Working Parents’ Transition to Elementary Schools in Japan

Recently in Japan, “The First Grade Barrier” phenomenon as the qualitative and quantitative shortage of out-of-school-hour care has become a big problem to working parents with children entering elementary schools. However, there is a possibility that working parents in Japan face barriers not only in reconciliation between their jobs and childcare, but also in relationships with schools or PTAs on their children’s entering schools. In this paper, the details of the gaps which working parents of first graders face in the transition from day-care centers to elementary schools were examined through an analysis of interview data of 25 parents. The problem shows a part of the discrepancy between the Japanese system of education and social welfare assuming male-breadwinner model and the changing lifestyles of Japanese families.