experiences of being peer supporters
by
Hideo Kato
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Faculty of Health & Medical Sciences
University of Surrey
2016
20
Abstract
This thesis explores the nature of peer support activities in Japan through the experiences of young Japanese peer supporters in a secondary school. Peer support is an approach that builds on the helpfulness and altruism characteristic of friendship by extending it beyond friendship to the wider peer group. Although moral and citizenship education has been carried out for over one hundred years in Japanese schools, the concept of peer support programmes in the educational system is relatively new in Japan. Peer support approaches have been developing in Western countries for over 20 years but it is only in the past 10 years that there has been a growing interest in these methods in Japan. In this research, qualitative methods had been used to gather more in-depth information about a phenomenon. Participants, aged 13 to 14 years, were drawn from a secondary school in Osaka, Japan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analysed using Thematic Analysis, aiming to explore their lived experiences of being peer supporters. Four main themes emerged from the peer supporters’ lived experiences; 1) Disconnection between training and practice, 2) Perceived generation gap, 3) Self-improvement, and 4) Cultural mismatch. These specific themes greatly assisted to explore the unrevealed children’s views, some critical issues of peer support practices in Japan and some confirmed the findings of quantitative studies (prior studies). A number of the findings were novel and also these results will provide opportunity to explore further children’s understandings of peer support programmes in school. In conclusion, some practical recommendations (e.g. “reform of the peer support training session” and “new classification for Japanese style peer support”) for the peer support activities are suggested in terms of the findings.
Key words:
peer support, bullying, counselling skills, social skills, Japanese style peer support.
Summary
This thesis adopts a qualitative approach to explore the nature of peer support activities in Japan through the experiences of young Japanese peer supporters in a secondary school. Peer support, a relatively new concept in Japan, is an approach that builds on the helpfulness and altruism characteristic of friendship by extending it beyond friendship to the wider peer group. This often encourages children to offer other children strong emotional and behavioural support. Since the peer support approach had been introduced to Japan, several peer support practices have been developed as unique methods, which were suited to Japanese educational and traditional systems.
Although peer support has been quite extensively researched in the West using both quantitative and qualitative methods, which explored children’s’ views and their behaviours, Japanese researchers mainly employed quantitative approaches with various assessment sheets and questionnaires to examine how peer support systems have a positive influence on children (e.g. the improvement of their social skills and the satisfaction levels in school life). In short, very little Japanese research explored the experiences of young people who practiced peer support by employing qualitative methods that captured their thoughts and feelings in depth. This resulted in a very limited knowledge about children’s own views and insights, including their views on the peer support systems, their difficulties, feelings and motivations for the peer support activities. In this vein, the present study has contributed to deepening the knowledge in these unrevealed research topics and issues.
Participants, aged 13 to 14 years, were drawn from a secondary school in Osaka, Japan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analysed using Thematic Analysis, aiming to explore their lived experiences of being peer supporters.
Four main themes emerged from the peer supporters’ lived experiences; 1) Disconnection between training and practice, 2) Perceived generation gap, 3) Self-improvement, and 4) Cultural mismatch. These specific themes greatly assisted to explore the unrevealed children’s views, some critical issues of peer support practices in Japan and some confirmed the findings of quantitative studies (prior studies).
For example, one of the critical findings highlighted that there were major gaps and disconnections between peer supporters’ actual activities and their training sessions, which have not been reported as an issue in Japanese peer support studies. In short, even though Japanese peer supporters received the same style training sessions (Rogers model; person-centred approach), they did not manage to apply the person-centred attitudes for their activities. In this vein, peer supporters were mainly involved in activities at group and whole-school support levels (e.g. greeting campaign, cleaning campaign, and fund-raising activity), due to the educational needs and cultural backgrounds. This implied that some peer support activities in Japan seemed to be critically different from the western style peer support approach, which was based on the person-centred approach.
A number of the findings were novel and also these results will provide opportunity to explore further children’s understandings of peer support programmes in school. In conclusion, some practical recommendations (e.g. “reform of the peer support training session” and “new classification for Japanese style peer support”) for the peer support activities are suggested in terms of the findings. It appears that several peer support practices had been developed as unique methods; thus, further studies, employing a qualitative approach are required to gain the deeper understanding of peer support practices, which contribute to the improvements and developments of its practices in Japan.
Signed declaration
This thesis and the work to which it refers are the results of my own efforts. Any idea, data, image or text resulting from the work of others are fully identified as such within the work and attributed to their originator in the bibliography or in footnotes. This thesis has not yet been submitted in whole or in part for any other academic degree or professional qualification.
Name: Hideo Kato
Signature:
Date: 11 May 2016
Table of Contents
Summary ……………………………………………………………………………… 2
Signed declaration………………………………………………………………….. 5
Table of contents……………………………………………………………………. 6
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….… 12
1. CHAPTER ONE Introduction...... 13
1.1 Background to the research…………………………………………………… 13
1.2 Moral education and citizenship in Japan…………………………………... 21
1.3 The discovery of peer support………………………………………………… 25
1.4 History of peer support…………………………………………………………. 28
1.5 Forms of peer support in the West…………………………………………… 29
1.6 Forms of peer support in the East (Japan)…………………………………. 33
1.7 The features of peer support in Japan……………………………………….. 37
1.8 Comparison of peer support used in the West and Japan……………… 42
1.9 Peer support activities in a lower secondary school…………………….…. 46
1.9.1 Cleaning the local community (Volunteer activity)………….….… 47
1.9.2 Greeting campaign……………………………………………………... 49
1.9.3 Fund-raising activities………………………………………………… 51
1.9.4 Anti-bullying drama………………………………………………..,….. 52
1.9.5 Nationwide school summits………………………………………….. 53
1.9.6 School summits in the city-wide level ……………………………… 55
1.9.7 School summits in school-based level..………………………….… 56
1.9.8 “Soji” (cleaning own classroom and school)……………………… 57
1.10 Training of peer support in Japan………………………………………………59
1.10.1 Training for children – peer supporter - …………………………... 59
1.10.2 Training for adults -peer support trainer-………………………… 64
1.11 Summing up………………………………………………………………………. 66
2. CHAPTER TWO Literature review……………………………………………. 64
2.1 Overview…………………………………………………………………………… 64
2.2 Theoretical perspectives………………………………………………………… 68
2.2.1 Carl Rogers’ Person-Centred theory of counselling……………. 69
2.2.2 Salmivalli’s participant role theory ………………………………….. 72
2.2.3 Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of human development …. 75
2.2.4 Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions …………………………. 79
2.3 Search strategies………………………………………………………………… 80
2.4 Evaluating the impact of peer support: studies in the West…………….. 84
2.4.1 The perspective of peer supporters……………………………….. 84
2.4.2. Peer support against bullying……………………………………… 87
2.4.3 The impact on school climate………………………………………. 94
2.5 Evaluating the impact of peer support: studies in Japan………………… 95
2.5.1 The indifference of bystanders to bullying………………………. 95
2.5.2 The impact on peer supporters…………………………………….. 101
2.5.3 The impact on the wider peer group………………………………. 106
2.5.4 The impact on the whole school……………………………………. 108
2.6 The lack of qualitative studies in Japanese peer support………………… 109
2.7 The cultural issues in Japanese peer support ………………………….…. 114
2.7.1 Influences of collectivism in peer support……………………….. 114
2.7.2 “Counselling model view” and “Educational model view” …… 117
2.7.3 Peer group influence…………………………………………………. 119
2.7.4 “Direct supporting activities” and “Indirect interventions”…… 122
2.8 Peer support as a citizenship-oriented approach……..…………………… 126
2.9 Summing up and research gap………………………………………………….. 128
2.10 Research questions……………………………………………………………… 131
3. CHAPTER THREE Research methodology……………………………………. 133
3.1 Background…..……………………………………………………………………. 133
3.2 Theoretical underpinnings………………………………………………………. 135
3.2.1 Phenomenology and Hermeneutics………………………………… 135
3.2.2 Ideography………………………………………………………………. 137
3.3 The relevance of IPA to Japanese Education………………………………... 138
3.4 Overview of Thematic Analysis ……………………………………………… 139
3.5 Research setting……………………………….…………………………………. 139
3.6 Research sample and method………………………………………………….. 141
3.7 Access and recruitment………………………………………………………… 143
3.8 Research tools……………………………………………………….………….…. 143
3.9 Pilot study…………………………………………………………………………….144
3.10 Interviews (for main study)……………………………………………………....146
3.11 Transcript, data analysis and NVivo…………………………………………. 147
3.12 Ethical considerations………………………………………………………….. 148 3.12.1 Informed consent………………………….……………………………150 3.12.2 Minimization of potential harm/deprivation of benefits……….. 150 3.12.3 Confidentiality and protection of privacy………………………… 151
4. CHAPTER FOUR Results………………….…………………………………….. 153
4.1 Overview……………………………………………………………………………. 153
4.2 Disconnection between training and practice……………………………….. 154
4.2.1 Person-centre approach vs. speaking in front of others...... 154
4.2.2 Group activates vs. one-to-one peer support...... 156
4.2.3 Lack of empathy and judgemental attitudes……………………. 158
4.2.4 Disapproval of emotional problems………………………………. 161
4.3 Perceived generation gap …………………..………………………………….. 162
4.3.1 Teachers’ views vs. pupils’ views……………………………...... 163
4.3.2 Pupils’ closeness and Teachers’ blindness...... 165
4.3.3 Friendships among pupils and
negative attitudes toward teachers..……………….…..………... 166
4.4 Self-improvement………………………………………………………………… 170
4.4.1 Overcoming own weakness…………………………………...... 170
4.4.2 Improving own life ……………………………...... 172
4.4.3 Dealing with pressure………………………….………...... 174
4.4.4 Dealing with Time management ……………………………………. 175
4.5 Cultural mismatch…………………………………………………………...... 178
4.5.1 Aims to create a supportive environment………...... 178
4.5.2 Believing other pupils’ potentials……………...... 181
5 . CHAPTER FIVE Discussion………………….…………………………………. 183
5.1 Overview…………………………………………………………………………… 183
5.2 Disconnection between peer support trainings and actual practices.…. 185
5.2.1 Group activities vs. Person centred approach…………………. 186
5.2.2 Lack of empathy and Judgemental attitudes…...... 190
5.2.3 Disapproval of emotional problems…………………………..…. 193
5.3 Perceived generation gap……………………………………………………… 194
5.3.1 Teachers’ view vs. pupils’ views…………………………………….195
5.3.2 Pupils’ closeness and Teachers’ blindness……………………… 195
5.3.3 Friendships among pupils and Negative attitudes
toward teachers………………………………………………………. 196
5.3.4 Roles of peer support and cultural backgrounds………………… 198
5.4 Self-improvement………………………………………………………………….. 202
5.4.1 Overcoming own weakness………………………………………….. 203
5.4.2 Improving own life……………………………………………………… 206
5.4.3 Dealing with Pressure…………………………………………………. 207
5.4.4 Dealing with Time management……………………………………… 209
5.5 Cultural mismatch………………………………………………………………… 213
5.5.1 Aim to create supportive environments……………………………. 214
5.5.2 Believing other pupils’ potential……………………………………. 217
5.5.3 Cultural mismatch……………………………………………………… 219
6. CHAPTER SIX Conclusions and practical implications………………….. 225
6.1 Overview………………………………………………………………………….. 225
6.2 Summary of the findings………………………………………………………… 225
6.2.1 “Disconnection between training and practice” ……………...... 225
6.2.2 “Perceived generation gap”...... ……………………….. 227
6.2.3 “Self-improvement”……………………….…………………………. 228
6.2.4 “Cultural mismatch”……..………………………………………….. 230
6.3 Summary of the key issues ……..…………………………………….………… 231
6.3.1 The key issues……….……………………………………..………… 231
6.3.2 The distinctive nature of Japanese peer support ……..…..……. 234
6.4 Practical implications for peer support schemes in Japan.……, 237
6.4.1 Suggestion (Information) for Japan Peer Support
Association (JPSA) and educational authorities……………….. 238
6.4.2 Suggestion (Information) for JPSA and researchers…. 238
6.4.3 Information for school teachers……………………….... 239
6.5 Directions for future research…………………………………………………… 240
6.5 Limitations of the study……………………….………………………………… 241
6.6 Final remarks……………………………………………………………………… 242
References……………………………………………………………………………. 242
Tables
Table 1.1: Violence and property damage in primary school in 2012………. 17
Table 1.2: Violence and property damage in lower secondary school in 2012 17
Table 1.3: School bullying in 2013 (Tokyo)……………………………………….. 18
Table 1.4: School non-attendance in 2013 (Tokyo)……………………………… 19
Table 1.5: Breakdown of peer support in secondary schools and colleges… 45
Table 1.6: Breakdown of peer support in primary and secondary school …. 45
Table 1.7: The qualities of a good peer supporter………………………………. 60
Table 1.8: JPSA’s training schedule for peer supporter…………….…………. 61
Table 2.1: Three counselling schools and major six counselling approaches 70
Table 2.2: The percentages of children and adolescents in the different
participant role………………………………………………………………… 74
Table 2.3: The percentages of children and adolescents in the different
participant role in Japan……………………………………………………… 75
Table 2.4: Keywords and Databases used…………………………………………. 81
Table 2.5: Search in Japanese database…..……………………………………….. 82
Table 2.6: Articles of Japan Peer Support Association………………………….. 83
Table 2.7: Percentage of boys who report being bullied and bullying others
in Novembers and June………………………………………………………. 88
Table 2.8: Potential users’ comments on the peer support service……..……. 88
Table 2.9: Users’ comments on the peer support service....……………………. 89
Table 2.10: Silence in bullied children……….……………………………………… 99
Table 2.11: When you are in trouble, to whom you tell about your problem. 100
Table 2.12: The training schedule for peer supporter………….………………. 105
Table 2.13: Type of research methods in Japanese peer support studies … 110
Table 2.14:The summary of data collection methods in Qualitative studies 111
Table 3.5: Research schedule……………………………………………………… 140
Table5.1: The qualities of a good peer supporter………………………………. 188
Table 6.1: Key features of peer support in the western nations and Japan.. 230
Figures
Figure 1.1: Incidence of school bullying in Tokyo ……………………………… 17
Figure 1.2: Percentage of school non-attendance in the last 10 years……… 18
Figure 1.3: Forms of peer support and support levels in the West …………. 31
Figure 1.4: Forms of peer support and support levels in the East (Japan)…. 34
Figure 1.5: Support levels in peer support schemes……………………………. 44
Figure 1.6: Four step cycle training model…………….…………………………. 63
Figure 2.1: Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of human development……. 76
Figure 2.2: The percentage of bystanders in bullying…………………..………. 96
Figure 2.3: The percentage of pupils who intervene in bullying………………. 96
Figure 2.4: Relationship scale with Peer support programme……………….. 102