Social education and social work in Japan: from an education welfare theory perspective

This article aims to consider the position of social pedagogy in Japan in the relationship between social education and social work, by focusing on the historical development of the two. In Japan, the term social pedagogy is not as well known as it is in European countries. The term of social education is used to cover the combination of ‘social’ and ‘education/pedagogy’. Historically, social pedagogy was influenced by Japanese social education at the beginning of the 1900s, and more recently, interest in social pedagogy is increasing, with attention from some Japanese researchers in the fields of both social education and social work/social welfare. In Japan, after the Second World War, social education and social work came to be entirely separate areas due to the establishment of social education and social welfare systems. In this article the different institutional positions of modern-day social education and social work/social welfare are first clarified. Their historical development is then explored by delving into the literature that discusses how the two first diverged. Finally, how social pedagogy is positioned in the relationship between social education and social work/social welfare is considered. This will deepen the understanding of the issue from the viewpoint of education welfare theory as the research framework, a theory of Toshio Ogawa, one of the leading figures in Japanese social education research.