Critical Reflection on the Phenomenon of the'Chuichi Gap'and Problems in School Transition/Collaboration between Elementary Schools and Junior High Schools

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K04868
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Education on school subjects and activities
• Research Institution: Sanyo Gakuen University (2023); Kagawa University (2017-2022)
• Principal Investigator: MOURI Takeshi 山陽学園大学, 総合人間学部, 教授 (50219961)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 中一ギャップ / 小中連携 / 物語論 / 学校文化 / 教員の働き方改革

Outline of Final Research Achievements

First, from the standpoint of a narrative approach, this study examines issues related to the transition between different "school cultures" and adaptation to middle school life. In the midst of their junior high school life, junior high school students anticipate the beginning (entrance into school) and the end (graduation), and in this temporal perspective, they formulate a narrative of "my junior high school days" at each moment. In order to make this story a "story of growth," we clarified what is necessary.
Second, using a survey of university students on their memories of elementary and junior high school cooperation, I clarified that the "anxiety about going on to school" that is said to be behind the "first-secondary-school gap（Chuichi Gap）" phenomenon is nothing more than a kind of "anticipatory anxiety.

Free Research Field

社会科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

実効性のある小中連携は、適応上の困難を抱えた少数の子どもへの支援と、平均的な多数の子どもたちへの取り組みの「両にらみ」にならざるをえない。どちらの取り組みに重点を置くべきかについては、対象となる子どもの問題や、それぞれの中学校区の教育の課題によって変わってくる。
その上で、学校における働き方改革の時代には、適応上の問題を抱えた子どもへの（ギャップをなくす方向での）援助の仕方を、平均的な多数の子どもたちにそのまま当てはめることなく、教師のエフォートを適正に配分しつつ、社会性を育成するための「学校ならでは」の地道な取り組みを続けていく必要があることを提言した。