In Japanese public education social work has been introduced and support for it has been gradually expanding. However, as we have seen in the case of social welfare services, we must say that social services in the schools are not sufficient.
Hereafter, what is needed for social work to become well established in our schools and for more effective support to expand, is a more interdisciplinary approach related to classroom situations and to the people who are taking part in the system. Specifically, knowledge about school education and school culture, as well as the disciplines of psychology which support students at all levels, is essential.
In this papel, Iwill discuss the interdisciplinary knowledge that is essential for the school of social work to develop as an educational theory. This study takes into account my own experiences and the studies of school psychology and clinical education related to interdisciplinari ty in leading literature.

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This study looks at people who had experienced “Yogo-type school refusal” and suggests life courses to escape from intergenerational transmission of economic hardship. This type of school refusal probably results from economic hardship and poor parenting. The paper examines 69 people who had experienced school refusal and attended a free school located in the region where “Seikatsu-hogo” benefit recipient households are more than ten times the national average. Fifty-eight percent of the students attending this free school also came from benefit recipient families. It is recognized that “public assistance,” “single-parent family” and “low academic skills” have a significant correlation with each other. Fifty percent of children from benefit recipient families did not enter high school and could not find employment when they graduated from junior high school, and 79% of these children only graduated from junior high school. These factors possibly force them to face difficulties in living an independent life. The study also discusses differences between the group on welfare and the group living without public assistance. As a result, “social skills,” “academic performance,” “social support” and “use of social services” are considered important factors to escape from intergenerational transmission of economic hardship.

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This study sets out the features of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) in the United Kingdom, especially the contents and educational methods for children with behavioral difficulties. The results were as follows:
PSHE is an educational program which focuses on the child's comprehensive development of self-understanding, self-awareness and self-esteem through active learning such as role-play. In PSHE practice, it is considered important to teach how to manage one's behavior, not in an individual or isolated way, but in way that is integrated with the whole curriculum in the whole school approach, focusing on becoming conscious of the relationship of the individual and society. Furthermore, PSHE stresses the need for continuous gradual school improvement and development involving both parents and community so as to include children with behavioral difficulties in regular schools.

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In 2008 the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology started the School Social Worker project in order to solve the vast number of problems in schools which have occurred recently. Concerning the School Counselor (SC) project, I reviewed the factors which are necessary for another specialist to work smoothly in in cooperation with teachers, using “teachers' culture” as a key word. During 14 years that have passed since the SC project in the schools, I found that the differences in their specialized fields and their sense of values were a cause between school cunselors and teachers. These cases suggest that construction of the trust relationship is important. As a result, this paper points out that the school social workers have to learn the special character of the schools and “teachers' culture” in order to carry out their activities smoothly. In additon, I consider the curriculum that is needed to raise the quality and the work conditions of the school social worker.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of school social worker in dealing with school refusers (truant students). The results of the analysis showed firstly that the role of social workers is that of “broker”, “enabler”, “advocater”, “organizer”, and “promoter”. Secondly, the social worker, by evaluating societal resources and their appropriateness, plays the role of building a comprehensive network of cooperation from the micro level to the macro level. Thirdly, in carrying out these roles in the school, it is very important for the social worker to assess the case through making good use of the ecological map.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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