保育環境構成における保育者の意識と環境構成の「難しさ」の検討

The purpose of this study is to explore the factors behind the challenges related to environmental configuration by clarifying how childcare workers perceive this process. Group interviews were conducted with childcare workers, and the resulting data were categorized and discussed. We determined that childcare workers’ awareness of environmental composition is as follows: (1) environmental structures aimed at emphasizing child-centeredness, (2) environmental structures aimed at childcare workers’ peace of mind, and (3) a belief that the process of configuring the environment is a team effort.
The factors contributing to the challenges of configuring the childcare environment are: (1) a lack of time and structural problems, (2) unique challenges depending on the children’s development, and (3) cooperation between childcare workers.
Although collaboration among childcare workers can be a source of difficulty, if the division of roles among them can proceed smoothly, the challenges of environmental configuration will be alleviated, and it will be easier to tackle the process. It was suggested that cooperation and collaboration among workers is a vitally important element of the environment-creation process.