Short Abstract

This panel brings together three complementary presentations that examine how the Japanese education system interpreted active learning objectives, translated them into teaching materials, and implemented them in classroom practice.

Long Abstract

Some parts of the Ministry of Education (MEXT) have promoted active learning since the 1970s. The internationalization of education, centralization of government and increased performative funding has allowed the MEXT to push change over the past two decades. In compulsory education, investigation-based learning has been strengthened since 2020. The current Courses of Study use the expression “proactive, interactive, and deep learning”, requiring the realization of such learning. In university education, the Top Global University Project provided funding tied to active learning as a performance indicator since 2014. However, its adoption in textbooks and classrooms is less well understood (Bamkin, 2024).

This panel brings together three complementary presentations that examine how active learning is defined, translated into teaching materials, and implemented in classroom practice in the Japanese context. It aims to understand how active learning was translated into practice in contexts outside the mainstream curriculum – English-based liberal arts programmes in higher education and moral education in compulsory education.

The first presentation will focus on English-based liberal arts programmes in higher education, where active learning has been assigned to many objectives. It will analyse the diversity of practices labelled as active learning and question their alignment with theoretical frameworks and the goal of developing global competence.

The second presentation will focus on the extension of active learning in elementary and secondary school, taking moral education as an example. Three methods are provided as means to realize active learning: text-based identification with characters, problem-based learning, and experiential learning such as role-play.

The third presentation will examine these three pedagogical approaches from a practical point of view, to determine the capacity of course materials and teaching guides to enable teachers to implement an active learning approach in moral education classes in Japan.

By examining a range of contexts outside the mainstream curriculum, with varying relationships to the MEXT, this panel considers more subtle influences in the long arc of active learning policy and practice in a changing education system, and its limitations.