MATSUOKA Yoshiki
ST.ANDREW,S UNIVERSITY BULLETIN OF THE RESEARCH INSTITUTE St. Andrew's University 42 (1) 75 - 93 1346-048X 2016/07
The classroom activities conducted in extracurricular activities are held as an opportunity for students to deepen their independent and practical learning. A school is considered a small society, wherein students can deepen their consciousness as a collective member, and acquire the character whereby they can solve problems concerning personal matters by themselves. When developing activities suitable for studying democracy, students need to prepare opportunities and situations that they can tackle actively and spontaneously. Moreover, regarding the leader's role, rather than taking the initiative, the teacher should monitor the students and assume the stance of providing support. There is no hurry to reach a conclusion; rather, students are encouraged to put forth arguments, leading to the students reaching points of agreement. In this way, the habit of practice is cultivated, and, if successful, leads to the training of an independent and practical mindset. Unfortunately, at Japanese schools, it is currently difficult to establish a method whereby students investigate a subject by themselves, share their findings with a friend, and seek solutions to the problems therein. In this paper, we analyze the present conditions of extracurricular activities of Japan. Then, the concepts of "Klassenrat," "Schlermitverwaltung," "conflict intermediaries," and "rescue crews" at the Oberen Schloss School in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany will be considered.