College of Education and Social Transformation Exchange opinions with Sagamihara City community center staff in 'Introduction to Social Education'!

On October 8th, in College of Education and Social Transformation 's 'Introduction to Social Education' class, first-year students exchanged opinions with six community center staff from Sagamihara City, creating a time for students and community center staff to learn together.

Community centers are representative venues for social education, but in recent years, the fixed number of users and a shortage of staff have become challenges.
In the class, we first listened to a lecture from a staff member of the Lifelong Learning Department of the Sagamihara City Education Bureau about the features and challenges of community centers in Sagamihara City, followed by group discussions on the theme of 'How Young People Can Use Community Centers.'

In group discussions, there were moments where SAs (Student Assistants) from grades 2~4 acted as sub-facilitators to support the first-year students' learning.

Students expressed opinions such as, "We came up with ideas for young people to use the community center, but realized how difficult it is to come up with a plan," and "It's important to devise ways that make people want to visit again, not just a one-time Events." On the other hand, community center staff expressed their desire to take back the feedback received from students and apply it to the actual project.

At College of Education and Social Transformation, we invite people from diverse educational settings to listen to their stories and conduct fieldwork in person, supporting students in obtaining the title of 'Social Educator,' an education specialist outside of school.

What is a Social Educator? (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)

We would like to express our gratitude to the Sagamihara City Education Bureau's Lifelong Learning Department, Board of Education, and community center staff for their cooperation this time.