[Collection of Schools of Thought] 15. Yoshiko Kawai Mr. -Alumni and Student Interviews
Faculty and President Dialogue
Health and welfare Learning in all directions Achieving coexistence with the local community
College of Health and Welfare Student Leader
Yoshiko Kawai Professor
Main content
College of Health and Welfare curriculum reform will be implemented starting in the 2023 academic year. Professor Yoshiko Kawai, who has witnessed the changes since the predecessor department era and serves as the group president, hopes that now is the time for students to combine their studies in "health" and "welfare" and to succeed in society (Interviewer: President J. F. Oberlin University Hiroaki Hatayama).
Enriching learning through psychology, social welfare, and multiple perspectives.
Hatayama: The 'College of Health and Welfare' led by Professor Kawai is a learning center where students aiming to become professionals in health and welfare gather. For about 20 years, Professor Kawai has been closely observing the educational field.
Kawai: I joined in the spring of my fourth year after the launch of the predecessor, the Faculty of Letters, Department of Health Psychology, and I felt it was a department with a very unique structure. There are three courses: "Psychology," "Health Sciences," and "Mental Health and Welfare," which I taught, and the topics students are interested in vary significantly depending on the course. There are students interested in psychology and students who have devoted themselves wholeheartedly to sports...... In addition, national qualifications were available in the field of mental health and welfare, and social work supporting people with mental disabilities began to gain attention. In this way, I believe it started as a unique department that stands out from typical psychology departments. The faculty members were also unique with experts in their respective fields. Even after the reorganization of faculties and departments to become 'College of Health and Welfare', I feel that this distinctive feature has remained firmly established.
Hatayama: Before joining this university, you were a full-time lecturer at a vocational school specializing in welfare education, correct?
Kawai: In 1998, "Mental Health Social Worker" became a national qualification, and I have been training students for this qualification, sending them out as social workers for five terms through a one-year course for university graduates. Before that, I also worked as a part-time counselor at a psychiatric clinic. Many different kinds of patients came to the clinic, but the reality of how diverse patients live, recover, and what kind of support they need is not well known. And, as with psychology, there is an area where images tend to precede reality. People tend to have excessive expectations and misunderstandings, such as "You can understand people's minds!" or "Can you understand my personality?" I believe that more accurate information about mental health needs to be disseminated.
Being involved in the education of social workers in the field of mental health and welfare has allowed me to learn a great deal myself, and my interest in welfare has grown. Compared to when I was only studying psychology, I feel that my perspective has broadened by being able to view things from a social welfare viewpoint as well. In particular, since I was in charge of practical training and exercises, I realized the importance and potential of learning not only from academics but also from experience.
In addition to her educational activities, she has also worked as a counselor at clinics and companies. She studied Transactional Analysis as a psychotherapeutic approach and obtained certification as a Certified Transactional Analyst from the International Association of Transactional Analysis (TA) (pictured left). She contributed to the translation (as a co-translator) of the international textbook on Transactional Analysis, "TA TODAY 2nd Edition" (Jitsumu Kyoiku Shuppan), published in September 2022 (pictured right).
Cross-disciplinary programs and experiential learning lead to new discoveries.
Hatayama: After that, the professor became the head of the psychology and education department from 2015, and from the 2021 academic year, the College of Health and Welfare head. And finally, starting in the 2023 academic year, a major curriculum reform will be underway, and College of Health and Welfare will be reborn. Please tell us about its major features and appeal.
Kawai: The College of Health and Welfare, which previously consisted of 4 Major, will now be restructured into '3 Area and 6 majors.' "Health & Sports Area" is for the Health Science and Sports Science majors. "Welfare & Psychology Area" is for the Social Welfare Studies major, Mental Health Welfare Studies major, and Practical Psychology major. The 'Childcare Area' consists of childcare majors. In the traditional 4-Major system, there were significant curriculum constraints depending on the jobs and qualifications students aimed for, which tended to be siloed. J. F. Oberlin University has a 'major-minor system' that allows you to create original learning tailored to your interests and preferences......
Hatayama: In addition to completing the major program or course of your academic group as a "major" (main major), if you have other fields you want to study, you can combine them with a "minor (minor)" program. That's a major feature of J. F. Oberlin University learning.
Kawai: Despite such a wonderful system, College of Health and Welfare students have focused solely on studying within a single field, and the group of peers around them has remained unchanged. I always thought that was a "very wasteful." If you don't limit yourself to just one and continue learning related topics, you can broaden your perspective even further. Making this possible is the focus of this curriculum reform. At the same time, it is also possible to combine learning that deeply pursues a single Area.
Another key pillar is to diversify practical learning and fieldwork through hands-on experience. Originally, College of Health and Welfare offered courses to obtain various qualifications, and after completing lecture subjects, practical training and exercises were incorporated. Going forward, we will expand the gateway to such practical learning beyond just students who wish to obtain qualifications. I believe that not only theoretical learning but also real-life experiences will lead to new discoveries and awareness of issues.
From the classroom to the community: Fostering relationships with others from the first year.
Hatayama: That's a very interesting initiative. Students in social welfare, mental health welfare, childcare, and sports are aiming for their respective qualifications while also combining their studies with other areas of learning to make it their own. What kinds of combinations are possible, specifically?
Kawai: After the curriculum reform, the faculty will become one where you can study both health and welfare. For example, by studying community welfare and elderly welfare while also studying sports and health science, you can do work that helps improve the health of local residents. Also, I think it will become an important topic in the future to apply what you learn about mental health and psychology to supporting children. By studying both sports/health science and welfare, the range of contributions you can make in society will broaden. I think you will be able to combine various kinds of learning in a wide range of ways.
Hatayama: Solving various issues in local communities is difficult from a single-eyed perspective. What Professor Kawai said made me feel that this is a learning system that can contribute to society in the future. There are many practical training sessions ahead of College of Health and Welfare. Are there any challenges you face regarding future fieldwork or practical training?
Kawai: Even before the pandemic, I felt that there was an increasing number of students who were hesitant to interact with others. Even after in-person classes resumed, many students were struggling with how to get to know and connect with people. Practical training starts with going into the field and building relationships with people you don't know at all. It won't work if you just wait for people to talk to you. I think it's necessary to learn how to approach and connect with people as soon as you enter university.
The new curriculum will begin with a "Basic Seminar" in the first year. One faculty member will act as an advisor for approximately 10 students, guiding them through group work. This systematically creates opportunities for students to engage in various discussions and learn about specialized fields within their classes, majors, and academic groups.
Hatayama: In the undergraduate program, there's a lot of interaction with the surrounding community through practical training, right?
Kawai: We have been active in Machida City, Tokyo, where our campus is located, and in the neighboring Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, maintaining connections with the local community. What I have keenly felt during this time is that when students do internships at nearby facilities in order to obtain qualifications, the students are being nurtured by the people at the facilities and the users. It is easy to think of it as "going to provide support," but in reality, the users reach out to the students who know nothing yet. They think, "They seem nervous, so let's talk to them a little."
While we are certainly mindful of "contributing to the community" and "contributing to society" as a university, we feel even more strongly that "we are supported and nurtured by the community." Through our new curriculum, we hope to contribute to creating an environment where students, who have acquired diverse learning experiences, can cooperate with and live together with the local community.
J. F. Oberlin University College of Health and Welfare Student Council Head
Yoshiko Kawai
He graduated from Waseda University's First Faculty of Letters and withdrew from the doctoral program in psychology at the Graduate School of Letters, Waseda University without completing the required coursework. While teaching lectures and exercises on psychological testing and counseling at universities and vocational schools, I worked for about 10 years as a part-time counselor at a psychiatric clinic in Tokyo, providing mental health consultations and also working as staff for rehabilitation groups. Since 1994, he has worked as a full-time lecturer at the Japan Welfare Education College, and since 1998, he has been engaged in training and training mental health social workers, which are the national qualification for social workers in the mental health field. In 2003, he joined the Department of Health Psychology at the Faculty of Letters, J. F. Oberlin University as an associate professor, and from that year began providing mental health counseling for companies. Since 2006, as an instructor at College of Health and Welfare Mental Health Welfare Major, I have been mainly responsible for exercises, practical training, and guidance in the Mental Health Social Worker Training Program. Clinical psychologist, mental health social welfare specialist, and certified psychologist. After serving as Head of the Department of Psychology and Education (2015-2018) and Assistant to the College of Health and Welfare (2019-2020), he has held his current position since 2021
