The pendulum of educational reform in Japan: 'relaxed' and 'stringent' policies and their effects
| Dates: | 18 April 2013 |
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| Times: | 17:00 - 18:30 |
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| What is it: | Lecture |
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| Organiser: | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures |
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| How much: | free |
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| Who is it for: | Adults, Current University students, General public, University staff |
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| Speaker: | Professor Takehiko Kariya |
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Education reforms in Japanese schools have fluctuated from ‘relaxed’ to ‘stringent’ policies over the last two decades. Until the early 2000s, popular keywords that led education policies were nurturing ‘creativity’ and ‘individuality’ among children, and giving them more ‘room to grow’. However, widespread criticisms led to the reemphasis of conventional learning. How and why have such drastic changes in education policies occurred? What effects did the first ‘relaxed’ stage of reform have on students’ school life? In this paper, Professor Kariya will answer these questions by discourse analysis of policy documents as well as quantitative analysis of high school student surveys conducted in 1979, 1997, and 2009 in 11 high schools. Analyses of the data will show how student school life changed between the times before and after the ‘relaxed’ reform. Lastly, he will discuss what implications those Japanese experiences in education reforms have for other countries.
Speaker
Professor Takehiko Kariya
Organisation: Oxford University
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
LG12
Samuel Alexander Building
Manchester
