Support for Intergenerational Programs in Schools: Results from a Survey of Educational Administrators in Japan

Abstract

This article describes the results from a national survey of intergenerational exchange programs involving educational institutions. The survey was conducted via mailed questionnaires. From the survey responses, it would appear that in municipalities with educational administration specialists who are formally involved in intergenerational programs, the specialists play vital roles as program advocates, planners, and evaluators of such initiatives.

KEYWORDS:

• national survey
• educational administrators
• school education
• the middle aged/elderly
• school assistance volunteer

Notes

1. “Terakoya” is the name that Maebashi City applied to activities in which senior citizens support the learning of children outside of the curriculum of the school education. In a historical sense, Terakoya also is the name of a private elementary school of the Edo period in which reading, writing, and math were taught in a personal educational institution intended for children of the common people in the Edo period of Japan.