少子化日本的幼兒教育改革－－幼托的分合爭議與優質人才培育

Early Childhood Education and Care Reform in Japan-Debate on Integration or Separation of YOCHIEN and HOIKUSHO and the Cultivation of High Qualified Citizens

「少子化」與「幼托整合政策」係21世紀臺日共通的社會狀況，「幼托整合政策」可視為當代兩國幼兒教育改革政策代表，也關係少子化問題的解決。本研究彙整1990年代以來，日本的少子化相關法規以及制法過程中的各種會議資料、官方發行的白皮書、經濟、幼教機關提出的研究報告等，分析其從幼托〈幼稚園、托兒所〉分立歷經「幼托一元」構想到「幼托一體」構想的過程。其結論為：日本當代的幼兒教育與照顧問題錯綜複雜，3歲以下嬰幼兒的待托問題成為相關政策焦點；日本政府從整體教育、經濟、家庭結構、女性的社會參與、社會貢獻等諸領域處理幼兒教育與照顧問題，處處牽絆，以面面俱到為目標，政策推動多所牽制以至難成。現任安倍晉三首相提出社會保障法總體改革案，預定2015年達成托育問題等的解決。

The〝integrated kindergarten-nursery school policy〞can be viewed as the indicator of ontemporary policy reform of early childhood education in Taiwan and Japan. It also responds to one of the possible solutions to the trend of declining birth dates. This paper studies integrated laws and regulations relating to the Japanese declining birth rates, and all kinds of data covering the legislations, government white papers, reports (gathered by the economic/early childhood educational governmental agencies since 1990). The changes on the questìon of separation, continuity, and integration of HOIKUSHO (nursery schools) and YOCHIEN (kindergartens) are analyzed in this study. The Japanese government dealt with the issues of early childhood education and care in relating to social factors such as overall education, economy, family structure, equal employment and child welfare, and social contribution. As such, these problems are more complicate. As consequence, it is more difficult to promote the policies. Currently, the Japanese government has proposed a comprehensive reform of social security and tax, hoping that the dilemma in child care and child-rearing would be solved by 2015.