Exploring Educators' Perspectives: How does Learning through ‘Happiness’ Promote Quality Early Childhood Education?

Abstract

THE QUALITY OF EARLY childhood education has dominated current debates in the ways educators develop and implement learning programs for children yet conceptions of quality vary contextually and culturally. This qualitative case study explored the insider perspectives of six early childhood educators in Sapporo, Japan regarding their conceptions of the quality of early childhood education. Analysis of the data collected through interviews indicated that the most important factor the educators consider when programming for quality learning in early childhood is ‘happiness’. The conception of happiness expressed by the educators emanated from the philosophical thinking of three Japanese philosophers namely, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, Josei Toda and Daisaku Ikeda. These thinkers argued that for education to be meaningful and serve society, happiness must form the fundamental principle of all learning programs. In this paper we argue that, by framing the quality of early childhood education in happiness, educators and children can engage deeply with learning that has the potential to influence the whole child and their full participation in society.