保育所の子育て支援におけるポートフォリオの活用 : 保護者の記述内容の分析を中心に

The purpose of this study is to examine the practical use of portfolios to support parent’s child-rearing in a day care center. This study focuses on the description for three years by nine parents with children of 0, 1, and 2 years of age. Analyses are based on five perspectives of behaviorism, meritocracy, moralism, interpretivism, and empathy. Four parents also participated in focus group interviews. Findings from an analysis of the descriptions confirmed that about sixty percent of the descriptions could be classified under behaviorism and meritocracy. The results from the qualitative analysis of focus group interviews supported the view that parents used their portfolios as source of information for their child-rearing and re-evaluating the characteristics of their children through the differences in their children’s behavior between home and the day care center. Mixed data of these descriptions and the focus group interviews suggested two possibilities for the practical use of portfolios. First, teachers can provide the information to parents according to child’s developmental stage. Specifically, two-year old children can talk with their parents regarding the contents of the portfolio. This situation is different from that with children aged 0 years old and one-year olds. Second, teachers should be aware that the acceptance of such portfolios differs between parents with first-born children and those who have other children already.