Challenging the Framework of Education Focused on Global Human Resource Development in Japan

• In Event: Ideological Clarity as Protest in Teacher Preparation Programs: The Social Imperative to Radicalize Teachers in the United States, Japan, and Chile

Proposal

In comparison to the more highly politicized discussions of education in some parts of the world, for example in the U.S., Japan’s education operates under a regime of adherence to human capital formation, which erodes the possibilities of education for other purposes and in ways that are contrary to the mainstream narratives of competition, individual responsibilitization, and focus on science (or scientistic ways of certifying knowing) above other fields of knowledge and alternative ways of knowing and learning. The training of global human resources (global jinzai; Yonezawa and Shimmi, 2017) affects teacher education and language programs which are rationalized to compartmentalized knowledge. For language learners this means a dominant focus on passing proficiency tests, such as TOEFL and TOEIC, in order to obtain and record demonstrable skills that are required by gatekeeping authorities (schools and employers) and are consequently less important than everyday use of language.
Both in contrast but in a similar way ideologically in Japan, while the majority of teachers share same ethnic and linguistic background as their future students, they become increasingly aware of their roles in complementing a Ministry of Education (Monbukagushou) backed agenda which excludes most education which is not instrumental and oriented towards the needs of future employers, as codified in the conceptualization of global human resources, workers who are both good for Japan and for Japan’s future are conceived in a world of neoliberal competition with other countries. In both contexts, pre-service teachers sometimes enter certification programs thinking that education is neutral, or should be, and thus uncritically or unconsciously reflect on or impose dominant ideological systems onto their students. To counter this practice, teacher preparation programs need to intentionally incorporate practices that help teachers reflect on the strategies and understandings they bring to the classroom.
In this presentation, I focus on the political aspects of non-politicized education, providing examples of the difficulties in breaking from the frame that is pre-given by the dominance of the Ministry of Education guidelines but also by the inculcation of mentalities in the education of university students, including pre-service teachers, for instrumental purposes, namely, to receive qualifications for subsequent job-hunting activities which many university students in Japan begin in their third year of university. I also provide some examples of students’ positive reactions to segments and examples of critical pedagogy that I introduce in a lecture class on globalization of education to highlight the multivalent aspects of cultural models of education which can be used both by conservatives for reproduction of depoliticized education, but also by others to challenge the dominant models of education, both globally and at the local level in Japan.

Author

• William Bradley, Ryukoku University