[Work load of nursery teachers in a nursery school. Relationship between age of children and work load]

Time study of six nursery teachers of children aged 0 to 5 was conducted at a public nursery school to ascertain their work load, and the results obtained were examined from the following two viewpoints. First, comparison was made between the results obtained by the following two methods of analysis; 1) An observer recorded the work contents and the working postures of a nursery teacher at place of work in one-minute units. 2) The nursery teacher was recorded on video tape and the analysis of the work contents and the working postures was made in one-second units. Second, comparison was made between the work loads (work content, working posture, walking, lifting children and recess) of nursery teachers of children of different age group. The results could be summarized as follows: 1. The results of analysis made by the two methods of the work contents and the working postures were in good agreement. 2. The higher the age of children in the class, the longer was the cumulative time for "indoor group nurture" and the shorter was the cumulative time for "help and care for feeding", "help and care for afternoon nap" and "help and care for excretion". 3. The higher the age of children in the class, the longer was the cumulative time of "standing" in a nursery teacher and the shorter was the cumulative time of "sitting on the floor". The total time of "bending forward", "squatting" and "rising on the knee" occupied 20% of the working hours on an average and was not related clearly to the age of children. 4. The frequency of walking was not found to be related to the age of children. 5. The nursery teachers of children aged 0 and 1 lifted children much more frequently among all nursery teachers. 6. The recess away from children was rarely observed throughout the day.