Paper short abstract:

In Japanese public school, this practical research focuses on a classroom with about half of the students having a multicultural background, and reports whether Japanese and multicultural students are able to coexist in harmony and empower each other.

Paper long abstract:

With an increase in children of multicultural backgrounds attending Japanese public schools, students needing Japanese language instruction have reached more than 50,000 students. Now that the Japanese Education Promotion Act has been enacted, attention is being paid to how school education should proceed toward a symbiotic society. From a CDC perspective, there is a need to develop a sense of citizenship with fair education to understand cultural diversity. This research focuses on a classroom with about half of the students having a multicultural background, and reports whether Japanese and multicultural students are able to coexist in harmony and empower each other. Although this research is based on one classroom setting, I believe presenting children's conflicts and aspects of empowerment will lead to the reconstruction of future educational activities.

This practical research follows my experience for one year as a teacher in charge of a six-grade elementary school class. Focus will be on: career education class in which the school's foreign language assistants are invited to class, a cross-cultural exchange class with one-day experience students from Korea, and classes related to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Analyzing the changes in children's awareness through their thoughts and notes, after these classes were conducted, an increase in the children's acceptance of diverse cultures were seen, and they treated symbiosis in learning in a diverse environment as their own matter, which in turn affected their subsequent actions. In an interview with a student of multicultural background who had been living in Japan for 2 years, the student spoke on playing well together with Japanese children, and also on helping each other in learning. I clarified the aspects of empowerment in the friend relations in the class.

In this educational practice, the appearance of children trying to enhance each other's power was recognized. I would like to make use of it in the next initiative and theory construction while comparing it with practical examples in Europe.

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