Whose responsibility is lesson planning? The answer should be simple, right?

Back in my childhood, teachers followed the progress of textbooks lesson by lesson. After finishing a chapter, they would complete assessments with workbooks, and the teacher would draw a large checkmark with a red pen, signifying the completion of the teaching process.That was an era of teacher-centered education, where lesson planning was a service provided by textbook companies!

In my era as a teacher, I was warned from the start of training to follow the child's development, observe their needs to prepare the environment and materials (lesson planning), and record daily discussions or events in the classroom (commonly known as "Teacher's Journal"). Then, I would adjust the teaching pace based on the child's condition (planning again after reflection). Ultimately, the output would be a learning report for parents. That was an era of child-centered education, where lesson planning was the teacher's inherent duty!

In my era as a teacher of teachers, the Ministry of Education stipulates that early childhood teachers are not allowed to use commercial materials for rote teaching. This means teachers must develop curriculum based on the child (the spirit of the New Curriculum Guidelines). However, teachers say: "Lesson planning takes up my personal time..." @@ (Actually, that makes sense, doesn't it?)

But here lies the question: whose job is lesson planning?

Or is it enough for the teacher just to show up in the classroom, leaving everything else to the child's luck?

This seems to be an era that wants the horse to be fat but doesn't want it to eat grass!

As parents' consumer rights expand and teachers' labor rights rise, society views price increases like bloodthirsty protests against merchants. Yet, the most important subject of education—the "child"—has never truly had a voice. Taiwan's protection of children's rights is noticeably outdated. Returning to the global trend of child-centered education, lesson planning is a teacher's most important task! Especially for early childhood teachers, they must remain fully focused on every child in the classroom and possess enough professional responsiveness to adjust activities. This absolutely requires "doing homework and being prepared in advance!"

However, early childhood teachers often work full-time by the children's side and do not receive the "free period" privileges that primary and secondary school teachers do.This creates a cycle of endless hardship; no wonder early childhood teachers are crying out in distress. Good educational quality definitely comes from good preparation and teacher quality. What children truly deserve is a healthy early childhood ecological environment. If calculated according to reasonable free periods, kindergartens and childcare centers should have more manpower and scheduling mechanisms so that teachers can have moments of free time during work hours to complete planning and documentation. Yet, while this sounds wonderful, implementing it is harder than climbing to heaven. The reason is simple: Taiwanese society does not yet have this awareness. People cannot imagine that kindergarten teachers should be like teachers in primary school and above—where the number of teaching hours per week is not full, leaving time for curriculum preparation in offices or research rooms.

Perhaps readers are curious: why don't kindergartens and childcare centers implement this? This brings us back to whether the horse needs to eat grass. If labor costs were calculated this way, tuition for kindergartens and childcare centers would skyrocket...