Educational Progressivism, Cultural Encounters and Reform in Japan

Educational Progressivism, Cultural Encounters and Reform in Japan
Author: Yoko Yamasaki
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2017-06-26
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317354370

Educational Progressivism, Cultural Encounters and Reform in Japan provides a critical analysis of educational initiatives, progressive ideas and developments in curriculum and pedagogy in Japan, from 1900 to the present day. Drawing on evidence of both cultural encounters and internal drivers for progressivism and reform, this book re-evaluates the history of Japanese education to help inform ongoing and future debates about education policy and practice worldwide. With contributions from Japanese scholars specialising in the history and philosophy of education and curriculum studies, chapters consider key collaborative improvements to teacher education, as well as group learning, ‘life education’, the creative arts and writing, and education for girls and women. The book examines Western influences, including John Dewey, Carleton Washburne and A. S. Neill, as well as Japan’s own progressive exports, such as holistic Zenjin education, Children’s Villages and Lesson Study, highlighting cultural encounters and progressive initiatives at both transnational and national levels. The chapters reflect on historical and political background, motivations, influences and the impact of Japanese progressive education. They also stimulate, through argument and critical discussion, a continuing discourse concerning principles, policy, politics and practices of education in an increasingly globalised society. A rigorous and critical study of the history of progressive education in Japan, this book will interest an international readership of academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of progressive education, comparative education, social and cultural history, history of education, Japanese studies, curriculum studies, and the history of childhood.

Enacting Moral Education in Japan

Enacting Moral Education in Japan
Author: Sam Bamkin
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2024-03-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1003829074

Drawing on the case of moral education reform, this book provides an authoritative picture of how policy is enacted between state policymaking and school practice in Japan, focusing on how national policy is enacted locally in the classroom. The study follows the 2015 moral education reform from its genesis in central government, through the Ministry of Education to its enactment by local government and schools. The book looks beyond written policies, curricula and textbooks to examine how teachers, school administrators and others make sense of, and translate, policy into practice in the Japanese classroom context. Chapters explore how moral education practice has changed in response to the intentions of national policy, and analyzes the implications for understanding processes of policy enactment in the Japanese education system. This book presents a new perspective on the complexity of education policy making, practice, and the gaps in between. It will be of interest to postgraduate students, researchers, and academics in the fields of education policy and politics, moral education, school administration, and international and comparative education more broadly, particularly in Asia.

Successful Transposition of Lesson Study

Successful Transposition of Lesson Study
Author: Eric C. K. Cheng
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 81
Release: 2018-08-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9811324727

This book analyses the organisation cultures that promote Japanese Lesson Study, identifies the soul of lesson study, which is missing in other cultures, and discusses the conditions for successfully transplanting the Lesson Study to other cultures. Adopting Nonaka and Tateuchi’s (1995) SECI knowledge creation model as the analytical lens, it explores the tacit and explicit knowledge convention and creation processes in lesson study. Unpacking the mechanism of the knowledge management process and practices could assist policy makers and school administrators, educators in contextualising lesson study to their school systems. The book provides an accessible discussion of the benefits and challenges of introducing lesson study, and presents three new research dimensions to analyse it: reviewing the historical development of lesson study in terms of the pendulum swings between professional accountability and state accountability in developing the school-based curriculum and the national curriculum; examining lesson study as a knowledge management tool for creating pedagogical knowledge for curriculum implementation: and studying the “kaizen kata” embedded in the PDCA cycles of lesson study as an organization routine for school improvement.

Lesson Study-based Teacher Education

Lesson Study-based Teacher Education
Author: Jongsung Kim
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2021-05-26
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000391272

The philosophy of Lesson Study in Japan—teacher ownership, teacher professionalism, student learning-focused dialogue, teacher collaboration, and teacher professional community—has attracted educators and researchers worldwide. However, Lesson Study does not have the same meaning as its original Japanese expression Jugyou Kenkyuu, a combination of two Japanese words—Jugyou meaning instruction or lesson(s) and Kenkyuu meaning study or research. To bridge the gap between Jugyou Kenkyuu and Lesson Study and therefore maximize the potential of Lesson Study in the world, this edited volume provides two "mirrors" for those who wish to reflect on and implement Lesson Study within their own contexts. One section discusses how Lesson Study is utilized in Japanese teacher education and how this system reproduces the very culture of Lesson Study. The other section addresses case studies showcasing Lesson Study implementation in several countries such as the United States, Germany, Norway, Peru, and Uganda and discusses the opportunities and challenges that arise when Lesson Study-based teacher education expands beyond Japan to the rest of the world. This book will appeal to anyone interested in learning about Lesson Study.

The History of Education in Japan (1600 – 2000)

The History of Education in Japan (1600 – 2000)
Author: Masashi Tsujimoto
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2017-03-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317295749

As one of the most rapid and earliest nations to achieve "Western modernisation", much of Japan’s success stems from its fruitful literacy history during the Tokugawa shogunate as well as later influences from Western educational ideals and consequent economic and democratic conflicts in Japan. This book seeks to enlighten readers on how education and schooling contributed to Japan’s particular process of modernisation and industrialisation. These historical insights can be applied to crises in formal and systemised education today, and form the basis of potential solutions to controversies faced by formal education in Japan and other nation-states. A book that bridges the international information gap in Japan’s history of education will be immensely valuable to historians of both international and Japanese education.

Happiness Education

Happiness Education
Author: Gerald W. Fry
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2023-07-31
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000913384

This edited collection challenges the common preoccupation with knowledge acquisition and academic achievement by comparing the aims and cultural beliefs which drive education in different countries throughout the world. Through case studies from countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe, the authors present how education can be approached holistically to foster student happiness and well-being. The book illustrates wide-ranging interpretations of what it means to provide a "good education," and how student-centered, holistic approaches to learning can be effective in promoting creativity, tolerance, student well-being, and an appreciation of environmental and societal responsibilities. Based on rigorous mixed-method empirical research, it highlights how the integration of happiness in education can not only enhance academic excellence but can also have a positive impact on the students’ overall well-being. This cutting-edge book focuses on the holistic development and well-being of students and will be a relevant reading for educators, researchers, and students in such diverse fields as psychology, the sociology and philosophy of education, intercultural education, education policy and politics, leadership/management, mental health, and international and comparative education.

Teacher Education and Its Discontents

Teacher Education and Its Discontents
Author: Gunnlaugur Magnússon
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2024-09-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1040127606

This unique collection of essays from researchers and teacher educators from around the world presents innovative approaches to education theory, critical policy analyses, de-colonializing reformulations of teacher education and a “standard of dissensus” for teacher education. This first volume from the International Teacher Education Research Collective (ITERC) illustrates common themes and problems in the politics of education, in particular, standardization, marketization, governance and policy in education, with both country-specific cases and generally formulated theoretical discussions. The book has three primary aims: to illustrate and critique the ethical, epistemological and political discourses shaping teacher education; to identify and unravel the entanglements of politics, knowledge and ethics in teacher education in a range of international settings; and to revitalize teacher education by proposing and exploring alternative modes of thought and practice. The volume contributes to further reflection and in-depth discussion in education, to the formulation of new areas for educational research and to critical resistance to hegemonic discourses of education. Making an important contribution to contemporary education discourse, this book is a useful guide for education researchers and theorists, teacher educators and postgraduate and higher degree research students in education.

East Asian Pedagogies

East Asian Pedagogies
Author: David Lewin
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2020-07-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3030456730

This book opens up philosophical spaces for comparative discussions of education across ‘East and West’. It develops an intercultural dialogue by exploring the Anglo-American traditions of educational trans-/formation and European constructions of Bildung, alongside East Asian traditions of trans-/formation and development. Comparatively little research has been done in this area, and many questions concerning the commensurability of North American, European and East Asian pedagogies remain. Despite this dearth of theoretical research, there is ample evidence of continued interest in (self-)formation through various East Asian practices, from martial arts to health and spiritual practices (e.g. Aikido, Tai Chi, Yoga, mindfulness etc.), suggesting that these ‘traditional’ practices and pedagogical relations have something important to offer, despite their marginal standing in educational discourse. This book will appeal to all researchers and students of comparative education studies with an interest in issues of interpretation and translation between different traditions and cultures.

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Modern Asian Educators

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Modern Asian Educators
Author: Shin'ichi Suzuki
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 505
Release: 2021-06-29
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317391136

This handbook is a unique and major resource on modern educators of Asia and their contribution to Asian educational development through the 19th and 20th centuries when modernization started in Asia. In one comprehensive volume, this handbook covers a selection of modern educators from East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia – and their contributions to the development of modern education, practically and theoretically. The diversity of cultures and religion as well as the multilinguistic and ethnic context have made Asian modernization unique and complex. Educational modernization in Asia reflected this historical context in many ways and resulted in the diverse forms of learning, teaching, institutions, and administration. Modern Asian educators compiled in this handbook represent various fields of Asian society: not only educational but cultural and social fields like academia, politics, economics, religion, literature, theatre, fine arts, and civic genres including the media. Through this Handbook, readers may discover the individual modern educators, male and female, and their contributions to Asian educational modernization. All of them were committed to the cause of education for children, youth, adults and in particular women. In addition, this volume has an extraordinarily rich subject index which can be an excellent guide and introduction to information touching divergent dynamics of educational developments in modern Asia. This insightful volume is perfect for students and researchers working on history of education, comparative education and educational development, particularly for those interested in Asian contexts.

Lesson Study as Pedagogic Transfer

Lesson Study as Pedagogic Transfer
Author: Kanako N. Kusanagi
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2022-11-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9811959285

This book examines education transfer, specifically focusing on pedagogic transfer, and analyzes what happens when lesson study is introduced into foreign contextual settings. Lesson study, a professional development approach that originated in Japan 150 years ago, has been widely considered one of the best practices for collaborative professional development. There is an underlying assumption behind education transfer that when “best practice” is transferred to another country, it will generate a similar effect and improve schooling quality. Since pedagogic practice is socially constructed, the best practice in one setting may not be meaningful in another contextual setting. This book makes a unique contribution to the field of comparative education by offering a sociological examination of why pedagogic transfer often fails to bring expected benefits. It is comprised of three parts. Part I, ”Pedagogic Transfer and Lesson study,” provides contextualized analysis of lesson study in Japan and abroad and presents how the meaning of practice is always reinterpreted against the local educational context. Part II presents a sociological analysis of Indonesian teachers’ practice based on ethnographic fieldwork. It conceptually analyses the nature of the teacher community and their practice and is presented as “teacher strategies.” The concept showed that teacher culture and practice are not fixed but constantly negotiated within the institutional setting. Part III, “Sociological Understanding of Pedagogic Transfer,” builds on the analyses in Part I and II and provides a theoretical understanding of the issue of pedagogic transfer. Professional responsibilities of teachers, collegiality, and teaching expertise in Japan and Indonesia are compared to understand how the meaning of lesson study was reconstructed in the Indonesian setting. In conclusion, recommendations for an alternative approach to professional development are offered.