Japanese children’s perspectives on the

4.4.2 Improving own life (developing own abilities)

Through their experiences as a peer supporter, they tended to think of their own issues positively. Some peer supporters considered their tough issues as good opportunities for their own growth.

“….. eventually I felt at ease, and I thought I can use this to improve myself. My mother told me that when I had tough times, I should think these tough issues as good opportunities for my own growth. Ummmm…..I can change myself in a better way. (Helen, p)

Also some peer supporters mentioned that they regarded the experience as a process to grow up to be a fine adult. In fact, several peer supporters felt they became matured.

“….I feel less nervous……..so I think when I am grown up in the future, I am able to do it.. “I believe I became a little more grown-up. So I think my attitude has changed.” “Hummm…what can I say, I became fearless…” (Alex, p12)

“…..at first I was nervous to stand in front of people, gradually I get used to it now. I think this experience will be useful when I become an adult.”

(Paul, p9)

What we can see in common behind the improvement of peer supporters’ life, is that through their own struggles, they tirelessly made efforts to overcome and challenge their limitations. This positive attitude seemed to eventually contribute to their emotional and behavioural development. For example, several peer supporters explained how they tackled their struggles and challenges as below.

“Well…………..before becoming a peer supporter, if I was tired, I tended to go to bed easily. But now I make an effort to study even for 5 minutes (before sleeping), and also I try to study in break time in school. I can wisely use free time, then my studies are going well. Eventually this makes it easier for me to attend ballet class as well” (Helen.p32)

“Because of peer support, I could do ballet and study as hard as I can. Before joining the peer support team.......when I was busier, I became ill easily.

However, when I am determined to do my best for everything, ballet, study, and peer support…..I do not become ill easily. Thus I am praised by teachers………so now I do not stay away from school.” (Helen.p30)

“Even though I can’t explain the degree of hardships as large or small, if I went through large hardships, then, the next upcoming small hardships, (like my studies), would not be amounting to much. Even when I am struggling with the small hardships, I try to think like ‘this is nothing’. Sometimes small hardships are still difficult for me, but I am able to make an effort to overcome them.” Ken, p27)

Also peer supporters’ school records were much improved after joining the peer support team in addition to improvements in their emotional and behavioural developments.
“I could improve my ability to memorise something.” “Also, I improved my school records.” “At the exams, I really used to gain only about 200 points in total, but now I can gain about 400 points.” “I was praised by the teachers. I was happy about it.” (Ellie.p25)

“During the presentations, I needed to say my comments to video. If you failed to do it, this would affect others. Thus, I really made an effort to memorise my comments. ……in this way, I made efforts to memorise something to get high scores in my study. Then I tried to do it again and again. Just I made efforts for it….” (Ellie.p27)

Unexpectedly, I could gain higher score in my school record than before.” (Helen.p46)

“Well, before exams, sometimes I could not concentrate on my studies. At that time, my school record fell a bit. ….in the end, I made an effort to study hard for 5 hours, and then the time and effort put into working towards them did not betray me. My school records were improved.” (Ken, p27)

Peer supporters highlighted that their experiences as a peer supporter improved their school records and other achievements which seems to be strongly connected to their positive attitudes and tireless efforts, which were developed through peer support activities.

4.4.3 Dealing with pressure

Peer supporters described how they felt pressured to behaved in an appropriate manner and meet the high expectations of being a peer supporter. Peer supporters were concerned about the high expectations of pupils. This made peer supporters feel uncomfortable.

“…….all pupils consider peer supporters as excellent pupils, thus I need to pay attention to how I wear my school uniform..If I wear my school uniform untidily, other pupils think I should wear my uniform properly because I am a peer supporter…hahahah” (Michelle.p51)

“Sometimes I am told by other pupils, “you can manage to do anything”

I do not like this. Pupils said “because you are a peer supporter, you can do it…….” I do not like this. (Ben, p16)

“….….in a sense it is good for me to receive high expectations from others. Last year, other pupils reviewed that peer supporters should have good academic records, therefore I needed to study hard to achieve good records.” “…when I became a peer supporter a year ago, it was very hard for me to work hard to meet expectations from others.” (Helen.p38)

“… as you know, generally pupils tend to consider peer supporters as a group of excellent pupils. Pupils believe peer supporters have good school records and they are clever.” …..”Therefore, I feel…. What can I say……”

“Probably I feel pressure.. as you know, I am not good at studying and I am not a serious pupil. But other pupils think I am a serious and good at studying….” (Michelle.p52)

Not only the pupils, but also the teachers tended to view peer supporters as a group of excellent pupils with exceptionally high standards.

“Uh…the teacher asked me to answer the questions because I was a peer supporter…In my class, there were three peer supporters. The teachers often asked us answer the questions, then we needed to speak…...it happened. This means I need to be in front of people and feel tense….” (Lucy.p16)

“I was often told by teachers….the things like “you are a peer supporter, that’s the reason why……” “You are a peer supporter, so you should…..”..“I do not like to be called that. peer supporters are also pupils the same as other pupils.” (Ellie.p19)

Under the pressure, peer supporters tried to complete their duties as a peer supporter. In a sense, these expectations amplified their nervousness and shyness. However, as mentioned in the sections above, peer supporters tirelessly made efforts to challenge their own pressured situations.

4.4.4 Dealing with Time management

Most peer supporters mentioned that they were struggling with time management. They were often required to spend time during their break and before/after school on peer support activities. This impacted on the time they had to participate in club activities, go to cram school (Juku), and to participate in other social activities.

“What can I say….it is difficult to manage to do both peer support and club activity.” (Michelle, p25)

“So, that is………I could not attend the club activities. Because I need to attend the peer support activities, I missed many opportunities to attend the club activities.” (Alex, p15)

“…………peer supporters often need to do their activities after school. The volunteer activities are generally carried out during the lunch break, thus it is fine. But peer supporters need to do some preparations and activities after school, thus it would be late to go home. Therefore, pupils do not want to be a peer supporter.” (Ben, p5)

“Yes. I have not had much time to play with my friends. I used to have plenty of time to play with friends, but now I used my time to do peer support activities. Thus, now I struggle to go to social club activities.” (Ellie.p9)

“….in terms of peer support activities, I did not have much difficulties. But peer support activities and club activities are difficult to be compatible. I am struggling to make time to go to club activities.” (Paul.p13)

“Occasionally I need to skip class because peer supporters need to go to the local primary schools.” “Peer supporters share the secondary school information with primary school children.” (Paul.p15)

These comments indicated that being a peer supporter created tight schedules in their school life as well as after school. These often caused them to face time management issues. Understandably, peer supporters explained pupils believed the peer supporter’s role to be a confounded task and they had negative views on becoming a peer supporter.

“Pupils do not want to be a peer supporter.” “Pupils can’t be bothered to gather and discuss peer support. (Dan, p4)

“…..most pupils said peer support is bothersome.” (Michelle, p6)

“first of all, pupils may not have enough time to play”. (Ellie, p11)

However, generally, peer supporters viewed the role as a good opportunity to develop their time management skills. They made efforts to challenge their time management issues.
“Ummm….some pupils really want to contribute, but if they contribute they cannot have enough time for their club activities and private study…………often pupils need to go to school for peer support preparation on Saturday and Sunday………thus some pupils need to go to cramming schools……….thus, pupils who need to go to cramming schools try not to join peer support activities”. ….“Since I was 4 years old, I have been doing ballet. I do not want to quit it. Also I am in art club. I want to manage to do both of them. But when I joined the peer support team, I was wondering how I can manage to do these activities together. Ummm……sometimes it is very hard for me to do ballet, art club and peer support. Ummm…..but I feel I am living every day to the fullest..….more than before….ummmm.” (Helen, p30)

“In order to effectively work for both peer support and club activities, I have tried to use time wisely.” “I would take measures suited to the occasion”.

(Paul, p13)

Although peer supporters faced time management issues, this provided them with opportunities to make an effort to use their time more effectively and wisely. Eventually, peer supporters overcame their time management issues and had positively reviewed it.

4.5 Cultural mismatch

The fourth theme is “Cultural mismatch”. Since the peer support systems had been introduced to Japan, peer support approaches had developed in a number of different ways. Some have adopted the Western style of peer support, while others developed methods unique to Japan. This is because it seemed to strongly be related with cultural influences. In Japan, peer supporters tended to set a high value on peer relationships. The peer supporters often mentioned they tried to create supportive environments and supportive relationships through their activities. This view seemed to eventually keep the peer support approaches away from the Western style approach, which is the counselling based approaches (Carl Rogers model). The interview data suggested some cultural factors which lead to cultural mismatch in the peer support approach.

4.5.1 Aims to create a supportive environment

Rather than providing one-to-one support to individuals, peer supporters were making efforts to create supportive environments. Because of the culture influences, peer supporters potentially think supportive environments would strongly give positive influences to each individual. In this sense, rather than providing one-to-one support to a pupil, it seemed to be more beneficial to make behavioural changes in peer relationships among pupils.

“Ideal situation is that all pupils cooperate together.” “We need to increase the events and activities which all pupils can join.“ (Cathy, p12)

“….in some groups……thus if the central person changed himself, then other pupils around him follow him and they also change themselves.”

(Helen, p51)

“…………we pupils plan the things and take actions….this would raise our morale as a whole……..also there are some pupils who are supportive… what can I say…….peer supporters…….each peer supporter receives support from pupils around them. Morale of the whole school would be raised.” (Michelle, p14)

“peer supporters can grow together with other pupils. Thus……ummm…….it is important for pupils to help others in order to improve a whole school.”

(Helen, p19)

“…….in order to involve other pupils…….the number of peer supporters are limited. So we peer supporters need to cooperate with our close friends and encourage other pupils. If he or she is encouraged by their friend to join the activities, they tend to join it. If the majority of pupils join the activities, other pupils also tend to join.”…(Helen, p48)

“…….even I cannot join the cleaning activities, I thought someone else would do that. But I saw some senior peer supporters were working very hard to encourage other pupils to join the activities.

When I saw someone is working hard for us, I thought I wanted to give some help. In my point of view, this kind of episode made me join peer support activities…” (Ellie, p58)

In order to give strong influences to other pupils, peer supporters energetically encouraged other pupils to join the activities. In a sense, peer support activities provided a means to create supportive environments in schools.

“I would like to increase the number of school events and activities. Because this give more opportunities for pupils to have good relationships among them and also improve our school.” (Dan, p21)

“………..other pupils also think “I need to do it if my friends were doing the activities”. Thus the number of pupils who join the activities would increase.”

(Ellie, 23)
“Few months ago, we had the fund-raising activity for the great east Japan earthquake in the school. We had collected a lot of money from pupils more than we expected, and I was so surprised about it. Then at the assembly, we announced this information. I believe many pupils make efforts for a fund-raising activity and eventually we could have a lot of money. I felt many pupils feel sympathy towards victims of the great east Japan earthquake and pupils took actions to support them. I felt pupils’ compassion……”

“…. we feel all pupils had contributed to something good. We can feel so.”

(Michelle, p5)

“………..without peer support, the school atmosphere cannot be better and brighter….” (sally, p8)

“I think it is a good idea that many pupils do a big activity together. Well, it would be great if all pupils in class cooperate and make some big productions. I am very happy about it.” “Through these activities, all pupils talk to each other. It is a good opportunity for pupils to talk with others with whom they would not normally communicate.” “….. I think some pupils are very quiet and they are introvert. These pupils generally do not talk much. They need the opportunity to talk to other pupils. (Paul, p8)

In a sense, peer supporters seemed to wisely use peer pressure and the power of group norms in order to give positive influences to other pupils and a whole school.

“… two particular girls were always chatting during class. Most of the time some other pupils also were chatting in a small voice during class, therefore these girls did not care about this lesson and others. They chatted through the lesson. But one day, the classroom was so quiet. Nobody talked at all. Then these girls, who used to chat, did not chat at all and tried to be quiet.

(Helen, p23)

“Therefore, if we can wisely use friends’ influences, this may be applied to improve a whole school. (Helen, p50)

Interestingly, even a peer supporter mentioned that they need to actively take actions for peer support activities, in order to help pupils who were in school refusal.

“Currently, we have several pupils who are in school refusal. We need some peer support activities, which allow these pupils to join in.” (Sally, p24)

4.5.2 Believing other pupils’ potentials

Generally, peer supporters believe other pupils have the potential to take actions like peer supporters do. Thus, peer supporters energetically encouraged others to join their activities. Especially, most peer supporters were able to overcome their own weakness, and they believe other pupils are also able to challenge their own issues.

“Because when we started doing the peer support activities, we could not do well….which means we have the same potential as other pupils have. Through the peer support activities, we could grow, therefore we believe other pupils would grow as well. That’s the reason why, there are no differences.”(Lucy.p8)

“……some pupils like me, can manage to speak in front of people after becoming a peer supporter. In days gone by, I could not speak in front of people and my heart was beating fast…In this regard, I have improved…………ummm…….then…….this creates a small difference between peer supporter and others………I think.”(Helen.p15)

“…… when pupils are making efforts to do something, other pupils tend to gain self-confidence….they think “I can do it, because others could do it. They are pupils, like I am”……” (Natalie, p10)

“…some pupils could change themselves by taking a chance, but some others could not take a chance to change themselves…...” (John, p25)

Because of their own experiences, peer supports tended to believe other pupils’ could develop themselves both emotionally and behaviourally. In this sense, even peer supporters encouraged pupils who were in distress, to join the activities. This view seemed to be accepted in Japanese schools, and eventually keep the peer support approaches away from the Western style approach. In fact, many Japanese researches had been conducted to examine how peer supporters (or pupils) improved their emotional and behavioural skills after joining the peer support activities (see chapter 2). This implies that “Peer support” in Japan tended to be considered as a method to develop pupils’ social skills, rather than a method to provide one-to-one counselling based support with other pupils.

CHAPTER 5

Discussion

5.1 Overview

This chapter discusses the key issues and aspects of peer supporters’ insights and experiences, relating to the research questions in the light of previous research in the field. The overall aim of the present study was to explore the nature of peer support through Japanese children’s perspectives on the experiences of being peer supporters.

The research questions were:

1) What are the experiences of peer supporters?

2) What are the challenges experienced by children who adopt the peer supporter role?

3) Why do children adopt the role of peer supporter and do they perceive any personal benefits in adopting this role?

4) What is the difference in peer support practices between Rogers’ model approach (role as a counsellor) and the citizenship orientated approach (role as a group leader)?

5) How cultural factors (e.g. Collectivism) give influence on peer supporters’ attitudes, thoughts and behaviours in their practices.

For a decade, Japanese studies of peer support have been actively conducted in terms of examining its impact on children who were related to the programmes (that is, both children who received peer support training and those who used the services). Peer support has been quite extensively researched in the West using both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore children’s’ views and their behaviours (Cowie & Jennifer, 2008; Hutson & Cowie, 2007), 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) (Fujikame, 2012; Konda & Sakai, 2007; Mihara, 2006; Tsuruta 2006; Konda & Sakai, 2006; Takahashi & Kurihara, 2006; Okada, 2005; Sasaki, 2005). In connection with this, several assessment sheets and questionnaires were developed to examine children’s emotional and behavioural developments (Yamada & Yonezawa, 2011; Kurihara et al 2006). This research was useful but, for the most part, explored peer support from the perspectives of adults, whether teachers or educators. However, as mentioned in chapter two, 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.
In this present study, the participants (peer supporters) were from a school where about 30% of households received financial support from the local council. Formerly, in terms of the local board of education, the school was used to be known as having poor behaviours and anti-social pupils. However, over the last eight years, with the implementation of peer support programmes, the school now has improved its ethos, which in turn has reduced pupils’ anti-social behaviours (e.g. smoking, vandalism) and school bullying.
For example, peer supporters in the school often engaged in group leadership types of peer support, and they were actively taking a lead of peer-led activities as a group leader or a facilitator. As described in Chapter 2, in Japan, peer supporters were often engaged in daily activities (e.g. volunteering activities; greeting campaign, movements to get people to greet each other regularly), and comparatively this group leadership type of peer support seemed to be easy to start as a part of pupils’ daily activities and school events (Sakata, 2004). Possibly, as expected, this group leadership type of peer support seems to be classified as the part of citizenship-oriented activities, rather than considering them as peer support practices.
The peer supporters in the present study were trained by JPSA counsellors/ co-ordinators using a person-centred approach. In good faith and influenced by practitioners and researchers from the West, JPSA trainers implemented the training that they had observed in Western cultures where they had also observed successful examples of peer support in practice in schools in UK, Australia and Canada. They were unaware of the difficulties involved in transferring a set of practices from one culture to another. Possibly they had blindly copied training schedules developed by Western practitioners and trusted that these methods would be just as successful with Japanese children as they had been in the West.
In the following sections, the findings are discussed under each of the main themes and research questions.

5.2 Disconnection between peer support trainings and actual practices.

The present study highlights both the positive and negative impact of the peer supporters’ role, based on their experiences. Overall, their reported views, feelings and behaviours did not meet with the contents and nature of the person-centred approach at all. In short, Japanese peer supporters did not apply the person-centred approach for their practices.

In this study, one of the critical findings was 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. The findings of the present study also implied that the nature of peer support in Japan seemed to be critically different from the western style peer support approach in various ways. Especially peer supporters’ views and behavioural patterns in Japan seemed to be unrelated to the person-centred approach. The peer supporters in the present study appeared to have internalised none of the Rogerian core conditions: genuineness, unconditional regard and empathy.
In terms of the main theme, “the disconnection between training and practice”, several sub-themes showed some practical issues in peer support practices in Japan. These sub-themes implied that the peer support in Japan appeared to be a different kind of activity from the peer support in the western nations. In this sense, the study seemed to raise a question; whether we should still treat “peer support in Japan” in the same way as peer support in the Western nations. This issue will be discussed again in section 5.5.5. The details of the sub-themes will be discussed in the following sections.