2009 年 13 巻 1 号 p. 37-50
In recent years, the number of children of cross-cultural backgrounds has been increasing in Japan. Consequently, the educational issues faced by these children have also become serious. In this study, we focused on the Japanese volunteers who support such children at a Japanese language class. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 volunteers and 2 coordinators. The results suggested that the children experienced several difficulties with respect to language, school education, family, psychological problems and so on. In addition, volunteers found it difficult to single-handedly support children, and felt the need to bring about a change in society. Nevertheless, the Japanese language class and its volunteers played important roles in the children’s lives, both educationally and psychologically. In order to support them more effectively, regional and community support networking and a skilful coordinator are required. We believe that such networking will be useful to communities in which people of cross-cultural backgrounds live together.