抄録
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to clarify how the movement and practice of voluntary
nighttime junior high schools identified and attempted to approach the structural
problems of the community, which define the difficulties of life for individuals.
In Japan, voluntary nighttime junior high schools have been inclusive of a very
diverse population excluded from the social system. In this context, today, the
liberation of individuals from the difficulties they face in their lives is not something
that can be predicted solely on the basis of how learning is guaranteed to individuals,
but is more likely to be influenced by structural stipulations. While the structural
problems themselves may be multi-layered, one of the most important perspectives
for a better life is that of local community. In order to approach this issue, this paper
focuses on the case of a children's association organized by the staff of a voluntary
nighttime junior high school in Edagawa, Koto, Tokyo from the mid to late 1980s.
The clarifications are as follows. Firstly, in this case, behind the organization of
children's associations was the reality of vulnerable living conditions commonly
experienced by children in different contexts. Secondly, from this point of view, the
staff became aware of the need to reconstruct the community structure that defines
living difficulties. As a result, thirdly, the staff continued to search for a place to stay
and reconstruct their daily lives through the children's association. From a series of
processes, some staff members became aware of the reconfiguration of the childrenʼs
lives as an issue for the voluntary nighttime junior high school.
This paper shows that the Voluntary Nighttime School Movement was also a
movement that confronted and reorganized the realities of the situation that defined
the lives of the individuals who gathered there.
