Methodological Development of Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Socioeconomic Evaluation of Childcare Support Work

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20775
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 8:Sociology and related fields
• Research Institution: Yokohama National University
• Principal Investigator: SOMA Naoko 横浜国立大学, 大学院国際社会科学研究院, 教授 (70452050)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 地域子育て支援労働 / 少子化対策 / ひろば事業 / 量的・質的把握の方法論 / ケアに満ちた民主主義 / 社会福祉事業 / 子ども支援

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study defines the concept of childcare support activities as "childcare support work" and aims to develop methodologies for quantitatively and qualitatively understanding the socio-economic realities of the work performed by childcare supporters who are involved in supporting parents and children in the community. Amid the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 and changes in the research environment in 2021, the study organized the challenges of quantitatively and qualitatively understanding the socio-economic realities of childcare supporters' work, published papers in Japanese and English on the actual state of regional childcare support during the pandemic, and collaborated with co-authors and translators to publish the translation of "Caring Democracy," which serves as the theoretical perspective for childcare support labor. This study also demonstrated the potential for constructing quantitative and qualitative methodologies based on this theoretical foundation.

Free Research Field

社会学・社会福祉学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

地域子育て支援をめぐる社会経済的評価のための統計整備は、介護や保育分野よりもさらに遅れている。子ども・子育て支援事業計画のニーズ調査では、利用数、施設数、認知度などの統計が中心であり、地域子育て支援事業の社会的評価や経済的報酬の視点でのデータが欠如している。本研究では、日本のケア統計の未整備の現状を前に、ケアが豊かな民主主義社会を支える地域基盤づくりとしての地域子育て支援に着目し、介護や保育が中心のケアワーク研究に、地域子育て支援の領域を入れていくことで、地方分権化時代の地域ケアの担い手をめぐる社会経済的な価値づけのあり方、処遇のあり方を問い直す点に、学術的・社会的意義がある。