<Article>Comparative Study of the Unification of Kindergarten and Nursery Schools Policy from the perspective of the Institution -Focusing on the role of Taiwanese "Kindergartens" and Japanese "Certified Centers for Early Childhood Education and Care"-

This paper aims to clarify the difference and the issues of the Unification of Kindergarten and Nursery Schools Policy (Unification Policies) between Japan and Taiwan by analyzing the integrated-childcare-institutions, Taiwanese kindergartens and Japanese Certified Centers for Early Childhood Education and Care (Certified Centers). These institutions were introduced under the implementation of the Unification Policies. The background, purpose, institutional framework and the status of integrated-childcare-institutions were examined in this paper for exploring the research questions. The above examinations raise three different points of Unification Policies between Japan and Taiwan. First of all, Japan and Taiwan adopted the traditional system differently within implementing Unification policies. Secondly, although Japan and Taiwan's Unification policies both introduced integrated-childcare-institutions for responding to education needs diversely, Taiwan put emphasis on organizational reform for enhancing the function of institutions. On the other hand, Japan mainly pays attention to increase the options between institutions. Lastly, the early childhood system was considered differently between Japan and Taiwan. Japan tends to create a more flexible system to support raising children. However, Taiwan's early childhood education system is expected to offer quality education rather than to support raising children. To sum up, it is necessary to implement Unification policies from a more comprehensive perspective and think about how to respond to the various needs of the early childhood education system