2022 Volume 49 Pages 9-14
In recent years, due to the declining birthrate and aging population, the movement to develop human resources who will lead the next generation in the entire region has been accelerating. Additional goals are to sustain local communities and to provide opportunities for the elderly to play active roles. From this trend, it can be said that school-regional cooperation is an important policy issue. In response to the COVID-19 epidemic, we predict a great impact on school-regional cooperation policies featuring many face-to-face activities in which elderly people play leading roles.
However, research on the impact of the covid-19 epidemic on school-regional cooperation policies has not been started because it is still soon after the virus epidemic. Based on interviews with Board of Education staffin “City A” in Shimane prefecture and with people involved in school-regional cooperation activities, this paper proves the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on school-regional cooperation policy.
As a result, the significance of issues such as the role expected of the administration, changes and reductions in the content of activities, declining motivation of local residents, and reduction of opportunities for interaction was clarified.
