#569: Deconstructing the Logic of Schooling: Children’s Practices in In-School Educational Support Spaces in Japan

This study explores how children who find it difficult to attend their regular classes—but are not classified as long-term absentees—spend time in spaces that allow for moments of pause. Focusing on an in-school educational support center in an urban public elementary school, the research combines text mining of 198 pages of fieldnotes with case study analysis. The results reveal that children frequently spend time in a carpet space, creating home-like conditions that allow for moments of pause within the flow of formal learning. These practices temporarily suspend the dominant “logic of education,” giving rise to moments of “non-doing” that restore emotional balance and readiness to learn.