Using school facilities to create a local "third place"

Aoi Okabe

2025/06/27

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text and edit by: Aoi Okabe

In the Business Production Headquarters where I work, we come up with ideas to solve social issues and carry out business development activities to make them a reality.

In this context, the Public Private Partnership Business Development Department is focusing on "schools," which occupy a large area of public facilities and where children spend a lot of time, in an age where the environment surrounding children is changing due to the recent increase in dual-income households, and where public facilities are aging and there is a growing movement to reorganize facilities. We thought that if the possibility of using "school facilities" was expanded to local people and private businesses, it could lead to the creation of new communities and places to hang out after school.

In this article, we introduce an initiative that aims to create a local third place by utilizing school facilities.

To make better use of school facilities

■ Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry "Classroom of the Future" Initiative
The "Classroom of the Future" demonstration project, launched by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2018, is carrying out demonstration projects across the country in which private companies, local governments, boards of education, schools, etc. work together to create new learning methods and environments that adapt to the changing times.

NOMURA Co., Ltd. 's proposal for "Creating a local third place that makes effective use of school facilities and offers rich learning and experiences - Research project for sustainable operation" was selected for the 2024 "Classroom of the Future" demonstration project. From September 2024 to March 2025, we have been working on examining ways to utilize school facilities, which face various hurdles.

■ Interviews with local governments that are currently using school facilities or are considering doing so
We conducted interviews with 10 local governments to find out what hurdles they face when utilizing school facilities and how they overcome them.

When we interviewed local governments that are promoting or considering the use of school facilities, the most common response was that the systems related to school use are difficult to interpret. NOMURA Co., Ltd. worked with a law firm to research the relevant laws and regulations, organize their interpretations, and compile examples of school use schemes run by private businesses.

In addition, we found that one issue regarding the issue of the wide range of relevant departments within local governments involved in utilizing school facilities and opening them to the community is that one way to resolve this is for both the party utilizing the school and the party approving its utilization to be handled within the Board of Education. We also found that when considering school utilization, it is important to establish a specialized organization and clearly document the rules for utilization.

Finally, NOMURA Co., Ltd. has taken on the challenge of utilizing school facilities after hours!

For five days from December 9th to 13th, 2024, with the cooperation of Higashimurayama City Board of Education, we rented out vacant special classrooms at elementary schools after school to provide a wide variety of experiential programs for children. In addition to NOMURA Co., Ltd. 's Creative Headquarters and Tama Rokuto Science Museum, which operates as the designated manager, we also received cooperation from external companies, local companies, and individuals. We had a variety of programs to enrich the learning and experiences of children, such as an art program using interior materials taught by NOMURA Co., Ltd. Co., Ltd. employees, a voice actor challenge program where participants could experience dubbing an anime version of a Japanese folk tale by the Japan Folk Tales Association, and a glasswork program by local creators.

Try using it in school

Approximately 40% of the students in the school participated in the one-week school trial, and parents were very satisfied with the results. In addition, the Board of Education and school officials commented that they were able to provide a place for hands-on activities by obtaining the participation of a diverse range of people through private sector know-how, and that they were able to realize the importance of experiences that are different from those in school education.

On the other hand, issues regarding the use of schools were also made clear, such as the need to clarify insurance coverage for injuries and accidents that occur when using schools, and the need to smoothly adjust the classrooms and equipment used.

After the event, parents were also asked to fill out a survey.

Many parents have issues and concerns about how their children spend their time after school, with the number one reason being "their children don't have enough experiences," followed by "I'm worried about my child being left alone or traveling alone." As a result, when asked what motivated them to participate in this experience program, many chose "because I was able to participate after school while staying at school," which once again demonstrated the need for learning and experiences that utilize schools.

Announced at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "Classroom of the Future" results presentation

On March 4, 2025, NOMURA Co., Ltd. announced the results of its demonstration project at a results report meeting hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

On the day, in addition to reporting on the results of their efforts at the dedicated booths, NOMURA Co., Ltd. 's Nakamura Yuwa held a talk session with Kamakura City Education Superintendent Takahashi Yohei and PwC Consulting LLC's Hayashi Mai on the theme of "How people and things in the Board of Education should cooperate with the outside world." The talk was full of energy.

On the day, we exchanged opinions with people involved in education, companies, and organizations, and received a variety of comments regarding the demonstration project that NOMURA Co., Ltd. undertook.

We hope that our initiative will encourage people across the country to think positively about using schools and make better use of facilities.

Comments from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official who provided support

We have been working with NOMURA Co., Ltd., Ltd. for a year since they contacted us about a demonstration of the Classroom of the Future. In addition to the demonstration in Higashimurayama City, the summary of the results of interviews with advanced cases and the interpretation of laws and regulations will be useful for local governments across the country, so we hope that as many people as possible will take a look at it. (Person in charge A)

The local governments that cooperated in this survey are promoting the effective use of school facilities by taking advantage of the characteristics of the region and involving various stakeholders, and we realized that school facilities can be "places of learning" as well as "hubs for connecting with the community." We hope that this demonstration will help create an environment that provides diverse learning opportunities. (Person B)

NOMURA Co., Ltd. 's future initiatives

NOMURA Co., Ltd. would like to continue researching and challenging new ways to utilize schools, so that by combining the school facilities of local governments with the resources of private companies, the circle of people who can learn from and help each other, centered around "local schools," can be expanded.

If you are interested in our efforts, please feel free to contact us. Let's think together about how to make effective use of school facilities!