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Over the past 20 years, Japan's higher education policy has been strongly influenced by national policies for achieving world‐class excellence as a tool for economic and social development. However, Japan's universities, especially the top universities, have faced difficulties in maintaining an international presence, both in terms of academic excellence and the development of globally competitive human resources. This paper reflects on how national policies, especially economic and fiscal policies, have intervened in higher education since the beginning of the 21st century, and then investigates the impact of these policies and discusses the future perspective on Japan's higher education given the current global challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comparative analysis of two language policies developed in the 2000s by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The two language policies analyzed in this paper are the 'Action Plan to Cultivate Japanese with English Abilities' and 'JSL [Japanese as a Second Language] Curriculum in School Education,' developed within the same temporal and spatial frame at the turn of the millennium in Japan. Focusing on lexical labeling in language and population management, it is argued that these two policies have dealt with mutually exclusive groups of the student population, for whom different kinds of bilingualism and Japanese language are imagined. Cumulatively, these two policies represent an unequal access to bilingualism in the Japanese context, combined with the Japanese dualism that indexes national and other speaker-hood through the distinction between kokugo- and nihongo-Japanese education, which has been a key mechanism in the creation of national boundaries in modern Japan. Through this analysis, this paper identifies the particularities of the Japanese case, as well as situating it in the global trend of unequal management of bilingualism. Abbreviations: MEXT: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan [Monbu kagaku sho]; CNL: Council of National Language [Kokugo shingi kai]; CCA: Council of Cultural Affairs [Bunka shingi kai]; CJGTC: Commission on Japan's Goals in the Twenty-First Century [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines English teacher identity of Japanese "non-native" English-speaking teachers through a multi-layered analysis of discourses and identity. Informed by poststructuralist views of identity, it explores dominant discourses surrounding "non-native" English-speaking teachers by analyzing their portrayal in national English education policy in Japan. This analysis is combined with qualitative data analysis of interview accounts of five Japanese high school "non-native" English-speaking teachers, which allows for examination of the interrelation between dominant discourses and their teacher identities. The data analysis demonstrates how the policy documents portray "non-native" English-speaking teachers, framing them within two competing discourses: the discourse of teaching professionals vis-à-vis students and the discourse of "nonnative" teachers vis-à-vis imagined "native" speakers of English. This discursive portrayal corresponds to the "non-native" English-speaking teacher identity illuminated by narrative accounts from the participant teachers, manifesting the paradoxical and conflicting nature of teacher identity. The discussion concludes with implications and recommendations for English education policy design and teacher education with a heightened sensitivity to identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, the complexity of the teaching profession has been downplayed in the course of repeated systemic reforms, wherein the profession is increasingly viewed as a technical operation. In response to this trend, the concept of "reflective practitioner" (Schön, D. A.) has been proposed as a counterpoint. While it has influenced the discussion of teacher education reform thereafter, it has also been coopted into what Gert Biesta calls "learnification" of teacher education. This paper outlines the trends and debates of teacher education reform in Japan and discusses ways to avoid the "learnification" of teacher education. This paper speaks directly to Item No. 1 of the 8 challenges put forward by the APJTE editors, which concerns the redefinition of teaching "as a technical operation aimed at the effective production of measurable learning outcomes" and its implications for teacher agency, identity and professionalism. It uses Japan as a case to depict the situation in which the trivialisation of teaching into a technical operation and the de-professionalisation of the teaching profession are proceeding not only through the action of educational policy but also through the interaction with discourses that are intended to criticise it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Education Research (1680-6360) is the property of Angle Publishing Co., Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of this paper is to explore perspectives on equity, quality, motivation, and resilience by focusing in depth on the perspectives of educators in one small, semi-rural school in Japan. The paper is intended to provide rich, in-depth data and discussion as a way of providing insights from different perspectives into findings from large-scale international assessments. The two key questions addressed in the paper are, (1) How are equity and quality achieved and maintained in Japanese elementary schools? and (2) How are student motivation and resilience perceived and fostered in Japanese elementary schools? These questions are addressed through analysis of key official documents related to the questions, together with analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with education professionals working in an elementary school. The paper will contribute to understanding the perspectives of teachers in a particular school context in Japan on the roles of state, teachers, and children themselves in the task of achieving and maintaining equity and quality in a high performing education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the importance of better recognizing and representing haafu students in Japanese education policies by using Fraser's tripartite theory of social justice. In today's transnational Japan, there has been a remarkable increase in the number of haafu, a term used in reference to children with Japanese and non‐Japanese parents. However, the educational experiences of haafu children have not been adequately investigated by researchers and the government for education policies. Central to these arguments are concerns that haafu children occupy a liminal space, and hence are potentially educationally "at risk." They are generally viewed as Japanese because of their nationality and are expected to perform like the majority of Japanese students with two Japanese parents due to their familiarity with Japanese culture. Yet, in practice there is a paradox that haafu students might be marginalized as a consequence of being viewed as not Japanese enough. In this context, how should public education respond to an increasingly culturally diverse student body? This paper argues why there is a need for public education, its policy and practices to more effectively recognize, represent and redistribute resources ‐ as Fraser frames the three dimensions of social justice ‐ in support of these students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines educational policies toward indigenous minorities in Japan and Canada during the period of nation-building, from the latter half of the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century. Both Japan and Canada first segregated indigenous children into separate educational institutions and then tried to assimilate them into mainstream society. Beneath these broad policy similarities, however, lie different rationales, with substantially different implications for education and social policy in diverse societies. In Japan, national integration was promoted through a cultural or ethnic rationale, a socially coherent approach that nonetheless allows little room for minorities. Canada approached national integration using a notion of citizenship that both allows considerable space for minorities but is challenged by unity. These two strategies can be seen in two polar models of the state - a civic-assimilationist approach of the 'French model' and an ethnocultural exclusionist model of the formation of the German state. The paper argues for a multicultural pluralist model including both civic and cultural/ethnic identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive attributes stick to higher education internationalisation, and it is a policy paradigm with performative effects. Internationalisation draws on imagined virtuous flows of knowledge production and exchange, and is presented as an assemblage of detraditionalisation, expansiveness and epistemic and cultural opportunity for individuals, organisations and nation states. Policies target bodies, minds and affect, yet are presented as an unquestionable good in an imagined genderneutral, borderless, meritocratic and benign global knowledge economy. This paper explores the affective economy of internationalisation drawing upon interview data gathered in fifteen private, five national and eight public universities in Japan with thirty-four migrant academics and thirteen international doctoral researchers. We aim to contribute to internationalisation theory by exploring the sticky micropolitics of internationalisation in relation to affective assemblages, and how the gendered, racialised, linguistic and epistemic inequalities constituting academic mobility are frequently disqualified from discourse. Our discussion includes consideration of the Japanese policy context, the concept of affective assemblages, navigating gender regimes, precarity and linguistic imperialism. We conclude that the immaterial or affective labour that is required to unstick, install and maintain an internationalised academic identity and navigate the translations and antagonisms from everyday encounters with difference is substantially under-estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Japan Comparative Education Society (JCES) was founded in 1965 with its flagship Japanese-language journalHikakukyoikukenkyu(Comparative Education Research) first published in 1975. The organisation currently has around 1000 members, making it the second largest comparative education society in the world. Though JCES members have long engaged in methodological and theoretical debates, their insights are hardly acknowledged in the English-language literature. Drawing on a review of the Japanese-language literature and semi-structured interviews with 25 JCES members, this paper identifies a particular intellectual tradition within JCES, often referred to as the area-studies approach to comparative education. This approach, often practised by JCES researchers specialising in developing countries in Asia, has long constituted the mainstay of comparative education scholarship in Japan. This paper traces the formation of this intellectual tradition, and focuses on its complex relationship with the dominant paradigm of ‘paradigmatic’ English-language comparative education scholarship. The paper shows how ‘other’ comparative education societies – such as the JCES – can be looked to as a resource with which to ‘provincialise’ the way comparative education research is conceptualised in English-language academia, and to cross-culturalise the field of comparative education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Countries around the world have struggled to implement education policies and practices to encourage more female youths to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). This has resulted in a persistent and sizeable gender gap in science and mathematics subjects in some countries. Using mixed-methods sequential explanatory design, this paper explores an educational intervention—specifically, a 3-day design thinking workshop—in Japan, designed to change female youths' perceptions regarding STEM topics. Framed using a constructivist approach to learning, the workshops aimed to engender creative confidence, empathy, and global competence among youths. Results: The findings show that female youths who participated in the workshop had increased interest in engineering, greater creative confidence, more positive perceptions of STEM, higher levels of empathy and pro-social factors, and a more varied outlook on career options. We argue that this short intervention had a strong influence on the female youths' mindsets, self-images, and perceptions of STEM. Conclusion: This study provides empirical support that a short intervention can produce positive change in how female youths relate to STEM. In gendered societies, an innovative method like design thinking has the potential to revitalize education curriculum in ways that spur female youths' confidence and creativity, enabling them to imagine a career in the field of STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of 'lifelong learning' or shōgai gakushu 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the political-economic analysis of globalisation and education as well as a culturalist approach to education policy borrowing, the paper analyses the role of local actors, specifically, national newspapers and the Ministry of Education, in mediating the potentially homogenising curricular policy pressure of globalisation exerted through the PISA league tables. Using the recent Japanese education policy debate as a case study, the author demonstrates how the Japanese media interpreted the PISA 2003 findings in a way that resonated with the specific cultural, political, and economic context of the time and how the Ministry used the findings to legitimise otherwise highly contentious policy measures. Questioning the conventional interpretation that the PISA 2003 shock caused the Ministry to redirect its controversial yutori (low pressure) curricular policy, the paper reconstitutes the Ministry as an active agent that capitalised on an external reference (PISA) to re-establish its political legitimacy in a time of increasing neo-liberal state-restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since the Imperial Ordinance of 1886 laid the foundations for Japan's university system and Mori Arinori declared that the fundamental purpose of the university was to serve the interests of the state and contribute to national strength, Japan's higher education system has been inextricably linked to national interests. This, however, does not necessarily mean it served the public interest, as our paper will demonstrate. We will approach this topic historically focusing first on the pre-Meiji historical legacies, the development of higher education in Japan will then be detailed with the beginnings of Western influence in higher education, especially the role played by Germany and France, and the consequent strong role of the state. A third reform stage will be examined, focusing on the post-Second World War role of the USA and the expansion of both public and private universities. Finally, the major reforms of the 1990s will be discussed, the new Standards for the Establishment of Universities (SEU) and the implications for both public and private higher education in a demographic climate of declining population. The goal of the paper will be to disentangle the concepts of education and the state, education and the public good, and powerful antecedents and current drive toward marketization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to elucidate the different meaning of university autonomy historically and comparatively. The paper examines the shift in the definition of the university autonomy in England and Japan. It argues that the definition of university autonomy in England and Japan differed traditionally. In England, university autonomy functioned as the universities' ideology to protect the universities from outside of pressure. In Japan, university autonomy was understood in relation to the Ministerial coordination. The market-oriented policies in those countries have changed the meaning of university autonomy, bringing about “contractual autonomy” in England and institutional autonomy in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines interactions between the global and the local in the context of Japanese mainstream schooling, by focusing on the development of local government policies to manage diversity in schools. This paper reveals how local governments developed education policies in interaction with grassroots professional groups, activists and schools, and by selectively incorporating national policies. These local policies are multicultural education policies but differ in two significant ways. The first is their predominant concern with human rights education, leaving celebration of cultural diversity as a marginal consideration, and the other is the official use of the term ‘foreigners’ in the title of these policies; both of which reflect the pre‐existing local context. The paper demonstrates that new immigrants do not unilaterally impact on supposedly ethnically homogeneous Japanese classrooms, but that the pre‐existing local contexts (national, local and institutional) have mediated global forces in effecting changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at how the Japanese government's educational policy documents define 'internationalisation' explicitly or implicitly, and how the policy is related to the relationships between Japanese citizens and TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language). This is done by text analysis, identifying silences, abstractions and contradictions in policy documents. The paper shows that the commitment of the Japanese government to internationalisation in education actually means 'Japanisation' of Japanese learners of English. The paper emerges from my Ph.D thesis (Hashimoto, 1997) which is a social inquiry into TEFL in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Food & Machinery is the property of Food & Machinery Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

While there is a growing presence of trans-Pacific migrant students in the US, relatively little attention has been given to the diversity among them in terms of their everyday experiences and future educational trajectories shaped by different patterns of transnational mobilities and practices. This paper addresses the distinctive educational experiences and needs of transnational Japanese students, temporarily enrolled in US schools accompanying their parents on business appointments from transnational corporations. This institutional ethnographic study examines the strategies that these sojourner students use to negotiate the institutional demands of US high-school life and the way to promote access to tertiary education in Japan. The findings show that, although corporate transnationalism restricts Japanese sojourners' geographical mobility, they still actively construct their futures through the high-stakes strategy of graduating a year early from US high schools. I call this early graduation scheme a gambit because the sojourners sacrifice beneficial opportunities and even risk their graduation itself in the hope of securing a positional advantage upon their return to their home country. The early graduation gambit is analysed through a lens of transnationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Juxtaposed with the emerging body of literature about datafication in schooling, this paper examines the increasing encroachment of data into the Japanese education system, in particular, the use of data associated with standardised academic assessments for governance purposes. In so doing, we use the Japanese 'case' to expose the possible limits of the existing English-language scholarship on this phenomenon. By providing a contextualised, descriptive account of how data is incorporated into the three layers of Japanese education bureaucracy (municipal, prefectural, national), we call into question the assumed universality of datafication in schooling and its effect as proffered by Anglo-American education policy scholars. Using the Japanese case, the study elucidates the ways in which the particular policy context of the Anglo-American countries, where datafication has been extensively studied, sets certain limits on the existing discussion and leaves underexplored certain questions that might be more relevant to countries and regions beyond Anglo-American education policy contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-case analysis explores national level internationalisation of higher education (IoHE) policies in Singapore and Japan. Through comparison of the state level internationalisation strategies, this paper aims to highlight how each country's unique policy environment impacts their approach to IoHE. The analysis suggests that despite the differing national circumstances and ultimate approaches to internationalisation, both states use it primarily as a means to stay competitive in the twenty-first century global knowledge-based economy. This suggests that while IoHE does build bridges between nations, institutions, and individuals within and between regions, within these cases it is being driven by nationally-centred rationales. While some criticize a competition orientation in IoHE, even with such rationales it may still serve to drive greater collaboration and integration among East Asian higher education systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PISA presents a new image for academic achievement, which has prompted Japanese education reforms over the past decade to innovate teaching and learning for 'PISA-style literacy'. Supported by theoretical foundations, particularly with regard to the concept of 'PISA literacy' and 'authentic assessment', these reforms have accomplished progress in the focus on higher order competencies, such as application and the development of new assessment strategies. However, more recently, various critical discussions of 'PISA literacy' are underway in the Japanese academy. They interrogate it more critically and reveal the narrow emphasis on functional application and technical operation. Current assessment practices, which tend to fall into 'criteria compliance', are in urgent need of review. There is a need to extend the critical discussions in progress to the new assessment strategies. This paper responds to this, by considering the Japanese acceptance of 'PISA literacy' and its assessment, discussing the features and limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the gap between national level minority education policies and local implementation in Japan, this paper considers this gap as a “soft middle” whereby local communities and schools have considerable leeway in how they implement policies. In particular, this paper focuses on Japan's largest minority group, theburakuminand their educational experiences. It traces the origins of educational policies targetingburakuminand how these policies were designed with this soft middle in mind. Following this, the paper considers two different localized approaches, both under policies directed at theburakuminand after the termination of such policies. It argues that schools can selectively implement policies while still fitting within the parameters of the law. Finally, it demonstrates that considering the soft middle provides for a richer, more nuanced understanding of educational systems, beyond monolithic assumptions of national systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyzes a recent initiative of Japan's Ministry of Education, which aims to internationalize higher education in Japan. The large-investment project 'Top Global University Project' (TGUP) has emerged to create globally oriented universities, to increase the role of foreign languages in higher education, and to foster global human resources. The TGUP identifies 37 universities: 13 as 'top global universities' intended to compete in the top 100 university world rankings and 24 'global traction universities' intended to lead the internationalization of higher education in Japan. Despite the substantial funding behind this initiative, little research has been conducted to evaluate the potential impact of this policy on language planning in higher education in Japan. This paper addresses this gap in its exploration of the TGUP, including key changes from previous internationalization policies. It then presents an analysis of publicly available documents regarding the policy, collected from all 37 of the participant universities. Findings indicate a positive departure from older policy trends and the emergence of flexible, unique forms of English language education in Japan's universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The internationalization of higher education is considered to be a major policy agenda in the global knowledge society. For Japan, internationalization has been a key driver in academic and social advancement, while its traditional culture and national identity have also been retained. Recently, a series of policies have been presented by the government, university, and industry to attract more students and top calibre researchers from Asia and further afield, and to enhance exchange and collaboration, internationalization at home, and global human resource development. Concurrently, the controversial nature of internationalization has been pointed out, as well as the stagnant mobility of Japanese students and their inward-looking attitude. This paper discusses the internationalization of Japanese higher education by examining the relevant policy, practice, and perceptions of the people and institutions concerned. The major findings reveal the complexity of internationalization as a dynamic process of change, its vulnerability and marginality, and the extent of the gap between policy and practice. The author also addresses the increased relevance of the research in this field to policy-making and practice in education and its contribution to the production of new knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Japanese government provided various political opportunities for non-governmental groups and individuals in Japan to 'jointly propose' policy on education and sustainable development at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002. These opportunities resulted in the emergence of the Japanese education for sustainable development (ESD) movement, and the crystallisation of a broader proposal that led to the initiation of the UN Decade of ESD (2005-2014). In this paper, we trace the history of these two outcomes, arguing that the opportunities, developed through the coordination of non-governmental groups by government, took place within, rather than broadened or confronted, the government's scope of interests. While the paper illustrates how the government's continued support was crucial to the development of the ESD movement and the UN Decade, and the movement has met with considerable achievements thus far (via its collective challenges to conventional education in a sustainability context in Japan), we argue that recognition of the political opportunity structures that affect the movement's further development remains crucial. In particular, we argue for close attention to the significance of a corporatist framing of this emerging civil society movement in Japan by the national government, and call for further political and historical analysis of ESD movements and their relations with government, around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the current state and a challenge faced by teachers and teacher education in Vietnam, and analyzes international aid projects providing support to teacher education there. It is necessary to grasp changes in teacher education in Vietnam in the context of the current comprehensive reform of education, which has been greatly influenced by world trends. In Vietnam today, improving the quality of basic education has been given a high priority, in line with the global movement for Education for All (EFA). The main task for improving the quality of education in Vietnam is the effective implementation of the new curriculum adopted in 2002. Teacher education is the key to completing this task. It is important for teachers to learn new methods of instruction, and teacher education needs to be strengthened to allow them to acquire these new methods. A great deal of international assistance is provided for the promotion of this type of teacher education. Projects in this area are provided by the World Bank, Belgium, and Japan. This paper analyzes these projects, and examines the challenges facing international assistance for teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ideologies of language which underpin mainstream applied linguistic research and educational policy generation for English language teaching in Japan. Over the last 30 years a burgeoning literature has devoted itself to the task of researching and directing English language education in Japan, but has, by its own admission, had little success in effecting much change in what it perceives as a system incompatible with effective language learning. By surveying prominent academic studies on this topic and analysing these with reference to the policy reforms with which they interact, the paper makes explicit the linguistic and socio-political assumptions upon which this work is based and suggests that a critical awareness of these ideologies can assist in the production of sustainable language regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the myth of ethnic and linguistic homogeneity prevails, Japan has always been a multiethnic and multilingual entity. The existence of ethnic minorities remained relatively invisible, and their activism to maintain their identities was not widely acknowledged in the public discourse. However, the influx of immigrants since the mid-1980s as a result of globalisation of the world economy, which forced education authorities to respond to their language needs, has made the multilingual and multiethnic student population more visible. This paper reveals how the responses by education authorities and schools to visible migrants differ from those to invisible long-existing ethnic minorities, and how these responses have impacted on invisible minorities, drawing on the case of ethnic Koreans. It argues that the combination of long-lasting activism by and for Koreans and the visible impact of immigrants offers the potential to challenge the mainstream Japanese schooling. First, responses to immigrants effectively acknowledged the ethnically and linguistically diverse nature of the student population in Japanese schools, and the special needs of minorities. Second, activism for Koreans also took up the cause of the visible immigrants, and this helped to highlight ethnic Koreans' concerns. The focus on interactions between responses to these two groups illuminates the dialectic between globalisation and local forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to strengthen their international presence, universities pursuing a world-class status are striving to increase their internationalization. Internationalization implies a transformation of university governance, especially for universities in a non-English-speaking system such as Japan's. This paper examines the challenges of internationalization for Japan's top universities as a transformation process of these universities' governance. First, the historical background of Japanese higher education as an early front-runner in Asia is discussed, along with the dynamics of national identity and global trends. Second, a series of government-funded programs for research and internationalization are examined from the viewpoint of governance reform. The construction of 'world-class' universities not only implies concentrated financial investment but also a comprehensive transformation of university governance in a global context. The major challenges for top Japanese research universities in terms of maintaining and improving their international presence are also highlighted. This article suggests the importance of examining the historical and current context of university governance in East Asian higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of countries with public higher education systems have implemented privatisation policies. In Japan, the national government introduced the National University Corporation Act (NUCA) in 2004 and changed the legal status of national universities from that of government-owned public institutions to independent administrative agencies. Its objective was to incorporate them, giving their presidents discretionary power and encouraging financial independence and autonomous administration. Applying McNay’s models of university governance, this paper tracks three stages of university governance longitudinally from 1886, when Japan’s modern higher education system was established, to reveal the historical roots of problems that the NUCA is meant to address. In addition, the effects of the NUCA over the first 6-year period (2004–2009) are examined based on data analysis. Its criteria for analysis are developments in the direction of financial, administrative and intellectual independence, accompanied by increased levels of transparency and public accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Japan has no formal educational system for gifted children. However, in 2005, Japan's Cabinet approved and established the third Science and Technology Basic Plan (2006- 10), which includes "nurturing the individuality and ability of gifted (sainou in Japanese) children." Enforcement of this plan is exemplified in programs such as "Super Science High Schools," "Next-Generation Scientists Programs," "Science Camps," and "Japan Science Tournaments." The number of Japanese participants in the Science Olympiad has increased threefold within 5 years. The characteristics of gifted (sainou) education in Japan are domain-specific, however, and emphasis is placed on science and technology and research and development rather than on education. On the other hand, Japanese people put great faith in the thought that giftedness can be taught. This paper describes trends in educational policy on the gifted in Japan, and the characteristic of Japanese education for the gifted is discussed from both historical and cultural viewpoints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, the ability to speak and understand English is widely regarded as essential for communication in a ‘globalized’ world. At the same time, however, many Japanese are reluctant to communicate in English because they perceive themselves (and are often perceived by others) to be poor speakers of English, despite the fact that they will have studied English for at least six years in junior and senior high school. In response to this, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has recently revised the national syllabus for English teaching. The revised syllabus places more emphasis on developing oral communication skills, and proposes a much greater use of communicative language teaching (CLT) methodology in order to bring this about. This paper describes the present situation of CLT in Japan based on questionnaire data obtained from 48 Japanese university students, and proposes that a more effective and practical approach to CLT and English teaching more generally may be obtained by adopting a ‘World Englishes’ point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines changes between 1992 and 2010 in Japanese junior high school history textbooks’ representations of imperial Japan's colonialism and aggression in Asia, using documentary study and interviews with actors in the textbook production process. Following a trend to increase textbook material on Japan's wartime aggression in the mid-1990s, after 2000 publishers approached this topic in contrasting ways, some expanding and some reducing their coverage, with dramatically varying results in terms of market share. Publishers’ decisions on content were related to their market position and to changes in local textbook adoption procedures that have increased the decision-making power of appointed boards of education at the expense of teachers. Increased market share since 2000 is associated primarily with a progressive pedagogy in tune with recent curriculum reforms. The recent spotlight on textbook adoption has exposed weaknesses in the system, such as inadequate representation of the local community and insufficient guarantee of teachers’ expert input in the adoption process. With the introduction of new textbook approval criteria requiring their conformity with the patriotic emphases of the revised Fundamental Law on Education of 2006, the content of future textbooks will clearly be strongly influenced by both approval and adoption processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents tentative findings and discussions arising from an ongoing study on whether and how Japanese teachers' professional identities have shifted in the context of heightened testing accountability. After a brief description of policy development that led to the introduction of national testing in 2007, previous studies of teacher identity are reviewed. Having explored some ambiguity in the existent theories regarding the trajectories and consequences of identity work, the paper goes on to report and to analyse the cases of six teachers from three low-performing elementary schools in a northern Japanese administrative region. With the limited size and scope of the sample, the present research cannot claim generalisability, but it can still raise a number of theoretical issues for further investigation, such as the precariousness of teachers' strategies for sustaining their professional identities and the need for locating teachers' identity work in the micropolitics of schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any moves towards substantive equality in education must negotiate the contradictions between equality and efficiency. Equality of education comes about through both the widening of opportunity and the maintenance of educational quality, but in the context of limited resources, educational policy rarely serves both ends simultaneously. Regardless of imperatives involved in making particular policy choices, if the resulting outcomes are either too visible or the system is deemed to be too rigid, social inequality emerges as an intractable, highly salient issue. The critical questions for research thus become: How do various approaches to negotiating this central tension differ? How does the choice of strategies produce different results across different education systems? To explore these questions, this paper examines the function and outcomes of educational differentiation in Japan, both at the secondary and tertiary levels, in relation to social inequality. Given that Japan entered an era of 'universal' access to higher education ahead of other high-income countries, it presents an ideal case to reflect on policy choices currently being considered or implemented elsewhere. Through cross-sectional analyses of three cohorts of Japanese graduates, it reveals that social equality in accessing elite secondary and higher education institutions deteriorates as privatisation of education advances. It concludes that hierarchical structure of secondary and higher education institutions, when coupled with policies advancing privatisation and universalisation, result in negative or inconsequential effects on social equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why is the Japanese rate of students with disability a fraction of that of the United States? Barring genetic differences between Americans and Japanese, the difference in disability rates must be what Durkheim called a “social fact,” a phenomenon explained by social differences between the two countries. In this paper we focus on the institutional and cultural factors that enter into the Japanese construction of disability of school-aged students. We argue that the lower incidence of disability in Japan is a result of Japan’s strong collectivist and paternalistic orientation and the requisite institutions promulgating those beliefs. The latter play a key role in the translation of general cultural dispositions into concrete policies and behavior on the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at investigating Japanese government’s subsidy policy for private universities by applying statistical approaches to various types of quantitative data. Firstly, we briefly describe the history of the government subsidy policy to identify the dominant factors behind it and also explain the structure and mechanism of this subsidy. Secondly, by using 2005 data, we try to find influential factors in allocating both general subsidies and special subsidies for private universities. Thirdly, using the data in two periods given as 1975–1979 and 2000–2004, we try to elucidate the structural properties of the subsidy policy by applying correlative rank analyses approaches in order to measure the “dominance power” of the top-ranking subsidy-recipient schools. The results show that the number of faculty members is the most influential for general subsidies, while the number of students is the most dominant variable for special subsidies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenal expansion of enrollment in graduate programs has brought about various disastrous consequences in the quality of postgraduate education in Japan. The "American" system of graduate education—in particular, its relatively high rate of enrollment—has often been quoted as the basis for the public policy on the expansion of graduate enrollment in Japan. On the other hand, the programs and curriculums characteristic of U.S. institutions have been hailed as the ideal model to be emulated. A close examination of the so-called American model of graduate education, however, reveals that the arguments for the American model have been accompanied by serious misunderstandings. This paper first delineates the causes and consequences of the expansion of graduate education in Japan. It then shows some of the research findings of a comparative study on graduate education in the U.S. and Japan. This paper concludes with the argument that blind mimicry of the American model would lead to detrimental consequences for students, teachers, and the academic discipline itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, like in most countries, the equality of educational opportunities is a crucial issue both in academics and in governmental policy. However, the policy of equality of educational opportunities in Japanese higher education has been weakening. The first aim of this paper is to investigate the background of the policy and to clarify the reasons for its loss of importance. With this aim, the author gives an overview of policy and research works on the equality of higher education opportunities in Japan, in comparison with those overseas. The aim of higher educational policy and planning in post world-war II Japan was to rectify disparities in higher education opportunities between regions and social classes by increasing the supply of institutions providing higher education. However, the policy turned drastically from enlargement to suppression in 1975. The establishment of new universities and departments in the metropolitan area were strictly restricted by the Ministry of Education. This policy aimed to reduce regional inequalities in higher educational opportunities, and was largely successful in doing so. However, the policy concentrated on the regional inequalities, leading to a loss of concern on inequalities among social classes, with the exception of student financial aid programs. Secondly, the results of the Student Life Survey by the Ministry of Education (from 2004 by the Japan Student Service Organization) are often used to demonstrate the equality of higher educational opportunities in Japan. On the contrary, however, some researchers argue that the inequality of higher educational opportunity has been increasing or at least not decreasing, using other survey data. This paper examines the equality of higher educational opportunities using new survey data from 2005. The data show large inequalities in university education opportunities, particularly in private universities. In particular, the participation rate is very low among low-income, low-achievement, female high school graduates. This shows that there are still problems of inequality. Thirdly, this survey shows the existence of debt aversion among parents in the lowest income class and in families with mothers having the lowest education levels. It seems likely that debt aversion leads to serious problems because of the inadequacy of student aid programs, coupled with high tuition fees in Japan. The student financial aid programs of The Japan Student Service Organization, the largest public student program in Japan, gives loans, but not grants, to undergraduates. Some parents and students from lower income tiers may decide not to apply to university to avoid a debt burden. This result implies the need for grants to maintain the accessibility of higher education in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines trends in regional gaps in higher educational opportunities after the High Growth Period and the effects of structural factors. In the 1970s, educational policies were put in place with the aim to promote equal opportunity. Currently, regional gaps in higher educational opportunity are increasing. The purpose of this paper is to provide basic findings and knowledge on present conditions to contribute to the debate on educational opportunities. As an index of educational opportunity, we use capacity and college and university entrance rates. The findings are as follows: (1) in the 1975-1990 period, under the educational policy that aimed to spread education, gaps decreased in both indices of educational opportunity; (2) however, this decrease was the result of shrinking gaps in the three large metropolises of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, and educational opportunities were not necessarily expanding in the regions with the least educational opportunities; (3) after 1990, regional gaps began to increase again, due to rises in the three metropolises; (4) today, there are noticeable gaps not only among males but also among females by region; (5) the effects of socioeconomic conditions and school conditions on educational opportunities are increasing year by year. Today's regional inequalities are nearly equal to those in the 1970s when the educational policies were adopted, there is a possibility that equality of opportunities for education may become a political issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese education has been a focus of comparative studies for the past 20 years. Many scholars have attributed the economic success of this industrialized society to a highly literate and well-educated population. Recent studies, however, have tended to be more critical of, in particular, Japanese higher education (HE). Indeed, most universities in Japan are acutely aware of the need for change and a considerable effort at institutional reform is sweeping the nation. Unfortunately most of the constructive criticism of Japanese HE has not yet been published in English. One of the most vocal of the reformists, Professor Ikuo Amano, has published widely on various aspects of HE in Japan. The following paper is a translation of a chapter in his book Challenges to Japanese Universities. This translation is prefaced by both a synopsis of this book as well as a brief introduction to Amano and his work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of perspectives exist on the evaluation of Japan's educational reform of 2002, which has evolved since the 1980s. However, thus far, little attention has been paid to the emerging influence of civil society on educational policies and practices. This paper shows that the origin of the current educational reforms can be traced to reports prepared by various neo-liberal/conservative business leaders and politicians. Further, it shows their privatization and decentralization principles happen to coincide with the increasing interest of progressive citizens' groups and educators. Their impact on the Japanese education system remains latent, especially as more scepticism grows towards progressivism as a philosophy behind the current educational reform. However, the expanding civil society and new progressive education movements in Japan are trends worth exploring in the context of globalization at the grass-roots level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our internationalizing world, even countries that have had a reputation of being so-called 'homogeneous' are facing cultural diversification within. Though Japan is a country often described as homogeneous or, at least, homogeneously minded, with the inflows of new types of foreigners, it is presently experiencing what has been dubbed the process of 'internal internationalization.' Such new forms of diversity trigger the formation of new social alignments, and challenge existing categories of the Different. This paper takes the Japanese example as a case in point to re-examine the social nature of the construction of difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, the simple assimilation of minority students is gradually being replaced by an emphasis on pluralism and multiculturalism, reflecting increased awareness of the value of cultural diversity. How to allow for cultural diversity, however, remains largely undetermined and controversial in various respects. Japan in particular is experiencing the challenge of cultural diversity, even though the country has often been portrayed as ethnically homogeneous. This paper focuses on the situation of Korean residents, one of several long-time minority groups in Japan, and discusses the significance of Korean ethnic schools in light of socio-historical considerations. Factors affecting the bicultural identity of Korean residents in Japan, and minorities in general, are considered. It is concluded that, although separate schooling for cultural minority students is not usually favoured in western societies, a strong case can be made for recognising the legitimacy of Korean ethnic schools in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan the use of the term lifelong education has become widespread throughout the 1990s and is central to educational policies, which actively tackle crucial subjects that take place in a wide area of education in a drastically changing contemporary society. This paper examines in detail the present situation of the development of lifelong education, in particular concerning adults, relating to the traditional ideas and systems on education called a highly school-centred society. These traditional ideas and systems, even today in Japan, have still functioned to greatly value school credentials and disturb the widening of the participation of adults in lifelong education, nevertheless adults have stood in need of continuously studying up-to-date knowledge and skills in a wide range of areas and at a different level throughout their working lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]