著者

大石 茜

出版者

幼児教育史学会

雑誌

幼児教育史研究

巻号頁・発行日

vol.12, pp.13-27, 2017

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<p> The South Manchuria Railway Company, which assumed responsibility for education in the land appurtenant to South Manchuria Railways, enforced the Childrenʼs Playground Regulation in 1909 for Japanese children living in Manchuria, and revised it as the Kindergarten Regulation in 1922. It is important that the company initially named their institution for early childhood education as Childrenʼs Playgrounds rather than Kindergartens, because it reflected the Companyʼs unique policy. In fact, their focus on sanitary and physical education, as shown in these regulations, was based on "physical-culture-oriented education" in what educators of the day called "the policy of adapting to a local situations." Also it is noteworthy that the Company founded the Childrenʼs Playgrounds earlier than they did secondary education institutions, indicating the importance of early childhood education in the Manchurian educational system. To develop early childhood education under the Companyʼs policy, women teachers with high educational background were hired. It was a higher-paying job for women with better working conditions than were available in Japan proper. Because of the financial difficulties and the increase of migrants from Japan, not all of their ideals relating to kindergartens were materialized. However, each kindergarten tried to live up to the ideal by setting a limit to childrenʼs age for entrance and making class compositions flexible. The management of kindergartens was crucial for promoting migration from Japan proper to Manchuria because the development of early childhood education was considered to be an indicator of Manchurian living standards. In this sense, kindergartens were connected to imperialism.</p>