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Yutori Kyoiku and the uncertainty of recent neo-liberal reforms in Japanese higher education
Wada, Masato Burnett, Bruce
Wada, Masato
Burnett, Bruce
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Abstract
This paper draws upon the current situation within Japanese Higher Education. In particular the paper focuses on educational reforms and how they relate to the notions of Yutori Kyoiku which constituted a major attempt by Japanese education to develop individual student capacity. A clear subtext of the recent neo-liberal reform agenda is a desire to incorporated free-market ideals into the Japanese educational system. This paper raises several important problems connected to the reforms such as the decrease in classroom hours, changes to the contents of textbooks and a growing discrepancy in academic skills between students in different localities. These education reforms have impacted on notions of Yutori Kyoiku through the continuation of nationally standardized testing and changes directed at controlling the practices of classroom teachers. While acknowledging the current Japanese cabinet’s (DP) education policy has been inherited from an earlier LDP government, the paper points to similarities between the current reforms and the iconic Meiji era reforms of the late 1800s.
Keywords
Japanese education system, neo‐liberal education reforms, Yutori Kyoiku
Date
2011
Type
Journal article
Journal
Bulletin of Center for the Research and Support of Educational Practice
Book
Volume
7
Issue
Page Range
69-78
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Education
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
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