Tag: Japan

Japan lies amongst the leading countries in providing the early childhood care and education in the world. The pre-primary and child care industry is one of the most important growth drivers of the overall education industry in Japan and forms a major share of the educational spending of the households. The falling births rates of Japan for last several years have although adversely affected the number of enrollments in last few years, however, the demand for the childcare and preschool centres remains high. The rising participation of women in the workforce has further strengthened the demand. Presently, the government of Japan is facing huge to provide more number of preschool and childcare centres in order to meet the huge demand. Private players, over the years have taken advantage of the prevailing demand-supply crisis situation and have resultantly gained increasing traction in the pre-primary education and childcare industry of Japan.
The pre-primary education and childcare markets of Japan are broadly segmented on the basis of the target population and work status of parents, and are governed under separate ministries. The pre-primary education market of Japan is characterized by high gross enrollment rates, encouraged and supported by growing awareness levels amongst the masses about the importance of the pre-primary education. Pre-primary education market thus enjoys a dominant share in the overall market and showcased revenues of USD ~ million in FY2012. The pre-primary market caters to children of 3-6 years of age through preschool centres called youchien.
The childcare market of Japan is growing industry segment which caters to children of 4 months to 6 years of age through centers called hoikuen. The childcare centres of Japan provide both preschool education and care to the young kids. The demand for the childcare centres has been rising in Japan with an increasing number of dual-income earning households. In FY2013, the market registered revenues of USD ~ million, growing by 7.8% from FY2012.
Japan pre-primary education and childcare industry is highly fragmented with private players forming ~% of the total market. An increasing number of players have entered in the industry over the years, attracted by the high demand existing in the sector. Some of the major players include Pigeonhearts Corporation, Poppins Corporation, Benesse and CombiWith Corporation. Majority of the major providers are subsidiaries of companies operating in diverse fields while only a few such as Poppins Corporation, specialize in providing childcare services.
The pre-primary and childcare industry of Japan is undergoing changes regarding the curriculum adopted for the academic purposes. The industry is transitioning from a play-based curriculum to increasing preferability of the academic orientation in preschools. Also, the preschools and childcare centres in Japan have started providing diversified services with a view to attract greater number of enrollments. These include enrichment lessons, care services at vacations, night time care etc. Furthermore, the separate formats of childcare and preschools are expected to merge in future in order to satisfy the rising demand.

The report Japan Pre-primary Education and Childcare Industry Outlook to FY2018 provides detailed overview on the preschool industry from various perspectives. The report encloses a comprehensive analysis of the various segments of the market reflecting the present scenario and future growth affected by changing industry dynamics in coming years. Additionally, the report also entails information about the government rules and policies, rational analysis of the macroeconomic factors, along with the competitive landscape of the pre-primary education and childcare industry. The report will help industry consultants, companies and other stakeholders to align their market centric strategies according to ongoing and expected trends in future.

Heres an educational statistic that might make you question the Christian education resources used for math in your childs school. According to a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) March 2008, CRS Report for Congress, the U.S. currently ranks 28th internationally in math literacy among 15-year-old students. Once considered a leader in education, America now faces the startling truth that a large majority of its secondary school students are failing to reach proficiency in mathematics.

With so many Christian education resources at our disposal, it seems mind boggling that Americas math students rank poorly compared to children living in Japan, China, or India. Obviously, in order to compete on a global scale, todays math curriculum requires students to learn algebra, geometry, measurements, and statistic problems even in the elementary grades. In fact, by the time a child is in eighth grade, he should have mastered the basics of algebra and geometry to be ready for advanced mathematics in high school. To instill a love for math, develop problem-solving skills, and prepare a child for future success in math, both educators and parents need to be involved in teaching children. So, what Christian education resources and activities can parents use to improve their elementary childs math skills and overall performance? Consider the following ideas:

At Home
Grab the apron and teach fractional concepts by asking your child to compare, estimate, and think about measurements when cooking. Ask thought provoking questions such as, How many whole cups will this container hold? How many cups or S cups? How many cups equal a cup? How many cups would equal cup or a whole cup? How much would we need to use if we doubled this recipe?

Discover relationships between money values as you pay your child for chores or give him an allowance. Instead of using math worksheets, have your child gather coins in his hand without showing you what they are. Start with small amounts, and ask your child to tell you the number of coins and their total value. Then, you have to guess how many and which coins your child has in his hand. Another variation would include having your child count the different ways he could use coins to make 10, 20, or 50.

Set up your own weather station or use the newspaper to graph and chart daily temperatures and rainfall amounts. After a few weeks, teach your child basic arithmetic by finding the average temperature (mean), the temperature that occurred most often (mode), and the temperature that was in the middle of all the amounts (median).

Clean out the kitchen junk drawer and use the treasures to teach your child how to sort and classify. Plus, you can practice using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to solve story problems. For example, If we share 13 screws among three friends, how many will each get? Will they all get equal amounts? If Dad has three broken doors that need to be fixed using four screws each, will we have enough screws?

At the Grocery Store
Make shopping for groceries another math learning experience. Use the sale advertisements sent in the mail as one of your Christian education resources, and have your child practice budgeting by preparing a shopping list that doesnt exceed your daily or weekly food budget.

Have your child learn estimation by comparison shopping. Ask him to mentally divide and multiply as he calculates the best buy by determining pricing per unit verses pricing per pound. You can also estimate the total value of the items in the cart before checking out and then compare the estimate to the actual price.

Encourage your child to count and weigh fruits and vegetables. You might even want to illustrate the difference between English and metric units. How does a kilogram of potatoes compare to a pound? How many grams does a banana weigh?

Teach your child how to sort and group similar objects. When bagging groceries, have your child sort items according to boxes, cans, or plastic bottles, and put them into different sacks.

In the Car
Teach your child how to read math. Instead of playing the regular state license plate game while traveling, have your child read only the numbers of the license plates. For example, if the license plate was 398M129, the number would be read three hundred ninety-eight thousand one hundred twenty-nine. You can also encourage mental math by having your child add the value of the digits in the license plate number. Talk about how numbers can be added more quickly by combining them into groups that equal ten, such as 1 + 9, 3 + 7, or 4 + 6.

Talk math by practicing the words and language of mathematics. Have your child make a chart on long trips for one of your Christian education resources and track the number words one through fifty that he sees on cars, signs, or buildings.

Illustrate time, rate, and distance story problems when traveling to Grandmas house. If you leave home at 7:00 a.m. and it takes eight hours to get there, what time will it be when you can give Grandma a big hug? If the speed limit is 55 mph instead of 75 mph, how far can you go in one hour or two hours?

Teach estimation and rounding by using the cost of gas. For instance, if we only have $100 to spend on gasoline and gas costs $1.78 per gallon, how many gallons can we purchase? A quick way to find the answer would be to round up to $2.00 per gallon and divide into $100.

Math is everywhere, and while there are countless opportunities to help children experience it, only the parents who are actively involved in their childs learning will change the alarming decline in Americas math abilities. Dont undermine your childs interest in math with statements like math is hard or I wasnt good at math either. Instead, reinforce your childs academic success with a positive attitude, high expectations, and a belief that your child can learn any challenging math lesson.