Project Leader
Carl Becker, MD, Professor, Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University

Collaborative Project Researchers
Asuka Kazama, Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University (Psychology)
Motoko Okuno, Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University (Psychology)

Collaborator from the Kokoro Research Center
Yukiko Uchida, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University

Elementary and junior high school teachers have recently been expected to educate children in areas that had conventionally been performed by parents, ranging from greetings and manners to respect for others and self-esteem. Lacking both experience and curricular materials for teaching such subjects, teachers are groping for instructional content without proper models. Faced with demands for enhancing the scholastic performance as well as personal guidance of their students, teachers evince fatigue, burnout, and absenteeism.

To address such issues, this project proposes to (1) survey the fatigue levels and needs of teachers, (2) provide psychosocial support for teachers, and (3) introduce improvements in student concentration and comportment. With cooperation of Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto City, we will (1) identify and understand teachers burnout risks, (2) identify and implement efforts to prevention such burnout, and (3) introduce image therapy and breathing methods to cooperating classrooms.