From the 2008 Survey on the Utilization of NHK Broadcasts for Young Children
July 2009
To contribute to the development of educational services for young children, the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute regularly conducts a series of survey of kindergartens and nursery schools to study the actual usage of and expectations for TV programs for young children, the usage and penetration level of various types of media, and people’s views on the media. This article looks into the future of media usage in pre-school education based on the analyses of the 2008 survey.
In recent years the ICT environment at kindergartens and nursery schools have rapidly been advancing, and more kindergarten teachers and nurses are using computers and the Internet. On the contrary, it seems they are becoming more cautious and negative about young children’s access to computers. As for television, too, many types of expectations are being placed on young children’s programs but the use of TV programs at kindergartens and nursery schools is on a decline. In addition to the current pre-school teaching guidance that prioritizes hands-on experience in early childhood, the social climate that is negative about children’s contact with television, video, and other electronic media is encouraging the conservative attitude about letting young children watch television or use computers even for educational purposes.
Since the advent of television, a wide variety of educational programs for young children have been produced in Japan, with each program aiming to contribute to the growth and development of children in the real world with such objectives as “enriching imagination,” “building up good relationship with friend,” and “enjoying exercise through play.” Media usage can be effective in many different ways; letting children watch TV programs in a group under the guidance of teachers or nurses may allow the children to relate this experience to future behaviors, to share the emotion with friends, or to learn the existence of different views. Furthermore, it will serve as an opportunity to nurture a viewing behavior such as watching television with purpose and for predetermined hours. Media usage at kindergartens and nursery schools should deserve a lot of attention as a good opportunity for fostering media literacy in early childhood because it is usually difficult to provide sufficient media education at home.
Now that education for young children itself is about to go through a dramatic change, teachers and nurses are highly interested in many types of information. How to interact with the media is a critical issue for children who will have to survive this peculiar age, but the social trend in general is to focus on negative aspects of the media. Kindergarten teachers and nurses need to understand both the positives and negatives of the media in order to create surroundings where effective media use at the frontline of preschool education can be widely discussed. To do so, it will be important to make certain efforts such as presenting to teachers and nurses actual examples of effective usage of television, radio, computers, and other media at kindergartens and nursery schools through various opportunities.