Animateurs have long been employed by associations of animation activity in France. In recent years, however, many local governments have begun employing animateurs. This paper analysed the meaning of the rise in animateurs as local civil servants in France. It means a prevailing of the public role of animateurs work, where autonomy and professional speciality are underlying. The findings of the research are as follows.

  1. Animation activity responds to various community needs rather than limiting its activities only to established leisure activities, and newly created civil service jobs to meet these needs. These jobs are associated with a specific professional speciality, popularly recognized as métier, having its own duties and training.

  2. Animation is positioned into the holistic services plan of the community rather than being limited to the measure divided into each by the object or a function. There, unlike functional activities of local associations, the possibility of animation based on a community is created.

  3. For a local civil servant animateurs to respond to the realities of local practice, the vulnerability of their status and professional speciality still must be addressed. To improve their vulnerable status, we pursued the question of proper adoption and training connected with occupation qualification institutionally.

  4. Becoming a local civil servant^* animateurs does not reduce the role of association. Rather association strengthens the raison d'être that association creates the animateurs' professional specialities and contributes to the well-being of civil society. Local civil servant responsibilities also develop into more substantial ones through active participation in civil society. This relationship must be recognized as percept.

  ^* ‘becoming a local civil servant’ means ‘fonctionnalisation’ in French.

  This study investigates Tsurumi Kazuko's Seikatsu-kiroku theory to clarify the history of the organizational structure of Tsurumi Kazuko's Seikatsu-kiroku movement during the 1950s and to examine the corresponding change in the relationship between Tsurumi and the circle members having diversity in ‘Seikatsu wo tuzuru kai’ The important thing is that the discussion with Tsurumi and the circle members brought a change to the organizational structure of the circle and each other's relationships.

  Focusing on communication, this paper discusses the following:

  1) Tsurumi emphasized communication with the disparate others and organized ‘Seikatsu wo tuzuru kai’, composed of people from different age groups, occupations and living conditions.

  2) In 1954, Tsurumi fragmented ‘Seikatsu wo tuzuru kai’ into highly homogeneous groups. In addition, a study group was formed in each group to encourage inter-group communication.

  3) Since the reorganization of the circle, the members, who were previously dependent on Tsurumi, adopted autonomous learning.

  4) During the learning activity, although there was a difference of opinion between Tsurumi and the circle members, ‘Seikatsu wo tuzuru kai’ [Crimson1]was practised to create a new understanding through continuous discussion.

  5) Since 1954, Tsurumi aimed at theorization through the practice of ‘Seikatsu wo tuzuru kai’, which was even before Seikatsu-kiroku movement focused on theorization.

  Matsushita Hiromu, an adult and community education supervisor (or more precisely, a Kominkan [Community Learning Centre: CLC] supervisor), continues to have a significant influence in the field of health and medicine. This indicates that the society still demands the expertise of an adult and community education personnel to facilitate health learning.

  Matsushita has regarded ‘how “learning” should be to enable the rich “development of an independent person”’ as his ‘lifelong question’. However, Matsushita's belief overlaps Yokoyama Hiroshi's statement: an adult and community education supervisor needs to ‘think and find one's essential expertise as one's own way of living’.

  Matsushita acquired such expertise by participating in the development of Characteristics and Roles of CLC Supervisor, known as Shimoina Thesis, at the beginning of his career. Shimoina Thesis indicates two types of expertise ― as an educational professional and as a governmental officer. In the field of health learning, it is as indispensable for an expert governmental officer to consider the role of local government in supporting and securing the basic human right of ‘living in good health as it is for a local governmental health nurse who supports public health. Shimoina Thesis also contains measures and means for facilitating health learning. In addition, Matsushita's vision of problem-based learning, which he acquired as an assistant teacher, has been significant for the development of health learning. In health learning, not only adult and community education supervisors but also local residents, health nurses and dietitians have been regarded as learners, and their development as independent actors has been facilitated.