2022 Volume 63 Issue 3 Pages 55-70
This study is intended to clarify the characteristics and the role of practices in the children’s associations known as Kodomo-kai, organized by student settlements in areas with high levels of poverty. The period covered is from 1956 to 1973, a time of high activity in the student settlement movement. Historical materials were examined for the analysis, with an emphasis on activity records. The following characteristics about the practices of Student Settlements Kodomo-kai were identified: (1) the approach of choice is today known as the “outreach method”; (2) the development of practices which captured the “inhibiting situation” of children and how their “demands” were responded to; (3) a perspective of understanding the regional and social situations through individual practices; (4) empowerment had a role to play in the movement; (5) by playing complementary roles during their implementation, the student settlement fostered the independence and autonomy of the regions and the children who had fallen between the cracks of the education and welfare systems.
