Fundamental Law Of Education Research Articles

Redesigning What is National: The Politics of Education and the New Moral Education Initiative in Globalizing Japan

ABSTRACT In December 2006, the Japanese Diet passed a revision of the Fundamental Law of Education (FLE), which aimed at teaching a sense of community and patriotic feelings among school children. This move is a clear departure from the long-standing norm in Japan’s post-war education policy in which democratic control and egalitarianism were the two primary principles. As the new FLE emphasizes the importance of love of country, how could the principle be potentially embodied in the contents of teaching materials for moral education? This exploratory study questions how such principles might be embedded in the contents of teaching materials for moral education. There are two analytical foci of this study. First, through the analysis of a supplementary moral reader, Watashitachi no Dōtoku (Our Morals), directly written, commissioned, and distributed by the Ministry of Education (2014–2017/2018), this study reveals how the three underlying themes of the Revised FLE, including patriotism, public spirit, and international cooperation, are projected on the contents and narratives of Our Morals. Second, this intended image of Japan in Our Morals (concretized by the Ministry of Education) is also scrutinized against the backdrop of Japan’s contemporary multicultural challenges. This study attempts to encapsulate the manifestation of the government’s intentions observable in Our Morals and the findings of this study thus highlight the political (rather than educational/pedagogical) significance of Our Morals.

Las Políticas Educativas de Equidad en Honduras: un análisis desde la perspectiva de género con una mirada en la situación de niñas y adolescentes

En el presente ensayo, se realiza un análisis de las políticas de equidad en la educación desde una perspectiva de género, documentándose, a través de una revisión bibliográfica de diferentes estudios escritos sobre el tema, incluyendo, los instrumentos legales hondureños: La Política Nacional de la Mujer, La Ley Fundamental de Educación y El Currículo Nacional Básico. Tomando como enfoque el ciclo de políticas de Stephen Ball, para comparar el contexto de influencia, el contexto de producción del texto de la política con el contexto de la práctica.Evidenciándose, en el contexto de la práctica que la equidad de género plasmada teóricamente en los instrumentos legales hondureños no se aplica, debido, a que en las prácticas pedagógicas, se sigue perpetuando el sexismo, la discriminación y la exclusión hacia el sexo femenino, y que en el acceso y permanencia en el Sistema Educativo hondureño, se refleja un 19 % de analfabetismo y una temprana deserción escolar, siendo las niñas, las adolescentes, pertenecientes a los pueblos originarios y afrodescendientes los más afectados, igualmente, por la falta de una educación sexual integral, el país ocupa el segundo lugar en Latinoamérica con mayor tasa de fecundidad en adolescentes. Por tanto, no basta solo con cumplir los lineamientos y exigencias de los Tratados y Convenios Internacionales para la inclusión de la equidad de género en la producción del texto de la política, sino que también, hay que reflexionar para tener una mirada crítica ante las desigualdades en los micro espacios, donde conviven, tanto profesores como estudiantes.

Incorporating ecotourism into social education (shakai kyouiku 社会教育) and lifelong learning (shougai gakushuu 生涯学習) in Japan

This paper examines the benefits of incorporating ecotourism programs into the adult education curriculum. Social education and lifelong learning ( shougai gakushuu) are terms used to refer to adult education and related activities in Japan. Adult education originated immediately after Second World War with the enactment of the Fundamental Law of Education (1947; revised in the 1980s). Since the mid-1980s lifelong learning has been the more commonly used term. Lifelong learning involves not only going to school to learn how to read and write, it can also involve the learning that takes place outside the classroom—through volunteering, outdoor activities, sporting events, and so on. A literature review was conducted as the means to pursue the aim of introducing ecotourism into adult education. Education for Sustainable Development was examined to see how its contexts can be applied to Japan’s adult education. This paper is aimed specifically at how the host community can learn, from adult education centers in their communities, to practice a sustainable ecotourism. Although there have been researchers and communities who are against ecotourism practices, this paper maintains that, with proper education in night schools and adult and community centers, of the benefits of ecotourism these communities will accept and welcome ecotourism. However, the government first needs shakai kyouiku to re-examine and re-write the adult education curriculum so as to include ecotourism.

6・3・3・4制を中心に : 中高一貫論を踏まえて(課題研究「教育基本法50年と学校改革-行政改革が進む中で-」,II 第4回大会報告)

6・3・3・4制を中心に : 中高一貫論を踏まえて(課題研究「教育基本法50年と学校改革-行政改革が進む中で-」,II 第4回大会報告)

子どもの権利条約と教育基本法 : 「改正」論議の問題点と市民の「教育基本法」認識の形成(I 教育基本法と戦後日本の教育政策)

子どもの権利条約と教育基本法 : 「改正」論議の問題点と市民の「教育基本法」認識の形成(I 教育基本法と戦後日本の教育政策)

教育政策の今日的課題と教育基本法(I 教育基本法と戦後日本の教育政策)

教育政策の今日的課題と教育基本法(I 教育基本法と戦後日本の教育政策)

フランスにおける教育政策と教育基本法(II 諸外国における教育に関する基本法・根本法と教育政策)

フランスにおける教育政策と教育基本法(II 諸外国における教育に関する基本法・根本法と教育政策)

新教育基本法制と教育経営 : 「評価国家」における成果経営のポリティクス( 教育経営をめぐる環境変動 教育経営概念及び研究の有効性と限界(1))

新教育基本法制と教育経営 : 「評価国家」における成果経営のポリティクス( 教育経営をめぐる環境変動 教育経営概念及び研究の有効性と限界(1))

新教育基本法と図書館法改正( 構造的転換期にある図書館の法制度と政策(第2回))

新教育基本法と図書館法改正( 構造的転換期にある図書館の法制度と政策(第2回))

Re-examining patriotism in Japanese education: analysis of Japanese elementary school moral readers

In 1947 the Fundamental Law of Education (FLE) defined the pacifist principles for post-war Japanese education and was revised in 2006 for the first time in nearly 60 years. The revised FLE stipulates the importance of teaching love for country and region and Japanese culture and traditions with special emphasis on moral education. Today, this moral education is regarded as an essential program for promoting patriotism among children in line with the revised FLE. Critics, however, fear that the revision is a revival of pre-war patriotism and a rightward shift in Japan’s education. Their fear resurfaced more recently when Shinzō Abe, who carried out the revision of FLE during his first term as prime minister, was elected to his second term in December 2012. As Abe emphasized the importance of teaching patriotism in schools, the international media came to report that Japan’s education was taking a turn to the right under his administration. While critics expressed their concern that Japan’s education was becoming too patriotic, there was a lack of empirical inquiry into the issue of whether patriotic education had materialized in the classrooms. This study examined this issue by analyzing the content of moral readers currently used throughout Japan. The findings suggest that, contrary to the critics, the content of these readers does not emphasize patriotism. Instead, the readers seek to promote basic moral values such as faithfulness and friendship and sympathy and kindness. The findings are discussed with reference to social and educational contexts in Japan.

전후일본에 있어서 문화정책관련법의 동향

The post-war Japanese government recently recognized culture as a means of promoting the state, building local communities, internationalization, nation building, and eliminating human discrimination. It has also recognized the importance of a comprehensive welfare system, and the role of cultural exchange can play in the future. Based on that recognition, the government, local authorities, and companies are encouraged to pursue this cultural policy as an important part of their business. Especially, the expansion of global thinking in the twenty-first century has enabled cultural policy to create considerable value in a number of areas. This study attempts to analyze the extent to which the characteristics of Japanese laws relating to cultural policy actually support cultural policy in contemporary Japan. In post-war Japan, laws relating to Japanese cultural policy include laws such as the Japanese Constitution, the Fundamental Law of Education, the MEXT Equip Law, and the various city ordinances. Those laws regulate the ideas, aims, direction, and the practice of cultural policy in post?war Japan. In conclusion, Japanese laws relating to cultural policy were characterized as being responsible for expanding or creating cultural development and for promoting exchange between the international society and Japan through cultural policy. In the meantime, Japanese laws relating to cultural policy in post-war Japan were found to reflect thoughts of age, and to influence areas of political, economic, social, and cultural significance in the nationally or internationally society.

Cosmopolitan Nation-Building: The Institutional Contradiction and Politics of Postwar Japanese Education

The education system has been a quintessential state apparatus of nation-building since the emergence of the modern nation-state; however, recent comparative studies demonstrate the growing presence of cosmopolitanism in education policies and school curricula around the world. This trend indicates that the education system now operates according to two different institutional logics, nationalism and cosmopolitanism. To understand how the education system negotiates the potential contradiction between nationalism and cosmopolitanism, in this paper, I analyze the case of postwar Japanese education. Theoretically, I synthesize studies of institutional logics and social movements: while the former shed light on a contradiction between different institutional logics as a source of political contestation, the latter help to explain how political actors select solutions to the contradiction. Empirically, I show how a series of education reforms modified the original solution that had prioritized cosmopolitanism over nationalism, culminating in the new Fundamental Law of Education that redefined the two institutional logics as symbiotic. My analysis thus suggests that the Japanese education system is evolving into a state apparatus of cosmopolitan nation-building in an increasingly global world.

わが国における障害児の「教育を受ける権利」の歴史 憲法・教育基本法制下における障害児の学習権

わが国における障害児の「教育を受ける権利」の歴史 憲法・教育基本法制下における障害児の学習権

Japan’s new lifelong learning policy: exploring lessons from the European knowledge economy

The concept of ‘lifelong learning’ or shōgai gakushū has rapidly become one of the topmost priorities in Japan’s education policy agenda. This was considerably evident in December 2006 when the term ‘lifelong learning’ was added to Japan’s educational charter, the Fundamental Law of Education. This paper explores, as a means to develop Japan’s new lifelong learning policy, the lessons that can be learnt through an examination of the European countries’ efforts to build a knowledge economy, where lifelong learning is regarded as the key solution in overcoming several important social and economic concerns. In this paper, I first examine the current situation of lifelong learning in Japan, employing the ethnographic data that I have collected since 2001. Second, I provide a brief review of the European lifelong learning policy, which is one of the priority guidelines in the European Union. Under the Lisbon Strategy, for example, the argument on European lifelong learning theoretically centres on developing human capital in order to survive in the global knowledge economy. Lastly, referring to the European experience over the past decade, I propose to directly connect Japan’s latest policy development regarding lifelong learning with the trend of building human capital through lifelong learning in order to enhance its competitiveness in the era of globalisation.

Shin Buddhism, Authority, and the Fundamental Law of Education

AbstractThis article takes its cue from one of the most controversial issues in the contemporary Japanese scene, the 2006 complete revision of the Fundamental Law of Education, that includes among its objectives the cultivation of patriotism, the high evaluation of Japanese tradition and culture, and the promotion of general knowledge regarding religion in public schools. Within this framework, the role of religion in education indeed represents a sensitive subject, which entails once again reinterpretation of the issues of the separation of state and religion, and the freedom of religion, which are enshrined in the Japanese Constitution. There have been reactions to this revision from various religious institutions, ranging from support to overt opposition. What is argued here is that these responses are meaningful to understanding some of the major dynamics currently at work within the Japanese religious world, and their implications for the issue of religion and authority. In this respect, the Shin Buddhist position may be seen as a way of contesting the claims of authority by political institutions, and affirming an alternative authoritative discourse on the basis of selected doctrinal sources, and a positive approach toward globalization and the differentiation of religion, politics and education.

The enactment and revision of 'the Fundamental Law of Education', and it's tasks in the legislation of education law

The enactment and revision of 'the Fundamental Law of Education', and it's tasks in the legislation of education law

Japan’s Ministry of Education “becoming the Right”: neo‐liberal restructuring and the Ministry’s struggles for political legitimacy

This article first examines the controversial revision of the Fundamental Law of Education (FLE) by situating it in the larger global context of neo‐liberal and neo‐conservative state‐restructuring and education reform. It then focuses on the domestic politics behind what seems to be the global convergence of education policy along neo‐liberal and neo‐conservative lines. Focusing on the political agency of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and tracing its shifting political interests in regards to the FLE amendment, the article illuminates the MOE’s strategic move to “become the Right” to secure its political legitimacy in the relentless neo‐liberal pressures for fiscal and administrative decentralisation.

Some Important Subjects Concerning the New Fundamental Law of Education and the Related Revisions of the Course of Studies for Kindergarten, Elementary and Secondary School

Some Important Subjects Concerning the New Fundamental Law of Education and the Related Revisions of the Course of Studies for Kindergarten, Elementary and Secondary School

現場教師の教育基本法認識( 教育基本法「改正」の検討)

現場教師の教育基本法認識( 教育基本法「改正」の検討)

Perspectives on Educational Reform of Pharmaceutical Science

The six-year system of pharmaceutical education in Japan has started this fiscal year, based on the amendment to the two related laws, namely "The Pharmacist Law" and "The Fundamental Law of Education". This new system is expected to produce future pharmacists who will be able to contribute to raising the level of pharmaceutical care in the national medical care system. The practical training for pharmaceutical care that future pharmacists will have is an important safety measure for pharmaceuticals in the medical care system, so that producing qualified pharmacists would be supported by the people. For this purpose we will help to improve the training system, and the circumstances where future pharmacists will be able to realize their ideal pharmaceutical care.