How do we explore and present
outcomes and significance of youth work?

: Counter-documentation of youth work
as story-telling in Japan

Transformative Youth Work International Conference
4-6th September 2018

Maki Hiratsuka, Hosei University, Japan, mhira@hosei.ac.jp
Akio Inui, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan
Fumiyuki Nakatsuka, Education Support Centre NIRE, Japan
Misako Yokoe, Kyoto City Youth Service Foundation, Japan,
Yoshinari Minamide, Gifu University, Japan

Miki Hara, University of Shiga Prefecture, Japan

Our Youth Work

Café
study
farming
residentialDancesportsBrief background surrounding
youth work in Japan• Few youth work/service provisions funded by(local) governments• No qualification/degrees of youth workers• Poor common recognition of youth work
• Government focuses on short periods targeted
employability approach

Comparison of social institutions/conditions
to develop youth work(ers)among 4 countries(Numbers like 2016 are the year we visited.)Outline of our research project
Visions: Improving conditions where youth workers candevelop themselves as professionals.
: Improving conditions where values and significanceof youth work as profession are recognized in society.

That is just what is necessary but underdevelopedin Japan.
•Outline of our research project
Focus
Publishing ‘social media of counter documentation’,by which youth workers can develop themselves andalso values and significance of youth work can berecognized in society .

Because‘Documentation’ is criticaｌ for understanding youth
work, and now is a political issue among social
professions including youth work.

Backgrounds;
Peculiar history in Japan
Certain numbers of • Post WW2
youth work in cities
and villages• Higheconomic
growth; 1960s

Much of young people’s
activity was absorbed inschools or work places.

• Economiccollapse; after
the mid-1990s= Youth work fields wereshrinked.

Youth transition to adults
got into insecure.
Eg,Freeters, Hikikomori• After themid-2000s

Expansion of work fordisadvantaged youth

NPM flavored youth
policies were introduced.

Backgrounds; Characters ofcurrent Japanese youth policies• ‘Employability’ agenda• Target Approach• Individualised services and training• Short periods

Backgrounds; Documentation asa political issue• Youth workers and managers are forced toproduce numerous evaluative documents mostly either numerical or clinical in nature.
• What kinds of the document are best in order todescribe and present both the professionalism
and significance of youth work to the wider
society, as well as to youth workers themselves?

Our strategy;
Counter documentation model
Developing professional
community• Talking Hearing• Writing• Reading• Discussing

Youthworkers

Media,
Places• The best way todescribe youth work
• Counter
Documentation• Evaluation• Recognition• ApprovalSociety,
government

Process 1 Inspired by ‘This is
Youth Work’ by IDYW in the UKProcess 2 Reflection ofJapanese educators’ tradition
The culture among school teachers of writing their own practices
and reading/discussing their documents with colleagues.

Process 3 Learning from ‘Storytelling W.S.’ by IDYW in the UK
Storyteling Workshop for our team,facilitated by Bernard(Sept.2015 at Leamington Spa)

Reproduced Storytelling
Workshop for our colleagues
Sept. 2015, Tokyo

Process 4 A trial of describing anddiscussing our youth work stories.
• A story of a primary school age girl who has
difficult family conditions and a youth workerby Fumiyuki Nakatsuka• A story of a young male group who are exmembers of a youth centre and a youth worker
who has been working there by Misako Yokoe
Introduced at ‘The Evaluation of Youth Work’ session on 5thof this conferenceWhat’s next?
Process 5 Publishing
Planning to publish e-journal for presenting ouryouth work stories as counter-documentation andorganize wider discussion about ‘What is youth
work’ in our society.

Table of Contents• Describing Youth Work Practices- Our own youth work stories- Story-Telling from the UK• Discussion of the significance of writing and reading
practices for youth workersThank you for your attention!
Welcome for your comment.
mhira@hosei.ac.jp
Maki Hiratsuka