Editor： Was Kodomon promptly accepted in the childcare field?
Koike： In the beginning, Kodomon was not a service focused on childcare workers. We wanted to create a service that would be good for parents, so we sent out direct mail and held events to promote it as a digital liaison book and next-generation communication tool, but it wasn't accepted at all. Later, we found out that the real needs of the childcare facilities were elsewhere.
Editor: Are you saying that the needs of the childcare facilities were not for communication tools?
Koike： The needs of childcare facilities were that they want their childcare workers to continue working for a long time. Day-care facilities are required by the national and local governments to have a certain number of day-care workers to ensure the safety of the children. If the number of daycare workers falls below these standards, the facility will not be able to operate and will not be able to take care of the children adequately. However, as mentioned earlier, the working environment and treatment of nursery school teachers is not good, so even if a nursery teacher has the desire and passion to become a nursery teacher in the beginning, the reality is that it is difficult for them to work for a long period of time.
Editor: What kind of duties were burdensome for the childcare workers?
Koike： Nursery school teachers feel most overwhelmed by paperwork and other administrative tasks. It seems that keeping records and making teaching plans can take up about 40% of a day. It would be nice if these tasks resulted in records and plans for dealing with the children, but that doesn't always seem to be the case.
Editor: I didn't realize that there were so many tasks other than facing the children. How has the response been in the field to Kodomon, a tool that helps relieve the burden on childcare workers?
Koike： Even if the service we provide is an advanced IT tool, it will not be accepted if it increases the burden on the childcare workers. There are some values for which handwriting is preferable, so we make sure to present the benefits of using digital technology. The part of the daycare staff's work that we felt needed to be streamlined the most was the transcribing and rewriting of documents. That's why we made it possible to import and use the Excel format forms used at the preschool as-is on Kodomon. We also linked the data so that if a record is entered in one item, it will be reflected in related forms. A childcare facility said, "It's so easy to understand! We have received feedback from childcare facilities such as, "It's so easy to understand! and "We have more time to talk with and about the children!
