公立不登校特例校の設置過程における教育委員会の主導性

─住民との合意形成を中心に─

抄録

The number of non-attending students has been increasing in recent years. Although special schools for non-attending students play a significant role, as their number is limited, they have little impact on solving the problem of guaranteeing educational opportunities for non-attending students. Therefore, using Y Junior High School in X-city as a case study, we clarify the factors that contributed to the establishment of the school and the perspective which led the Board of Education to take the initiative in the process from the viewpoint of its leadership in forming a consensus with the residents regarding the establishment of the school.

In X City, the integration of A Elementary School and B Elementary School was promoted, and opinions were raised regarding the use of the A Elementary School building as a school facility, as a local community, and as a cultural exchange facility. The reasons for this were that A Elementary School had long functioned as a place for community interaction and a center for disaster prevention and that the closure of A Elementary School would lead to concerns about public safety in the area. The Board of Education consulted with residents and carefully discussed the situation regarding the school and the use of the site. After consulting with the residents, the Board of Education decided to use the former A Elementary School building as a “place of support. Based on the above, when the Board of Education made the final decision on consolidation, it heard opinions from the consolidation preparatory committee of representatives from both communities and implemented a trial practice. In other words, the X-city Board of Education took the initiative in reaching a consensus based on the local community's intentions and in making a decision based on that consensus.

The X City Board of Education established a special non-attending schools based on the high rate of non-attendance in the area and the “idea” of the superintendent. In other words, the former Superintendent of Education, D had a positive view of children as a driving force for social change and recognized that such children could be connected to society through special non-attending schools. If the role of special non-attending schools, which is now expected to be expanded, remains “one of the options” for supporting non-attending students, their impact on solving the problem of supporting non-attending students will be extremely small. In other words, special non-attending schools are expected to play a role in spreading innovative and flexible measures as special non-attending schools to other public schools in response to the public school system that does not guarantee appropriate education to all students, as indicated by the existence of non-attending students. The Board of Education, as the establisher of the school, is required to position and give significance to the special non-attending schools as a means of promoting public school reform.