Please cite this publication as:

OECD (2012), Quality Matters in Early Childhood Education and Care: Japan 2012, OECD Publishing.http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264176621-en

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Quality Matters in Early Childhood Education and Care

JAPANEarly childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits – for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on “quality”. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society.

This series of country reports focuses on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed. These reports suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives.

Contents

Chapter 1. Where does Japan stand regarding policy outcomes and inputs?

Chapter 2. What does research say?

Chapter 3. Where does Japan stand compared to other countries?

Chapter 4. What are the challenges and strategies?

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JAPANMiho Taguma, Ineke Litjens and Kelly Makowiecki

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QUALITY MATTERS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE: JAPAN © OECD 2012

10. Remuneration for teaching staff in preschool or kindergarten, compared to primary teachers

• On average, teaching staff in preschool or kindergarten earn 94% of the average wage of primary school teachers. In many OECD countries, pre-primary and primary teaching staff are paid at the same rate, such as in Belgium, New Zealand and Portugal.

• In Japan, pre-primary teachers are paid less than primary teachers, earning 61% of their average wage. Sweden and England (United Kingdom) are also below the OECD average in remuneration for teaching staff in preschool or kindergarten, but remuneration levels for preschool staff in comparison to primary teachers are higher than in Japan.

Figure C.11. Remuneration for ECEC staff compared to primary teachers

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Source: OECD Network on Early Childhood Education and Care’s “Survey for the Quality Toolbox and ECEC Portal”, June 2011.

11. Proportion of male staff at preschool or kindergarten

• In OECD countries, the ECEC sector remains female dominated with only a small proportion of men working in ECEC.

• In Japan, 7% of all ECEC workers are male, which is above the OECD average (4.2%). In comparison with its reference countries, Sweden, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have smaller proportions of male staff than Japan.

Figure C.12. Proportion of male staff at preschool or kindergarten

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Source: OECD Network on Early Childhood Education and Care’s “Survey for the Quality Toolbox and ECEC Portal”, June 2011.