Abstract
The first purpose of this paper is to explain the special issue in the volume 24th of the Bulletin of the Japan Society of Internship and Work Integrated Learning. It traces the process of formation and fluctuation of various “common senses” of internship over the past 20 years since its institutional inauguration, and examines the possibility of conducting research under the more comprehensive concept of “work-integrated learning (WIL)”. Next, how can we conduct research as a social science by keeping an eye on the internal definition of WIL against such defusing scopes of research? We will examine the purposefulness of the research, the inclusion and extension of the scope, and the perspective of the researcher. As the perspective of the parties involved in internship and WIL, it is possible to set up a research area concerning the three parties of “learning and growth of learners”, “educational programs and systems”, and “recruitment and human resource management of companies, etc.”. From the constitution of the Japan Society of Internship and Work Integrated Learning. In addition, the confusion of the statistical grasp on internships can be comprehensively understood from the perspective of those involved. Third, we will conduct a text analysis of the trends in research activities on internships and WIL using the Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Kaken database to see what kinds of “questions” and “methods” have been combined to develop research projects. In particular, research on self-reflection and reflective practice regarding the experiences and abilities of those professional and practitioners involved in internships and WIL is a major untapped area.
