areas of the creative expressions and the awareness of
the environmental factors (Humphreys and Zeanah 2015). The framework of the overall early
childhood care of the country of Singapore thus lacks some of the major factors highlighting
the gap in the frameworks as compared to that of the international frameworks of the early
child care education.
In case of the framework of the early childhood care in Japan, some of the notable gap
as compared to that of the international frameworks and the Singapore frameworks are the
lack of the development of the teaching techniques and the training for the childhood
education. Furthermore there is lack among the kindergarten teachers towards their licensing
approval from the national government. Besides there lies some of the major methods of the
teacher training for the early child hood education in Japan. The frameworks lacks behind in
the factor of the mechanism of the designated research and the presentations. The framework
of Japan furthermore has the gap in the in house mechanism in case of the kindergarten for

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the effective improvement of the early childhood education. Overall it can be concluded that
the gap in the framework of the early childhood education and care of Japan requires expert
support from the outside for the early childhood education (Moss et al. 2015). There should
be proper trainings for taking the initiatives for the conduction of the training sessions among
the teachers of the early childhood care towards the aim of the improvement of the care and
the education in both the day care centres and kindergarten.
Conclusion –
The development framework of the early years tends to lay a strong foundation for the
holistic development of the children. The framework tends to level of awareness and the
skills in their relationships with the children helping them towards the planning of the
appropriate learning and activities towards collaborative action along the parents and the
community. The early year’s development framework sets the standard for the quality of the
learning practises and care that are specific and essential for the developmental requirements
of the toddlers and the infant children. In the current years, the notion of the early childhood
curriculums of education and the child related care have been attracting increased levels of
attention through out all the countries in the globe. The above study thus explained a vivid
illustration of the frameworks of early childhood care of both Singapore and Japan drawing
the gap among them.

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