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A follow‐up study of graduates from special classes for school refusers in junior high schools

The number of school refusers in junior high schools in Japan has been increasing annually. Special classes for school refusers represent one means of supporting these students. Such classes include a small number of students, allowing school refusers to participate in school life. In Asahikawa, admission to these classes is permitted by a school refusers support committee, comprising psychiatrists, pediatricians, school teachers, and counselors. The present study investigated the course after graduation and social adjustment of graduates. According to a preliminary survey, 56 of 138 graduates from special classes for school refusers in junior high schools in Asahikawa City between 1985 and 1996 were willing to answer the questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to all 56 subjects, and replies were received from 33 (33/138, 23.9%). Subjects comprised 13 males and 20 females, ranging in age from 17 to 27 years (mean 21.0 ± 2.6 years). Duration after graduation from junior high school ranged from 2 to 12 years (mean 6.0 ± 2.6 years). Subjects were classified according to state of social adjustment into three groups: welladjusted, displaying stability in terms of school, work, or married life ( n = 16, 48.5%); moderately adjusted, with repeated changes in school or job, but participating in society to some degree ( n = 11, 33.3%); and stagnating, with negligible participation in society ( n = 5, 15.2%). One subject (3.0%) could not be categorized. Of the 33 subjects, 25 (81.3%) went on to high school after graduation: 11 (34.3%) to day high school; 10 (31.3%) to night high school; and four (12.5%) to correspondence high school. Of these students, 11 (44.4%) left high school before graduation, but eight (72.7%) of them subsequently entered part-time employment or began to attend another high school and finally displayed good adaptation to society. Regarding final academic career in the 33 subjects, 16 (48.5%) graduated from high school (including expected graduates) and five (15.1%) were university or college students at the time of the survey. In the present study, 44.0% of students who went on to high school left before graduation. This percentage is much higher than the percentage of high school dropouts (2.6%) reported by the Japanese Ministry of Education in 1998. 1 However, in this study, 72.7% of dropouts from high school subsequently gained parttime employment or began attending another high school, and have thus found a way of living. These results suggest that school refusers often repeatedly change direction, such as leaving school before graduation and showing unstable direction but ultimately finding a suitable way of life and adjusting to society. Saito undertook a 10-year follow-up survey of 106 graduates (10–27 years after graduation) of a junior high school for hospitalized children, and observed that 73% of graduates showed good social adaptation 10 years after graduation. 2 He mentioned that even after completing junior high school, therapeutic contact for 5 years or longer was essential to support these individuals. In the present study, the total rate for welland moderately adjusted subjects was 81.8%. Although this rate is slightly higher than that reported by Saito, the two results are not strictly comparable. The rate of questionnaire collection was lower in the present study and the many subjects who did not reply to the preliminary or main survey might not have adapted as well to society. The prognosis of school refusers is not as poor as generally thought to be. Adults concerned with school refusers must aim not only at returning them to school, but also at improving social adjustment. Even after graduation from junior high school, these individuals need to be given support so that they will not become socially isolated.