A comprehensive Study on the Structures and Practices of Welfare Education and Volunteer Learning

2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 10410076
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B).
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Educaion
• Research Institution: National Institute for Educational Policy Research
• Principal Investigator: KIKUCHI Eiji Research Department for Higher Education, Senior Researcher, 高等教育研究部, 総括研究官 (10211872)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): ITO Ryuji Toyo University, Department of Literature, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (30030563) ; NAGATA Yoshiyuki Department of International Education and Co-operation, Senior Researcher, 国際研究・協力部, 主任研究官 (20280513) ; YAMAMOTO Yoshihiro Research Department for Lifelong Learning Policy, Senior Researcher, 生涯学習政策研究部, 総括研究官 (50135646) ; NATSUAKI Hidefusa Seitoku University, Department of Junior College, Associate Professor, 短期大学部, 助教授 (30237573) ; YOKOTA Masao National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Research Department of Rehabilitation, Chief Researcher, 精神保健研究所・社会復帰研究部, 室長 (10182700)
• Project Period (FY): 1998 – 2000
• Keywords: Welfare Education / Operationalism / Modern Knowledge / Perspectives on Child / Free Space

Research Abstract

This study reconstructs some perspectives for revising various practices, considering about the modern structures of welfare education and volunteer activities. It leads us to four major findings as follows.
First of all, we make a qualitative examination of educational practices in junior and senior high schools to find that the idea of welfare education is very ambiguous. Secondly, a large part of the educational practices repeats highly operational perspectives on children and are lack of critical/reflective thinking on social philosophy, and so they cannot still overcome the limitations as 'modern knowledge'. Thirdly, a small part of the attempts are designs in accordance with the children's reality and influence the social structures through the interaction with outside societies of schools, where they do neither treat welfare education as the matter of the one for the old people in narrow sense nor are reduced to the education of 'kokoro'. In this report some suggestive practices are introduced as innovative practices. Fourthly, similar attempts can be found in alternative education that accepts the school refusers. In particular, free spaces, which have increased remarkably since 1990's, don't see welfare education in mechanical way but make some evidences showing that adults and communities are able to transform themselves together with the children. However, a deep welfare education spends more time and cannot necessarily produce perfect results.
We should be more careful neither to systematize welfare education and volunteer activities nor to spoil the deepness of the practices. For these purposes, we should radically restruct our prevalent knowledge that is internalized in the restrains of modern schooled society. Hereafter, it is necessary more and more for the researchers to be learned by various practices and connect the isolated spaces each other.