日本幼兒期的保育可分為幼稚園和保育所，兩者的目的是不同的。幼稚園針對滿三歲以上的小孩提供幼兒教育。保育所則針對缺乏保育的兒童提供保育，是幫助保護者的機構。 日本在戰前一直有關於將保育所和幼稚園整合的說法。自戰前開始，便有許多主張將兩個不同幼兒教育機構在制度上、內容上合而為一的「幼保一元化論」說法。可是在戰前一直沒有實施。戰後，幼保一元化的相關議論自1960年代開始盛行，可是幼保一元化還是沒有真正的實施。可是，2001年小泉內閣提出待機兒零作戰的政策之後，便開始了新的幼保一元化行動。 規制緩和政策的推動，及少子化的現狀之下所實施的幼保一元化，真的是為了小孩子的福利嗎？真的可以藉此減少待機兒的數量嗎？或者，這樣子的政策只是忽視兒童、忽視國民，只是圖政府便宜的議論呢？真正的一元化不應該只是把小孩子放在同一個地方，應該要維護兒童最大的利益。認定幼兒園的實施，真的可以落實一元化嗎？本論文將從幼保一元化的歷史背景、幼稚園和保育所的內容、實際實施事例（日本與東京第一個幼保一元化實例）來論及幼保一元化的優缺點。 There are two types of system that are existed in the early childhood education in Japan. The two types are kindergarten and nursery school. Functionally, they are applied in different purposes. Kindergarten aimed on providing preschool educational service for the children who are over three years old. Nursery school focused on the children who lacked for caring, it operated as the role of welfare institution. Before the World War II, there had come an idea to integrate kindergarten and nursery school either institutional or educational matters. The statement called “early childhood educational integration”. However, the statement did not achieve before World War II. On 1960’s those issues had been discussed again, however, the idea still not accomplished. Until 2001, the policy had been realized by Prime Minister Koizumi which tends to eliminate the amount of children who are not willing to take early childhood education. In this assignment, we evaluated that the integration policy would be effective or not by several concerning issues. The concerning issues listed as following: 1. Children welfare 2. Eliminate the amount of children who are not willing to take preschool education 3. The government will take advantages from nation people 4. Maintain the maximum benefits for children
