Development of risk sensitivity and observation abilities among Japanese childcare students: a structural analysis using Sequential Relation Analysis

Ensuring children’s safety and preventing accidents are fundamental challenges in early childhood education. Previous studies have shown that professional experience shapes visual attention: novices focus primarily on individual children, whereas experienced caregivers distribute their attention across children and their environment. However, knowledge regarding prospective childcare professionals’ development of these skills is scarce. Moreover, prior research has focused mainly on factor structures and mean differences, with limited attention to structural relationships among sub-components of risk sensitivity. This study examined the developmental structure of risk sensitivity among Japanese childcare students using Sequential Relation Analysis and the Successive Scalogram Analysis package. A questionnaire assessed students’ abilities to detect risks and observe childcare situations. In addition, the study explored sequential and equivalence relationships among the sub-components of risk sensitivity. Results showed that noticing subtle changes in children forms a foundation for recognizing broader environmental and situational influences. Furthermore, several sequential relationships among observational abilities and risk detection abilities were identified. These findings provide insights into the structure of risk sensitivity and suggest the need for tailored educational strategies in childcare training programs.