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Affiliation(s)

University of Memphis, Memphis, USA; National Taichung University of Education, Taiwan, China; Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the concept of enduring hardship among Japanese and Taiwanese pre-service teachers majoring in early childhood education and how this relates to the education of young children. The participants consisted of 55 Japanese pre-service teachers (five males and 50 females) who were in their third or fourth year of college, and of 47 Taiwanese participants (four males and 43 females) who were in their third or fourth year of college. Qualitative analysis of the data revealed five major themes: self-control, social relationships, physical issues, the importance of children learning to endure hardship, and resilience. Implications for early childhood education and limitations of the study were presented.

KEYWORDS

enduring hardship, Japanese and Taiwanese pre-service teachers, a comparative study

Cite this paper

Satomi Izumi-Taylor, Chia-Hui Lin, Toshiko Kaneda. (2025). A Comparative Study of Japanese and Taiwanese Pre-service Teachers’ Concept of Enduring Hardship: How This Relates to Children’s Learning. US-China Education Review A, April 2025, Vol. 15, No. 4, 245-255.

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