This research was to develop and examine the reliability and validity of a scale on special support education coordinators’ knowledge and skills for training purposes. One hundred coordinators of special support education in elementary and junior high schools participated in the study. A factor analysis yielded 39 items of knowledge and skills with 5 subscales: (a) knowledge and skills of facilitation, (b) knowledge and skills on special support education,(c) cooperation of involved parties, (d) skills of public relation and gathering of information, and (e) objective understanding and manner. The scale showed adequate internal consistency, construct validity and concurrent validity.

The purpose of this study was to examine the interaction effects of social skills and relationships with friends and teachers on high school students’ sense of school adaptation in full-time, night-time, and multipart-time classes. Due to the sense of fulfillment that comes from having a task/purpose, full-time students with high social skills had a stronger relationship with friends, while a stronger relationship with friends was observed in night-time students and multipart-time students with low social skills. These results suggested that the level of social skills had differential effects on the relationships with friends and teachers and the sense of school adjustment depending on the school environment such as full-time, night-time, and multipart-time schools.

This study investigated how teachers’ practices of encouraging questions and help-seeking affect classroom climate and help-seeking intentions of junior high school students. Junior high school students answered a questionnaire. Structural equation modeling suggested that teacher’s practice of encouraging questions and help-seeking was associated with the classroom climate, leading to high help-seeking intentions toward the teacher and classmates.

This study examined how teachers’ reflection on children’s cognitions (child cognition) affected teachers’ cognitive dimension of children and children’s subjective classroom adjustment. We conducted intervention interviews using the Role Construct Repertory Test for Teachers (Kondo, 1995) to encourage teachers to examine their cognitions about children and reflect on their involvement with children for three months. The results indicated changes in teachers’ cognitive dimension of children and their behaviors in child guidance. Moreover, children in the middle group of the “position index within a teacher” significantly improved their subjective classroom adjustment due to intervention interviews.

The purposes of the present study were to implement two types of education on how to send SOS: Stress management type and Reciprocal help type, and to examine the effects of the programs. Participants were 102 first-year students at junior high school from three classes. They were assigned to three different programs, a stress management type class, a reciprocal help type class, and a waiting class. A self-report inventory before and after the intervention were compared and student’ impressions on the programs were analyzed. The results indicated that students in the stress management type class showed no significant change at the end of the program. In addition, students in the reciprocal help type class showed significant improvement only in self-efficacy scale for helping friends. However, their impressions after the program suggested the effectiveness of reciprocal help type intervention. The findings suggested that activities promoting reciprocal help in class and learning about anticipated benefits of seeking help are appropriate for teaching students on how to send SOS.

This study reported the online implementation of a suicide prevention gatekeeper training program designed for Yogo teachers. Furthermore, we examined the contribution of the program on improvement of the teachers’ confidence in managing mental health problems of their students, willingness and self-efficacy to act as gatekeepers through an interview survey with program participants. The results suggested that participants had learned coping strategies including the assessment of the risk of suicide and the reference to other support providers and experienced actual support situations through role-playing, which has contributed to the effectiveness of the program.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of Experiential learning using the laboratory method (ELLM) for 4th grade elementary school students. The intervention group consisted of two classes that performed ELLM and the control group had one class that did not perform ELLM. Before and after the intervention, questionnaire surveys were conducted on class, interpersonal and self. We analyzed questionnaires and worksheets at the time of ELLM intervention. As a result, there was an improvement in class and interpersonal relationship scores. These findings discussed the effects of ELLM on class groups.

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether a low level of perceived benefits on inclusive education among Japanese schoolteachers is observed regarding not only students with disabilities but also students without disabilities. Additionally, we examined the psychological and social factors that are associated with such perceptions. The results, with 92 Japanese schoolteachers, suggested that the benefits of segregated education were rated higher than those of inclusive education and that schoolteachers’ individual characteristics, such as help-seeking preference, and social environment, such as organizational climate of collegiality, were related to the perceived benefits.