- Convenors:
-
Robert Aspinall
(Doshisha University)
Sam Bamkin
Yutaro Tsuji (Doshisha University)
Send message to Convenors
- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- Anthropology and Sociology
Short Abstract
The panel brings into focus the process of implementing change in a large and complex education system. The three papers discuss policies on internationalization, the implementation of Digital Transformation, and transformations taking place in the Japanese Higher Education sector.
Long Abstract
Historically, the anthropological roots of much research on education in Japan de-emphasized change. The research presented here positions education in relation to demographics, applied linguistics, finance, technology, social perceptions, politics and policymaking. In doing so, it positions education as a site which brings social change into focus.
The panel brings into focus the process of implementing change in a large and complex education system. External actors, such as employers and businesses, make competing demands and exert various influences on government. When the government achieves 'joined up' policymaking process, new fractures tend to appear. And even when goals are clear and consensus is achieved, practical realities and the ‘law of unintended consequences’ lead to frustrations and misunderstandings among those tasked with carrying out policy in boardrooms and classrooms.
The three papers discuss policies on internationalization, the implementation of Digital Transformation, and transformations taking place in the Higher Education sector. They have in common a search for a fuller understanding of what happens when policies make the journey from the ‘drawing board’ to the ‘genba’.
| Abstract in Japanese (if needed) |
Accepted papers
Paper short abstract
The implementation of Japan’s internationalization policies are hampered by shortcomings in the area of English language education policy. This paper investigates the ideological and practical aspects of government policy that are responsible for this situation.
Paper long abstract
Since the 1980s, improving foreign language teaching and promoting educational internationalization have been cornerstones of Japan’s education policy. Although these two areas of policy-making seem to be complementary, this paper will show how in actuality the former has been holding back advances in the latter. This paper explains this paradox by exploring both the ideological and practical aspects of government policy in these areas.
The successful implementation of Japan’s internationalization agenda is hampered by the inability of most Japanese university students to converse in English at a level required for advanced study in that language. Various shortcomings of the English language curriculum at the secondary school level account for this problem. There have been serious and well thought through efforts at reform since the 1980s, but to date the practical results have been frustratingly inadequate. Practical difficulties are compounded by an ideological disposition to see language as a marker of national identity.
A policy of linguistic homogeneity inhibits many kinds of intellectual and economic growth, but it also protects Japan from the dangers of an uncertain and potentially hostile world. The nationalism of Japan’s ruling elites caused the dominant response to the challenges of globalization to be one of defending Japanese national identity rather than embracing cosmopolitanism. The challenge for those members of the elite who recognize that Japan’s security and prosperity depend on having more people who can communicate better in English, a prerequisite for the nurturing of transnational human capital, remains how to achieve this without diluting or undermining the cultural identity of those who become very proficient in the language of the “other.”
Paper short abstract
This paper reports on the implementation of Digital Transformation at five municipal boards of education in Japan and considers its implications for the future of education and education policymaking.
Paper long abstract
Japan’s ambitious national policy for Digital Transformation (DX) is driven at the Cabinet level and is attracting immense public funds. Yet in education, policy is rarely implemented in local schools as intended. In short, the Ministry of Education, each local government, school teachers and other actors mediate how policies are enacted (Ball et al 2012). Jenny Ozga (2000: 113) calls for the study of ’other moments in the process of policy and policy enactment that go on in and around schools’ which are usually ‘marginalized or go unrecognized’ between ‘different groups who may lie outside of the formal machinery of official policy making'. This paper reports on the implementation of DX at five municipal boards of education in Japan and considers its implications for the future of education and education policymaking.
The national government based its vision for Digital Transformation on its ‘Society 5.0’ response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution zeitgeist. Policies for DX in education are not initiated by the Ministry of Education, but are ‘driven through it’ (see Bamkin 2024). The GIGA School initiative installed high-speed wifi in all schools and provided each student with a tablet; and local governments can now enter into partnerships with private providers and guest teachers. But what is really changing at the local level?
To answer this question, we undertook interviews with civil servants at the national level and, more importantly, with board of education officials and principals in five municipalities. The results shed light on infrastructural, administrative, and pedagogic changes; the changing role of teachers; and possible changes in the conceptualisation of what ‘learning’ means. These results shed light on changing power dynamics in the sphere of education in Japan.
Paper short abstract
This presentation introduces the challenges Japanese higher education faces in the era of rapid demographic change, summarises policy reactions to them in the past two decades, and discusses their implications for the whole Japanese higher education.
Paper long abstract
As is widely known, Japan has been facing a huge demographic change for decades. One of the consequences is a demand for reconstructing the higher education sector in two directions: catching up and closing out.
On the one hand, the Japanese government tries to catch up to more ‘advanced’ countries. A sense of urgency to enrich human resources and raise economic competitiveness has been shared by past administrations. Combined with a limited financial capacity, this has led to the optimisation of not only resources spent on the sector through promoting competition between institutions, but also the sector as a whole by explicitly stratifying (national) universities. This includes designating ‘universities of research excellence’ and financially supporting them through so-called ‘10 trillion funds’.
On the other hand, the government is trying to prevent an over-supply of higher education, especially in the private universities. Historically, these institutions had taken on the role of absorbing increasing demand for higher education, making Japan a leading country in the ‘world of private higher education’ (Levy, 2024). Now, many institutions are considering closing down due to population decline. The government, once the sponsor of their expansion, aims to ensure that the sector shrinks smoothly while ensuring equity in higher education opportunities across the country.
These measures raise questions about the future of higher education in Japan. What policies might emerge, and what forms of institutional transformation might they entail? This presentation offers a space for the audience to consider and discuss the future directions of higher education in Japan.
References.
Levy, Daniel. C. 2024. A World of Private Higher Education. Oxford University Press.