Comparison on Documenting Young Children's Learning of Preschool Teachers in Japan and Thailand

Abstract

This research aimed to study and compare on documenting young children's learning of preschool teachers in Japan and Thailand. The conceptual framework of research is documenting young children's learning of preschool teacher in 4 aspects: planning, documenting, reflecting, and using the documentation. This study is a survey research. The sampling groups including 62 preschool teachers in Toyama prefecture, Japan in 2017 and 44 preschool teachers in Phitsanulok province, Thailand in 2018. The instrument used to collect data was a questionnaire. The statistics used were percentage and chi-square test. The result revealed that; 1) Planning: Both Japanese and Thai preschool teachers planed for documentation, which, Japanese preschool teachers planed higher than Thai preschool teachers, 2) Documenting: Both Japanese and Thai preschool teachers did the documentation according to their planed, 3) Reflecting: Japanese preschool teachers believed that documentation helped them to improve content and activities appropriate to child, and made them review and develop their own teaching, while, Thai preschool teachers believed that documentation helped them to organize the experiences for the children in accordance with the problems and developments, and helped them know development and learning of children, and 4) Using the documentation: Both Japanese and Thai preschool teachers used documentation.