Promoting inclusive social development in Japanese public schools 

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The call for this proposal asks us to consider “What is the longer-term cost of an education that promises productivity, industrialization, modernity, and consumption?” One cost is the lack of focus on educational practices and policies that foster greater social inclusion. Mass schooling remains the major social mechanism by which the nation-state can foster democracy and equality by providing access to educational success for all. Too often, nations ignore practices and policies designed to promote the inclusion of marginalized groups or individuals.

In this session, we focus on Japanese educational policies and practices. As a nation, Japan has often been held up as a model of educational efficiency and economic productivity. We bring together four research papers that investigate the idea of social inclusion in practice and policy. Japan is theoretically interesting in this regard given the depth of research on these issues, as well as the historical issues with social inclusion that we detail below. Although work on Japan in the 1980s and 1990s noted the emphasis placed on social development in early years of schooling (Tobin, Wu et al. 1989, Lewis 1995), social and policy changes have dramatically altered the landscape, raising questions of how equitable and inclusive Japanese education has become (Gordon 2005, Takayama 2007, Gordon, Fujita et al. 2009, Kariya 2012). As (Kariya 2012) notes, social inequality in Japan may hamper the development of skills needed for social success. Government reforms appear to have done little to change this situation. Under such conditions, he argues (p. 137) “Realization of a good civil society or a good nation becomes contingent on socio-economic interests of the advantaged.” And, since Japanese practices such as Lesson Study (Lewis, Perry et al. 2006, Doig and Groves 2011) are now widely copied around the world, it is critical to assess how basic pedagogical models used in Japan may increase or decrease the social inclusion of a wide-range of children.

Historical Issues with Inclusion
Scholars have documented the fact that groups and individuals within Japan have long faced problems of exclusion or differential treatment in schools. There is a significant body of studies that detail the discriminations faced by Japanese of Korean or Burakumin ancestry (Shimahara 1971, Nabeshima 1993, Akiba 2000, Ryang 2005). (Nabeshima 2009) further analyzes the interaction of minority status and socio-economic status (SES) on educational success, emphasizing the point that Japan faces rising socio-economic exclusion, see also (Kariya 2012). Other groups have also been excluded or marginalized in Japanese schools including students with special needs [disabilities] (LeTendre and Shimizu 1999); students with emotional conditions (Borovoy 2008); and students from mixed-race backgrounds (Noiri 2009).

While many groups or individuals faced barriers to inclusion within Japanese schools, it is also clear that inclusion plays a critical role in early Japanese schooling. Major works on early childhood education (Hendry 1986, Tobin, Wu et al. 1989, Peak 1991, Lewis 1995) and elementary schooling (Lewis 1995, Sato 1996) document the emphasis (and teacher effort) placed on promoting an inclusive classroom climate. However, these studies also identify that understandings of “inclusion,” “socio-emotional development” or even “individual” as Japanese concepts/constructs do not match identically to western concepts and constructs. This raises significant questions about how policies and practices that originate in the west can translate to Japan; and what unintended effects the adoption of these policies or practices might entail (Kariya and Rappleye 2010). The reverse is also true – how will the spread and adoption of Japanese practices affect classroom and school capacity for social inclusion in other nations?

Current Practice, Policy and Research
This session uses current research on educational practices and policies to assess how Japanese educators and policy makers are addressing issues of social inclusion and what outcomes may occur. Our work highlights several issues or areas of importance: how do understandings of social inclusion in Japanese schools differ from western contexts? Have governmental policies aided or blocked innovations that might increase social inclusion? What happens when core Japanese practices are “exported” to other countries? How can local schools navigate national policies to create or reduce barriers to the integration of new populations?

Overview of papers
The first paper, by LeTendre, discusses research on how national policy initiatives around ICT affects how schools approach the use of ICT for greater social inclusion. Ethnographic research has uncovered considerable “roadblocks” that may be preventing Japanese teachers from using technology to improve social inclusion. The paper takes a critical look at the forces pushing for greater technology adoption in Japanese schools, and the failure to focus on social inclusion in these policies.

In the second paper, Hayashi and Tobin describe their work on preschool teaching expertise in three cultures. One of the key findings in their study is how Japanese understandings of the individual and the collective challenge the notion of “inclusivity” commonly used in Western scholarship. They analyze how Japanese preschool teachers and directors are thinking about expertise of preschool teaching as collective as well as Japanese preschool teachers think about children’s development as collective.

In the third paper, Lewis looks at how a core Japanese pedagogical technique – using open-ended problem solving in math (Teaching Through Problem-solving) – affects social inclusion practices in the U.S. Using randomized, controlled trials she investigates whether or not this pedagogical technique works to help build mathematical learning among low-income, traditionally underserved students. The study indicates that this technique can significantly improve learning among groups that have historically been marginalized, providing a promising innovation in terms of increasing access and social inclusivity.

Finally, Sakurai presents a paper on inclusive education in Japan. The objective of this study is to explore the dynamics of education for foreign-born students enrolling in Japanese public schools. The study examines whether the special education course (tokubetsuna kyoiku-no-katei) given to foreign-born students provided a scaffolding of cultural diversity and has enshrined inclusive social development for all children at the school or whether such approaches have pushed toward assimilation into a collectivist society.

Sub Unit

• SIG: East Asia

Individual Presentations

• ICT Policy Initiatives and Inclusive Education  - Gerald LeTendre, Penn State University

• Inclusivity and Collectivity in Japanese Early Childhood Education - Akiko Hayashi, Meiji University; Joseph Tobin, University of Georgia

• Increasing Inclusion through Problem Solving - Catherine Lewis, Mills College

• Education for Foreign-Born Students at Japanese schools—Inclusive or Collective? - Riho Sakurai, Hiroshima University

Discussant

• Chris Bjork, Vassar College