Education reform in Japan: Competing visions for the future

Phi Delta Kappan

Volumn 86, Issue 8, 2005, Pages 619-626

  Bjork, Christopher ^a   Tsuneyoshi, Ryoko ^b  

^a VASSAR COLLEGE   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO   (Japan)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 17444398934     PISSN: 00317217     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/003172170508600812     Document Type: Article

References (33)

1. Catherine Lewis, Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Elementary School Education (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995); Nancy Sato and Milbrey W. McLaughlin, "Context Matters: Teaching in Japan and the United States," Phi Delta Kappan, January 1992, pp. 359-66; Nobuo K. Shimahara and Akira Sakai, Learning to Teach in Two Cultures (New York: Garland Publishing, 1995); Harold Stevenson, "Japanese Elementary School Education," Elementary School Journal, September 2001, pp. 109-20; and James W. Stigler and James Hiebert, The Teaching Gap (New York: Free Press, 1999).
2. Catherine Lewis, Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Elementary School Education (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995); Nancy Sato and Milbrey W. McLaughlin, "Context Matters: Teaching in Japan and the United States," Phi Delta Kappan, January 1992, pp. 359-66; Nobuo K. Shimahara and Akira Sakai, Learning to Teach in Two Cultures (New York: Garland Publishing, 1995); Harold Stevenson, "Japanese Elementary School Education," Elementary School Journal, September 2001, pp. 109-20; and James W. Stigler and James Hiebert, The Teaching Gap (New York: Free Press, 1999).
3. Catherine Lewis, Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Elementary School Education (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995); Nancy Sato and Milbrey W. McLaughlin, "Context Matters: Teaching in Japan and the United States," Phi Delta Kappan, January 1992, pp. 359-66; Nobuo K. Shimahara and Akira Sakai, Learning to Teach in Two Cultures (New York: Garland Publishing, 1995); Harold Stevenson, "Japanese Elementary School Education," Elementary School Journal, September 2001, pp. 109-20; and James W. Stigler and James Hiebert, The Teaching Gap (New York: Free Press, 1999).
4. Catherine Lewis, Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Elementary School Education (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995); Nancy Sato and Milbrey W. McLaughlin, "Context Matters: Teaching in Japan and the United States," Phi Delta Kappan, January 1992, pp. 359-66; Nobuo K. Shimahara and Akira Sakai, Learning to Teach in Two Cultures (New York: Garland Publishing, 1995); Harold Stevenson, "Japanese Elementary School Education," Elementary School Journal, September 2001, pp. 109-20; and James W. Stigler and James Hiebert, The Teaching Gap (New York: Free Press, 1999).
5. Catherine Lewis, Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Elementary School Education (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995); Nancy Sato and Milbrey W. McLaughlin, "Context Matters: Teaching in Japan and the United States," Phi Delta Kappan, January 1992, pp. 359-66; Nobuo K. Shimahara and Akira Sakai, Learning to Teach in Two Cultures (New York: Garland Publishing, 1995); Harold Stevenson, "Japanese Elementary School Education," Elementary School Journal, September 2001, pp. 109-20; and James W. Stigler and James Hiebert, The Teaching Gap (New York: Free Press, 1999).
6. The literal translation of yutori kyoiku is "relaxed education." However, we feel that "reduced intensity" better captures the spirit of these policies.
7. Christopher Bjork, "Collaboration in Japanese and American Schools: The Challenge of Balancing Consistency and Change," World Studies in Education, vol. 1, no. 2, 2000, pp. 55-79.
8. MEXT officially required all elementary and junior secondary schools to have Integrated Studies programs in place by 2002, but most schools began conducting research on the topic and phasing in IS classes prior to that deadline.
9. Christopher Bjork, "Decentralizing the Japanese Curriculum: Two Case Studies," in Ryoko Tsuneyoshi, ed., Reconsidering Japanese Education: 21st Century Abilities in the Japanese Context (Tokyo: Graduate School of Education, University of Tokyo, 2004), pp. 71-90.
10. Ryoko Tsuneyoshi, "The New Japanese Educational Reforms and the Achievement 'Crisis' Debate," Educational Policy, vol. 18, 2004, pp. 364-94.
11. Chuokyoiku Shingikai (Central Education Council), 21 seiki o tenboshita wagakuni no kyoiku no arikata nit suite (The model for Japanese education in the perspective of the 21st century) (To kyo: MEXT, 1996).
12. Tsuneyoshi, op. cit.
13. Stigler and Hiebert, op. cit.
14. Stevenson, op. cit.; and Catherine Lewis, "The Roots of Japanese Educational Achievement: Helping the Children Develop Bonds to School," Educational Policy, vol. 9, no. 2, 1995, pp. 129-51.
15. Stevenson, op. cit.; and Catherine Lewis, "The Roots of Japanese Educational Achievement: Helping the Children Develop Bonds to School," Educational Policy, vol. 9, no. 2, 1995, pp. 129-51.
16. Merry White, The Japanese Educational Challenge:A Commitment to Children (New York: Free Press, 1987), p. 73.
17. Kazuo Nishimura, N. Tose, and T. Okabe, Bunsu ga dekinai daigakusei (College students who cannot solve problems with fractions) (Tokyo: Keizai Shinposha, 1999).
18. Hideka Wada, Kyoritsu sho chu ko kara Todai ni hairu hon (Getting into the University of Tokyo from a public elementary or junior high school) (Tokyo: Gentosha, 2002), p. 19.
19. Takehiko Kariya, Kyoiku kaikaku no genso (The illusion of educational reform) (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 2002); and Yoshiaki Mimizuka et al., "Seneika suru gakuryoku no nikyoku bunka" (The increasing polarization of achievement), Ronza, vol. 1, 2002, pp. 212-27.
20. Takehiko Kariya, Kyoiku kaikaku no genso (The illusion of educational reform) (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 2002); and Yoshiaki Mimizuka et al., "Seneika suru gakuryoku no nikyoku bunka" (The increasing polarization of achievement), Ronza, vol. 1, 2002, pp. 212-27.
21. K. Kato and K. Takaura, eds., Gakuryoku teikaron hihan (Criticizing the advocates of the achievement crisis) (Tokyo: Reimei Shobo, 2001), p. 1.
22. R. Mon, "'Shin no manabi' no sozo: 'gakuryoku teikaron' e no chosen," (Creation of "real learning": Challenging the "achievement crisis debate"), in Takashi Muto, ed., Gakuryoku Teikaron e no Chosen (A challenge to the "dropping achievement theories") (Tokyo: Gyosei, 2002), pp. 16-27.
23. Heisei 14 nendo koritsu sho/chu gakko ni okeru kyoiku katei no hensei jyokyo node no chosa (The 2002 year survey on the state of the curriculum in public elementary and junior high schools), cited in "Tashikana gakuryoku" o hagukumu "wakaru jyugyo" no soi kufu rei 2003 (Examples of creative "lessons that children can understand" that develop "basic scholastic proficiencies") (Tokyo: MEXT, 2003).
24. William Cummings, Education and Equality in Japan (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1980).
25. "Tashikana gakuryoku."
26. Taken from a recruitment pamphlet distributed by a cram school in Tokyo, the TAP Shingaku Kyoshitsu.
27. Manabu Sato, "Manabi" kara toso suru kodomotachi (Children who are fleeing from "learning") (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, Booklet No. 524, 2000).
28. Lewis, Educating Hearts and Minds; White, op. cit.; Shimahara and Sakai, op. cit.; Stigler and Hiebert, op. cit.; and Christopher Bjork, "Responsibility for Improving the Quality of Teaching in Japanese Schools," Education and Society, vol. 18, no. 3, 2000, pp. 21-43.
29. Lewis, Educating Hearts and Minds; White, op. cit.; Shimahara and Sakai, op. cit.; Stigler and Hiebert, op. cit.; and Christopher Bjork, "Responsibility for Improving the Quality of Teaching in Japanese Schools," Education and Society, vol. 18, no. 3, 2000, pp. 21-43.
30. Lewis, Educating Hearts and Minds; White, op. cit.; Shimahara and Sakai, op. cit.; Stigler and Hiebert, op. cit.; and Christopher Bjork, "Responsibility for Improving the Quality of Teaching in Japanese Schools," Education and Society, vol. 18, no. 3, 2000, pp. 21-43.
31. Lewis, Educating Hearts and Minds; White, op. cit.; Shimahara and Sakai, op. cit.; Stigler and Hiebert, op. cit.; and Christopher Bjork, "Responsibility for Improving the Quality of Teaching in Japanese Schools," Education and Society, vol. 18, no. 3, 2000, pp. 21-43.
32. Lewis, Educating Hearts and Minds; White, op. cit.; Shimahara and Sakai, op. cit.; Stigler and Hiebert, op. cit.; and Christopher Bjork, "Responsibility for Improving the Quality of Teaching in Japanese Schools," Education and Society, vol. 18, no. 3, 2000, pp. 21-43.
33. Ryoko Tsuneyoshi, The Japanese Model of Schooling (New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2001).