Enacting Moral Education in Japan: Between State Policy and School Practice (Routledge Series on Schools and Schooling in Asia) [1 ed.] 0367646145, 9780367646141

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Contents
List of key terms and abbreviations
List of textbook publisher abbreviations
List of historic persons
Series editor note
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 History, politics, and the changing policymaking processes
2 The disjoint between research on policy and research on practice
3 Policy evolution through the Ministry
4 Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject
5 Constructing a baseline on classroom practice
6 Making sense of curriculum content in the school
7 Enacting pedagogy in the school
8 Translating policy in(to) the school
9 Policy enactment in Japan
Appendix A. Fieldwork context and access
Appendix B. List of participants (2018–2020)
Appendix C. Textbook materials referenced
Index

Citation preview

Enacting Moral Education in Japan

Drawing on the case of moral education reform, this book provides an authoritative picture of how policy is enacted between state policymaking and school practice in Japan. The study follows the 2015 moral education reform from its genesis in central government, through the Ministry of Education to its enactment by local government and schools. The book looks beyond written policies, curricula, and textbooks to examine how teachers, school administrators, and others make sense of, and translate, policy into practice in the Japanese classroom context. Chapters explore how moral education practice has changed in response to the intentions of national policy and analyse the implications for understanding processes of policy enactment in the Japanese education system. This book presents a new perspective on the complexity of education policymaking, practice, and the gaps in between. It will be of interest to postgraduate students, researchers, and academics in the felds of education policy and politics, moral education, school administration, and international and comparative education more broadly, particularly in Asia. Sam Bamkin is Assistant Professor, University of Tokyo, Japan.

Routledge Series on Schools and Schooling in Asia Series editor: Kerry J. Kennedy

Supporting Diverse Students in Asian Inclusive Classrooms From Policies and Theories to Practice Edited by Ming-Tak Hue and Shahid Karim Student Self-Assessment as a Process for Learning Zi Yan Culturally Responsive Science Pedagogy in Asia Status and Challenges for Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan Edited by Lilia Halim, Murni Ramli and Mohd Norawi Ali The Asia Literacy Dilemma A Curriculum Perspective Rebecca Cairns and Michiko Weinmann Educating Teachers Online in Challenging Times The Case of Hong Kong Edited by Kevin Wai Ho Yung and Hui Xuan Xu Cross-disciplinary STEM Learning for Asian Primary Students Design, Practices and Outcomes Edited by Winnie Wing Mui So, Zhi Hong Wan and Tian Luo Teachers’ Journeys into International School Teaching in China Exploring Motivations and Mobilities Adam Poole Enacting Moral Education in Japan Between State Policy and School Practice Sam Bamkin For the full list of titles in the series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ Routledge-Series-on-Schools-and-Schooling-in-Asia/book-series/RSSSA

Enacting Moral Education in Japan

Between State Policy and School Practice

Sam Bamkin

First published 2024 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2024 Sam Bamkin The right of Sam Bamkin to be identifed as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Bamkin, Sam, 1980– author. Title: Enacting moral education in Japan : between state policy and school practice / Sam Bamkin. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2024. | Series: Routledge series on schools and schooling in Asia | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifers: LCCN 2023037734 (print) | LCCN 2023037735 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367646141 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367646158 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003125471 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Moral education—Japan. | Educational change—Japan. | Education and state—Japan. Classifcation: LCC LC315.J3 B29 2024 (print) | LCC LC315.J3 (ebook) | DDC 370.11/40952—dc23/eng/20230925 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023037734 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023037735 ISBN: 978-0-367-64614-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-64615-8 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-12547-1 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003125471 Typeset in Galliard by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Contents

List of key terms and abbreviations List of textbook publisher abbreviations List of historic persons Series editor note Acknowledgements Introduction

vi viii ix x xi 1

1

History, politics, and the changing policymaking processes

17

2

The disjoint between research on policy and research on practice

40

3

Policy evolution through the Ministry

59

4

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

82

5

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

116

6

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

148

7

Enacting pedagogy in the school

175

8

Translating policy in(to) the school

200

9

Policy enactment in Japan

219

Appendix A. Fieldwork context and access Appendix B. List of participants (2018–2020) Appendix C. Textbook materials referenced Index

239 245 247 250

Key terms and abbreviations

BoE

CCE

ES

FLE HRT

JHS JTU

LDP MEXT MOE

Ad Hoc Council on Education 臨時教育審議会 (1984–7) Reform board of education 教育委員会事務局, 教育庁 or equivalent Bureau of Primary and 初等中等教育局 Secondary Education Central Council for Education 中央教育審議会 coursebook 副読本 frst Education Rebuilding 教育再生会議 (2006–8) Council second Education Rebuilding 教育再生実行会議 (2013–21) Council elementary school 小学校 external collaborators on the 道徳教育に係る評価等の在り方に curriculum guidance for moral 関する専門家会議 (2015–16) education Fundamental Law of 教育基本法 Education homeroom teacher 学級担任(教諭) Integrated Moral Education (東京学芸大学) 総合的道徳教育プ Programme (Tokyo Gakugei ログラム University) junior high school 中学校. Grades are labelled 7, 8, and 9 for ease of reading Japan Teachers’ Union 日本教職員組合 (日教組) kokugo 国語科. The school subject of Japanese LDP-Komeito Committee for 与党教育基本法改正に関する協議 Revising the FLE 会 (2003–6) Liberal Democratic Party, 自由民主党, 自民党 Jimintō Ministry of Education 文部科学省 or its predecessor 文部省

Key terms and abbreviations vii moral education, dōtoku Moral Education Expert Panel (of the CCE) National Council on Education Reform national curriculum (public) policy council Roundtable on the Enhancement of Moral Education supra-cabinet council

Society for the New Study of Morality and Education textbook vice-principal

Used as a gloss for 道徳 (中央教育審議会初等中等教育分 科会) 道徳教育専門部会 教育改革国民会議 (2000–1) 学習指導要領 審議会 道徳教育の充実に関する懇談会 (2013)

A public policy council established in the Prime Minister’s Ofce; or a private policy council (私的諮問会 議) established by cabinet ordinance 新しい道徳教育を考える会 教科書 副校長 or 教頭, for simplicity

Textbook publisher abbreviations

Akatsuki Gakken Gakuto Kōbun Kyōshu Mitsumura Nichibun Tokyo Shoseki

あかつき教育図書. Formerly 廣済堂あかつき Gakken. Formerly 学研教育みらい 学校図書 光文書院 教育出版 光村図書出版 日本文教出版 東京書籍

Historic persons

Teiyu Amano Yukichi Fukuzawa Katsuo Kaigo Yasuyoshi Katsu Mitake Katsube Hayao Kawai Ichiro Kiyose Saburo Ienaga Tomonobu Imamichi Itsuo Ishikawa Tadanao Miki Yukina Miyakoshi Takeo Miyata Kuniyoshi Obara Yasumasa Oshima Katsumoto Saotome Masataro Sawayanagi

1884–1980 1835–1901 1905–1972 1823–1899 1916–2005 1928–2007 1884–1967 1913–2002 1922–2012 1931–2001 1909–2005 1987–1998 1909–1986 1887–1977 1917–1989 1932–2022 1865–1927

天野貞祐 福澤諭吉 海後勝雄 勝安芳 (勝海舟) 勝部真長 河合隼雄 清瀬一郎 家永三郎 今道友信 石川佾男 三木忠直 宮越由貴奈 宮田丈夫 小原國芳 大島康正 早乙女勝元 澤柳政太郎

Series editor note

The so-called Asian century is providing opportunities and challenges both for the people of Asia as well as in the West. The success of many of Asia’s young people in schooling often leads educators in the West to try and emulate Asian school practices. Yet these practices are culturally embedded. One of the key issues to be taken on by this series, therefore, is to provide Western policymakers and academics with insights into these culturally embedded practices in order to assist better understanding of them outside specifc cultural contexts. There is vast diversity as well as disparities within Asia. This is a fundamental issue, and for that reason and it will be addressed in this series by making these diversities and disparities the subject of investigation. The ‘tiger’ economies initially grabbed most of the media attention on Asian development, and more recently China has become the centre of attention. Yet there are also very poor countries in the region, and their education systems seem unable to be transformed to meet new challenges. Thus, the whole of Asia will be seen as important for this series in order to address not only questions relevant to developed countries but also to developing countries. In other words, the series will take a ‘whole of Asia’ approach. Asia can no longer be considered in isolation. It is as subject to the forces of globalization, migration, and transnational movements as are other regions of the world. Yet the diversity of cultures, religions, and social practices in Asia means that responses to these forces are not predictable. This series, therefore, is interested to identify the ways tradition and modernity interact to produce distinctive contexts for schools and schooling in an area of the world that impacts across the globe. Against this background, the current volume deals with issues of policy and practice relating to moral education in Japan. The focus on moral education that is characteristic of much of the region makes it a particularly relevant contribution to the Routledge Series on Schools and Schooling in Asia. It explores how teachers enact policy and how these multiple enactments refect, or not, national strategies and government intentions. Importantly, the book provides an agentic view of teacher work in a policy environment that has been described in contradictory ways – at times as highly constraining and at times as a professional environment facilitating teacher work. Kerry J. Kennedy Series Editor Routledge Series on Schools and Schooling in Asia

Acknowledgements

Amongst many colleagues who have supported my studies, I wish to frst thank Masaaki Katsuno at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Education for his encouragement, advice, and generous, ongoing support. I am grateful to Kenji Maehara at Tokyo Gakugei University for following my studies and ofering insightful advice and introductions at key moments. Akito Okada at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies introduced me variously to junior high schools and to key people in local government, as did Midori Ueda, Kenji Ehara, Haruo Sato, Yumi Tsuji, and Osamu Yoshida. I am also grateful to Robert Aspinall at Doshisha University and Peter Cave at the University of Manchester for their encouragement and discussion. Finally, this study was only possible owing to the acceptance and cooperation of countless anonymized teachers and administrators at the many schools that welcomed my visits, presence in their classrooms and stafrooms, and frequent questions. The study for this book spanned four years in earnest. The frst two years at the Tokyo Gakugei University Curriculum Center for Teachers and Research Center for Education in the Next Generation allowed time for extensive feldwork. The latter two years at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Education provided space for advanced study in policymaking and its relation to practice, and discussion as part of the School Improvement and Policy Studies Research Group. During this time, I was additionally appointed to the University of Tokyo Institute for Advanced Study on Asia, which provided an excellent environment to complete this work alongside other duties. I am grateful to Jin Sato for this opportunity. Chapter Two develops arguments made in the article ‘The Disjoint Between Research on Policy and Research on Practice’ published in the Social Science Japan Journal, some parts of which are reproduced with permission of Oxford University Press in association with the University of Tokyo Institute of Social Science. The main argument in Chapter Three was developed in the chapter ‘Working Through the Ministry of Education’ published by Springer under a Creative Commons (CC-BY 4.0) licence in the book Japan’s School Curriculum for the 2020s: Politics, Policy and Pedagogy, edited with Akito Okada. This version is adapted for the book, with some addition analysis. Some paragraphs in Chapter Five are developed from preliminary analyses presented in

xii

Acknowledgements

the articles ‘Reforms to Strengthen Moral Education’ and ‘The Taught Curriculum of Moral Education’, both published in Contemporary Japan. These are reproduced with permission of Routledge in association with the German Institute for Japanese Studies. Some analyses in Chapter Eight were presented in a diferent context in the article ‘Practitioner Advocates in Japan’ published in the Journal of Education Policy. These sections are reworked with permission of Routledge. In addition to the reviewers of this book, I am grateful to reviewers and readers of these three journals for suggestions and comments that improved my understanding of the limitations and relevance of these discussions, and to the respective editors and publishers for permission to reproduce parts of these articles. I am grateful to the Japan Ministry of Education for the award of a Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship (2018, extended in 2020) that made possible the feldwork and dedicated time for writing. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 23K18861.

Introduction

In Japan, as elsewhere, national education policy cannot be simply implemented in schools. Rather, teachers enact policy as they make sense of it and ‘translate’ it into practice. In the Japanese context, it has long been suggested that highlevel written policy, once promulgated, can be mediated by the policy work of practitioners on the ground. However, little is known about these processes that occur between state policy and school practice in contemporary Japan. Such questions have become more pressing since the turn of the millennium. Administrative and election reforms in Japan have empowered the central government, particularly the ofce of the prime minister, to write education policy without concern for ‘factional’ intra-party wrangling. Simultaneously, the decline of opposition politics and unions has continued, and policymaking has become mobile. Commentators suggest that the Ministry of Education has lost ground through this reconfguration in respect to both the central government and local government, though its position in this new policymaking process remains understudied. Moreover, with one exception, numerous decades have passed since the last contentious curriculum reforms were fought below the level of national government. Teachers were historically described as organized, ideologically driven, and anti-government. However, there has been little opportunity to test the strength of these assertions in recent decades, and the positions of teachers and school administrators in relation to curriculum policy is ripe for reconsideration. It was in this new policymaking context that moral education underwent its most signifcant reform since its (re)introduction into the Japanese national curriculum in 1958. As part of a suite of nation-building policies implemented mainly by the Abe administrations, and on the heels of the controversial 2006 revision to the Fundamental Law of Education, high-level policy worked to ‘strengthen’ moral education. The reform attracted criticism in the Left-leaning press and in the scholarly community, who charged the government with the subordination of individual rights and democracy in pursuit of a statist dream. Teachers and educators perceived the strengthening of moral education as being motivated by nationalism. However, any strong response from teachers was largely muted. It is unclear whether this signifes a less autonomous DOI: 10.4324/9781003125471-1

2

Introduction

teaching force, agreement with the resulting curriculum, acquiescence, or confdence in the ability of actors on the ground to ameliorate disagreeable aspects. Current research on moral education is largely silent on questions of practice, relying instead on policy documents. This approach rests on an implicit assumption that policy is implemented as intended. Theory developed in other contexts cautions against this assumption. This study follows one trajectory of policy, that of the 2015 moral education reform, from its genesis in central government, through the Ministry of Education to its enactment by local government and schools. It looks beyond written policies, curricula, and textbooks to examine how teachers, school administrators, and other actors translate policy into practice. Whilst doing so, it provides the frst methodical examination of moral education practice in Japan’s schools, in either English or Japanese. Readers interested in moral education practice will fnd a new perspective on its complexity and its relationship to policy. More importantly, the case of moral education is leveraged to shed light on the micro-processes of education policy enactment in Japan, how reform happens after (and before) the promulgation of written policy. The case provides a generative window through which to examine the enactment of curriculum reform because of its long political history, the process by which it was formulated and the content of the policy. The primary audience of this book will be scholars of education policymaking and educational administration, in the Japanese and comparative contexts. This book examines (1) how moral education has changed in practice in reference to the intentions of national policy, (2) how teachers and school administrators in Japan make sense of and enact moral education reform in the local context, (3) what other actors are involved in translating curriculum policy into practice and how they operate, and (4) the implications for understanding processes of policy enactment, in reference to the Japanese education system. The study flls in some of the gaps between policy and practice, illustrating the contributions of actors who are often overlooked and the interactions between them. It aims to provide a more thorough account of how policy is enacted between state policymaking and school practice through the case of moral education reform. Previous studies of curriculum reform in Japan The scarcity of work done on education reform in practice in Japan can be partly attributed to the relative immobilism of education policy between the 1960s and 1990s. Reform proposals intending fundamental change, though proposed and debated widely, rarely made it past the ofces of national government. Schoppa (1991a) demonstrated that even the strongest pushes from central government during the 1970s and 1980s could be largely overcome by the interests of the Ministry of Education. Though curriculum content changed, the overall characterization of ofcial requirements was one of

Introduction

3

relative stability. The new subject of life studies in the lower grades of elementary school in the early-1990s, and the call for greater experiential learning in the late-90s, were child-centred and compatible with constructivist learning, which was supported by a majority of elementary school practitioners. During this period, many studies (Duke 1973; Thurston 1973; Ichikawa 1984; Schoppa 1991a) theorized that the Ministry could formulate only policies that mustered support of an ideological and autonomous corps of teachers. However, the only empirical examples of teachers decisively defeating national policies were drawn from the heady days of the 1950s and early-1960s when total mobilization for war was in living memory and when economic recovery was far from ascertained, and the Japan Teachers’ Union successfully organized teachers in opposition to the academic achievement test and the teacher efciency rating through relatively concerted action on the ground. To this might be added the 1958 (re)introduction of moral education, which, though implemented, caused controversy for decades. Non-mandatory policies written by the Ministry have long been interpreted by prefectural boards of education or in school diferently to their initial intention. This has been seen as a weakness of the education system by ofcials (Ichikawa 1984). It has also been seen as a strength. Previous research has noted, but not explored, the potential for a ‘soft middle layer’ (DeCoker 2002) of educational administrators in Japan who understand the local context and work with teachers to mediate national policy based on knowledge of practice. Specifc examples included the structure of the curriculum within which lesson studies across the nation might consider similar topics and engage in accumulating knowledge and undertaking improvement bottom-up, as well as teacher involvement in textbook composition and selection (Lewis and Tsuchida 1997, Lewis et al. 2002). This led to the topic of ‘lesson study’ and comparative textbook studies as felds of research. In this environment, change was theorized to be largely driven by teachers working in member-led associations aided by the structure of the curriculum and textbooks (DeCoker 2002). However, despite discussion of the potential for bottom-up infuence, descriptions of the processes by which this occurs remain partial. Both Lewis (Lewis and Tsuchida 1997; Lewis et al. 2002) and the contributing authors of DeCoker’s (2002) edited volume, whilst detailing some procedures for the Ministry of Education to consult with educators and some of the processes of textbook authors, assume that Japanese teachers have autonomy to resist policies incompatible with their pedagogic beliefs. Whilst resistance may have been organized, strong, and efective in the 1950s and 1960s, it is unclear how the micro-processes of resistance might have worked in the economically more comfortable and politically more stable days of the late-1980s. In what Pempel (1998) calls a ‘regime shift’, political cleavages for incoming teachers moved away from Cold War issues on the traditional RightLeft continuum and toward questions of economic revitalization and reform. The question, at least for voters, was no longer whether reform might occur, but what kind of reform. The demise of the Union as an efective oppositional

4

Introduction

force is partly another result of the same cause (Thurston 1989; Aspinall 2001; MEXT 2020 for statistics). Following this, it was only ten years until the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) pushed through a law that required the national fag and anthem to feature at school ceremonies, which had been a particular bone of contention through the early post-War period. The depth of feeling amongst some members of the teaching community was clear and included some isolated shocking incidents. Yet, strong and efective resistance did not organize widely for long (Aspinall and Cave 2001). It is also important to note that the installation of the fag and anthem at a majority of schools had already been efectuated at the prefectural level, through a decade during which the Ministry ‘requested’ that prefectural administrations bring about such change (ibid). In light of such outcomes, where only small pockets of opposition were evident, evincing a strong theory of both willingness and capacity of teachers or school administrators to resist culturally conservative policy becomes even more questionable entering the third decade of the millennium. The frst contentious education reforms to restructure the curriculum were the ‘relaxed education’ reforms of the late-1990s, described by Cave (2001: 179) as ‘the most radical since the introduction of a national curriculum in the late 1950s’. The tone of the debate was further infamed by media outrage in response to the 2003 ‘PISA-shock’, when Japan was ranked lower than expected in the PISA tests barely a year after the reforms came into efect. Both Cave (2016a) and Bjork (2016) examined reforms promulgated under the banner of ‘relaxed education’ (yutori kyōiku), focusing on its creation of classtime for integrated studies (sōgōteki na gakushū). Akin to the current reform of moral education, reforms promoting relaxed education were discussed for many years before being passed, were undertaken with reference to a perceived crisis in education that polarized debate in both the media and academic circles (Tsuneyoshi 2004), and can be defned either broadly as a set of aims and objectives or narrowly as specifc changes to the curriculum. Both Bjork and Cave engage with the complexity faced by teachers incorporating reform into practice within constraints of time, training, and resources. Both fnd that the principles of relaxed education were largely supported by the shared beliefs and practices of elementary school educators, where outcomes can thus be described as incremental (Cuban 1993). However, though many junior high school teachers were also initially supportive of the ostensibly progressive principles of relaxed education, fulflling these aims would have required teachers to greatly re-confgure or abandon long-standing practices, or to overlook long-standing priorities. Therefore, though requirements would be fulflled, teacher investment remained less than wholehearted. Often, enactment amounted to existing practices, relabelled or reorganized to fulfl what was required. These works explain the limited realization of the reform’s intended results, based on accounts of classroom teachers. This provides a convincing explanation why certain solutions were acceptable in local contexts, and perhaps why other solutions were less palatable. However, adopting a relatively fat conception of the school organization, not

Introduction

5

dissimilar from those of Lewis and DeCoker, neither Bjork nor Cave explored the exchange of practice between schools and between geographically disparate regions,1 nor the micro-processes of exchanges between educators with difering orientations to policy work. The reform of moral education was similarly realized through a curriculum revision. However, its features difer from those of integrated studies in important ways, which enhance its capacity to illuminate tensions in the policymaking process and in processes of policy enactment. Moral education policy as a case of enactment Moral education is one of the most controversial aspects of Japanese schooling. It has served as a key ideological battleground in post-War education, and perhaps further back in history. Journalism and research on high-level policymaking have exposed nationalistic motives drawing inspiration from antecedents in pre-1945 imperialistic indoctrination. However, teachers and school administrators are unlikely to be willing agents of mass-indoctrination and are neither ignorant of debates on imperialism and post-War political struggles, nor are they powerless to navigate insensitive policy. Between 2015 and 2020, moral education underwent its most signifcant reform for 60 years, since its (re)introduction in 1958. The central government determined that moral education would be ‘strengthened’. It was redesignated as a ‘special subject’ rather than a ‘domain’ (ryōiki). The existing domain had designated classtime and the number of classroom hours did not change. Substantively, the moral education subject would newly require the use of a textbook selected from a range approved by the Ministry of Education, an annual syllabus to be pre-written by each school, and qualitative assessments of students throughout the nine grades of compulsory education. Moral education difers from previous curriculum reforms. Firstly, in contrast to ‘relaxed education’ and the introduction of integrated studies, moral education is readily associated with culturally conservative ideology. The teaching profession in Japan had a history of progressive and anti-conservative tendencies. As suggested earlier, the extent to which the Left-Right framing of the debate is actively sustained by the teaching community is ripe for reappraisal. Nonetheless, opposition may be more pronounced or confdent in the face of a conservative policy, particularly as it was promulgated with nationalistic undertones, strands of which have been fought and defeated in the collective memory of teachers. Secondly, the structural genesis of the reform is diferent. Like many nations, the policymaking initiative of the central government in Japan has been strengthened in recent years through administrative reform (Mulgan 2018; Zakowski 2021), such that the cabinet can initiate education policy. During the same period, the culturally conservative wing of the dominant LDP solidifed its pre-eminence in the party (Nakakita 2020). Executive decision-making about process has been decentralized, to an extent, to local government but

6

Introduction

not extensively to individual schools (Katsuno 2008; Nitta 2008; Ogawa 2010b; Omomo 2019). Both of these directions have precipitated a decline in the direct power of the Ministry of Education, which traditionally held the lion’s share of policymaking power in education. Central government has recently moved to determine not only economic policy and outcomes, but also curriculum content, which is frmly in the portfolio of education. In contrast to reforms under the banner of relaxed education, which were long-term projects of the Ministry of Education, the reform of moral education was initiated by a supra-cabinet policy council established by the prime minister ‘above’ the Ministry of Education. Thirdly, the structure and requirements of the policy itself difer. Educators struggled with the earlier requirements for integrated studies (Bjork 2016; Cave 2016a). The Ministry provided a set of progressive objectives but left a decisively blank slate for individual schools or municipalities to decide the format and content. Despite occupying between two and four hours per week, the relevant (1998) curriculum dedicated only one page to its provisions. To the contrary, the reform of moral education provides detailed content requirements. As previously suggested, the content is culturally conservative. However, the form of the policy is also traditional in the sense that it does not establish mechanisms of performance management beyond those mechanisms operating generally in schools. Therefore, it cannot be easily described in terms of the alliance between (neo)conservative and neoliberal thought that has been identifed in many reform initiatives since the 1980s (Harvey 2005). It is unclear how these factors shape the processes of policymaking and enactment. Doing policy Policy-engaged research on the ground in the Japanese context has drawn on anthropological traditions of ethnography to privilege the voice of classroom teachers, providing an important perspective on practice and the state of policies near ‘the end of the line’. This leaves a large gap between policy and practice. Policy is done not only by governmental bodies but also at local sites such as schools and classrooms (S. Ball 1987, 1993, 1994; Cohen and D. L. Ball 1990; Taylor et al. 1997; Ozga 2000; S. Ball et al. 2012). Early studies of policy implementation examined the extent to which teachers ‘faithfully’ implemented ‘the’ intention of policy (see McLaughlin 1987; Hill and Hupe 2002: 85–115 for reviews), fnding that it is rare for policies to be implemented as intended (Lipsky 1980; McLaughlin 1987; Cuban 1990; Hargreaves et al. 2001; Fullan 2007). Drawing on Lipsky’s (1980) notion of the ‘street level bureaucrat’, McLaughlin notes that ‘a policy is transformed as individual actors interpret and respond to it. What is actually delivered or provided under the aegis of a policy depends fnally on the individual at the end of the line’ (1987: 174). Jenny Ozga 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

Introduction

7

‘marginalized or go unrecognized’ in the ‘negotiation, contestation or struggle between diferent groups who may lie outside of the formal machinery of ofcial policy making’ (Ozga 2000: 113). Ozga has in mind the study of both high-level policy and the work of teachers, but she also has in mind layers of policy mediation and complex networks between them. This study seeks to expand the range of actors and moments of policy examined to move toward a theory of enactment based on the analysis of ‘micro-momentary actions’ (Porac et al. 1989) by teachers and other actors in the school, whilst not losing sight of the structures of the education system. Schools work continuously to enact a plethora of live policies that fade in and out, and which all partially confict and demand time (Braun et al. 2010). Multiple trajectories of policy enter the local context. They overlap and contradict, giving rise to multiple ways policy intentions can be realized, none of which will satisfy all of their combined demands. Taking teachers’ work seriously in the institutional context, Cohen and D. L. Ball (1990) reconceptualized what policy is, using the term enactment. They observe that teachers and school administrators: enacted new instructional policies in terms of their inherited beliefs, knowledge, and practices. . . . They reframed the policy in terms of what they already knew, believed, and did in classrooms. The result in many classrooms was a remarkable mélange of old and new. (ibid) What happens in classrooms is shaped not only by regulatory means, but also by normative and cognitive means (Scott 2001). Much depends on how teachers, school administrators, and other actors make sense (Weick 1995; Spillane et al. 2002b; Spillane 2004) of policies based on their prior knowledge, beliefs and practices, the context and type of policy in question, and translations ofered by colleagues. Sensemaking is the process of asking (1) ‘How does something come to be an event or issue for members of an organization?’ (2) ‘What does the event mean?’ and (3) ‘What should I do?’ (Weick et al. 2005). Sensemaking is a socially situated endeavour, made in reference to relatively stable institutionalized beliefs and practices, or a ‘common sense’ to members of the community of teachers. DiMaggio and Powell observe ‘taken for granted scripts, rules, and classifcations’ (1991: 4) in institutions which are reproduced routinely rather than through special efort (Jepperson 1991: 145). The community of teachers may be considered an institution (DiMaggio and Powell 1991), a ‘thought community’ (Spillane et al. 2002b: 393), a ‘social system’ (Fullan 2007), or ‘discourse community’ (Bacchi 2009). The idea of institutionalized beliefs and practices is similar to Weick’s teaching grammars (1979) and to ethnopedagogies (see Tobin et al. 1989). However, the idea of institutions has the advantage of avoiding notions of national culture seen as ‘static, ahistorical, holistic or apolitical’ (Kipnis 2011: 4; see Cave 2016a: 10). To the

8

Introduction

contrary, institutions are maintained through their own mechanisms of horizontal and vertical learning. This study looks beyond written policy to examine how policy is translated into practice and how reforms are enacted in classrooms and schools. Examining the micro-processes of policy enactment opens debates not only on educators as policy actors, but also on the complex and hierarchical organization of teaching and school administration. Method, primary data, and analysis Documents from national government bodies and textbook publishers are analysed to provide a partial, and changing, picture of ofcial and semi-ofcial policy intentions. Against this, feldwork provides insight into how moral education is done on the ground, in and around schools. It questions how teachers, school administrators, and other actors make sense of and enact new ideas that enter the school as policy. At times, documents are followed backward along trajectories of policy to partially reconstruct how meaning was made in the school or classroom. This study’s primary feldwork is most easily described as ethnographic in its approach, supported by other methods, such as policy analysis and textbook analysis. The ethnographic approach reveals ‘not only the detailed behaviors of local actors . . . but also the assumptions, understandings, and beliefs in which such behavior is grounded’ (Cave 2016a: 7). The ‘ground-level view of reform provides valuable insights into a system that is frequently mischaracterized, sensationalized, and misunderstood’ (Bjork 2016: 11), and it sheds light on socially situated meaning (e.g. Walford 2001). The ethnographic data collection is multisited at various schools, boards of education, and practice-sharing conferences. The main period of feldwork spanned two years. Fieldwork in elementary schools began in the months before the revised curriculum came into efect in April 2018. Fieldwork in junior high schools began during the second term of 2018–19, before the revised curriculum came into efect in April 2019. This period of feldwork wound up during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. During the feldwork period, approximately 120 days were concentrated in nine ‘feldwork schools’ in three municipalities. I observed faculty meetings and changes to documents in the school; discussed the changes in general and in the context of each feldwork school; observed a range of lessons, including moral education lessons; and conducted interviews in reference to shared events and lessons observed. These included the observation of seven six-week blocks of moral education lessons across all classes in the given yeargroup alongside postlesson and additional interviews with all teachers in those yeargroups, at four of the feldwork schools, and an additional intensive block observing all classes for one week. Auxiliary data include three months of preliminary feldwork in 2015, comprising shorter visits to schools in an overlapping set of municipalities; about 30 single-day visits to other schools between

Introduction

9

2016 and 2020; participation in various formats of lesson study and study groups; a questionnaire survey conducted with all teaching staf at eight of the feldwork schools; and unpublished documents sourced at schools, study groups, conferences, and boards of education. The analysis of textbooks was supported by interviews with editorial and marketing staf at commercial textbook publishers and a dataset showing how teaching materials changed through time in commercially published textbooks. For the main feldwork period, measures were taken to reduce bias in the selection of schools and participants. Whilst I embraced invitations to a wide range of schools for auxiliary data, I was selective about which ones were developed as ‘feldwork schools’. Most simply, laboratory schools and private schools, which make it their business to be visible and diferent(iable), were not pursued as feldwork schools. Three more nuanced strategies for reducing selection bias were deployed, one at each of the municipal, school, and teacher levels of access. Firstly, initial access to schools in each of the municipalities came via a range of means. Together, they provided a greater range of situated contexts, such as locale, school histories, intakes, and settings (Ball et al. 2012; following Thrupp and Lupton 2006). Secondly, in each region, the feldwork schools were located geographically within one square kilometre of one another (in urban Higashimachi and Nishimachi) or were otherwise the single closest schools to one another (in rural Umimachi). This limitation placed on snowballing reduces the likelihood of being guided into multiple schools with special characteristics. Thirdly, the eight blocks of moral education lessons included observations of all teachers in each participating yeargroup. In any given school, trying to avoid the participation of teachers who are particularly enthusiastic about moral education would be both difcult and counterproductive. The selection bias created by their participation was reduced by negotiating the participation of all teachers in the given yeargroup for the ‘block’ feldwork. This provided a level of confdence that only one (if any) teacher in each block has a particular interest in the topic under investigation, since the school has no organizational interest in concentrating expertise in moral education within a yeargroup. That is, expertise in a relatively unimportant domain is likely either overlooked or purposefully spread across yeargroups. Table A provides an overview of the feldwork schools. In addition, questionnaires were undertaken to provide some insight into the representativeness of fndings. Questionnaires were distributed to all teachers in each of the feldwork schools, except for Nishimachi Third JHS, where the feldwork period did not extend until the end of the second school year. Participants comprised somewhere between 55% and 100% of the staf of the eight feldwork schools and thus provide reasonable confdence in the representativeness of their responses. Appendix A contains details of the feldwork schools, their municipalities, my means of access, details of access, and auxiliary research methods and data. Appendix B provides a list of pseudonyms assigned to some participants. Appendix C provides bibliographic information on the textbook materials referred to.

10

Introduction

Table A Summary of the situated context of feldwork schools Municipality pseudonym and type

Pseudonym

Environs

Number of homeroom classes

Dōtoku Textbook adopted

Nishimachi Tokyo commuting area

First JHS Third JHS

15 minutes’ walk to a small station, with no direct line to Tokyo. Apartment and old houses. Services industry.

13 (5, 4, 4) 20 (7, 7, 6)

Mitsumura for JHS

Second JHS

5 minutes’ walk to a medium-large station with rapid service. Largely homeowners. Tokyo commuters and professionals.

14 (5, 4, 5)

”

Minami ES

5 minutes’ walk to a large station with rapid service. Tokyo commuters and professionals.

24 (4 each)

Kita ES

25 minutes’ walk to a small-medium station. Both new homes and socialtype housing. Range of socio-economic background.

25 (4 each, 1 Sp. Ed)

”

Noda ES

15 minutes’ walk to a small-medium station. Smallhold landowners. Agricultural feel.

24 (4 each)

”

Sugami ES

Rural town. Near the station. Six trains per day. Rural. 15 minutes’ walk to a local stopping station. Six trains per day.

26 (4 each, 2 Sp. Ed)

Higashimachi Tokyo commuting area

Umimachi Rural

Takanami JHS Konami ES

4 (1 each, 1 Sp. Ed) 7 (1 each, 1 Sp. Ed)

Tokyo Shoseki for ES

Akatsuki ” ”

Not only is policy a process, but policy is best studied in progress (Edwards et al. 1992). This study is prospective and ‘travel[s] with the change’ (Ball et al. 2012: 143), collecting data contemporaneously with the announcement and early enactment of the curriculum revision. Undertaking feldwork through the planning stage and during the frst year of implementation at both elementary

Introduction

11

schools and junior high school provides heightened exposure to debate whilst local uncertainties remained unresolved. Times of reform often bring to the surface ‘subterranean confict’ (Lacey 1977; quoted in Ball 1987: 28) usually ‘obscured or submerged under the welter of routine activities and interaction’ (Ball 1987: 14). The importance of studying change prospectively may be greater because of the politically controversial, and historically taboo, nature of government involvement in moral education. Scope and outline of the book This study follows the trajectory of moral education reform from its genesis in central government, through the Ministry of Education to its enactment by local government and schools, broadening the scope of actors taken into consideration. Though the book discusses how moral education policy is enacted, it does not intend to evaluate the outcomes, suitability, or quality of moral education in Japanese schools. As previous studies have noted (Tsuneyoshi 2001; Tsuneyoshi et al. 2020; Bamkin 2016, 2020, 2022), the curriculum domain labelled ‘moral education’ is only one part of a constellation of practice in the moral curriculum, and it may not be the most important in terms of children’s socio-moral development. To the contrary, moral learning through planned pedagogic activity in the school is seen to be most potent in the curriculum domain called ‘special activities’ (ibid). Schools left to construct syllabi on integrated studies also ‘stressed learning related to social, emotional, and moral development, focused on human relationships’ (Cave 2016a: 152). Japanese identity is inevitably also learned through kokugo (Cave 2007; Ishihara 2005, 2009 for a critical perspective), music (Ogawa 2010a; Cave 2016b), history (Fukuoka 2023), and probably other subjects. Research on the operation of the broad moral curriculum as taught or experienced in schools would need to examine these other domains of education. As such, this study ‘is interested not so much in the quality of the results as in the way those results were produced’ (Schoppa 1991a: 6). It is primarily a study of policy enactment. Relatedly, the term moral education in this book is used as a gloss for the Japanese dōtoku. The scope of this term is not limited to the strictly moral in the sense defned by classical Western philosophy or social psychology. In fact, important aspects of moral education in Japan include facets that are amoral, encompassing values, virtues, life habits, and arguably social convention and identity. Though Cummings’ (1980) term values education, or virtue education, may be more accurate, the gloss moral education has been used most frequently in the literature. It is important to note, as suggested in the previous paragraph, that its meanings in Japanese are plural. Even within the school context, dōtoku can mean ‘virtue’ or ‘virtuous’ (dōtoku, dōtokukan), educational activities broadly aiming to develop values or character (dōtoku, dōtoku kyōiku), or the classtime or subject dedicated to moral education lessons (dōtoku, dōtoku no jikan before 2018/19, dōtokuka thereafter).

12

Introduction

This monograph also brackets the scope of discussion at the end of the latter Abe premiership in September 2020, which coincides relatively closely with the end of the data trail that underpins the analysis. The very short tenure of the subsequent Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and the factional dealings of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may indicate that the second Abe administration marked a high point in the policymaking strength of the prime minister, particularly in education given the latter’s particular interest in the sector. However, such discussions lay outside the scope of this book. The chapters are, for the most part, ordered chronologically. The frst half of the book discusses the background and current state of written policy related to moral education in the context of historical debate and the contemporary policymaking process. Chapter One provides an overview of the history and perennial debates related to moral education, whilst outlining recent changes in the Japanese education policymaking process. Chapter Two critically reviews the literature on past and current moral education curricula and coursebooks in reference to debates on moral education. Studies of moral education in Japan have drawn primarily on documents to demonstrate the culturally conservative intentions of central government and high-level policy, but they largely fail to engage with moral education practice or how the curriculum text and textbooks are interpreted in schools and classrooms. Chapter Three considers how policy evolves as it moves through the Ministry of Education. It brings into focus the Ministry’s multiple roles in the policymaking process and the rift between the Ministry and central government. Chapter Four provides an overview of the eclectic contents of recent coursebooks and current textbooks and discusses the processes by which textbooks are compiled. Together, these chapters turn the focus away from ‘established ways of thinking about policy’ as the exclusive preserve of government (Colebatch 2006: 2) and toward other actors and other moments of policy work. They provide a background for the discussion of moral education reform in practice. The second half of the book explores how moral education reform is enacted by teachers, school administrators, and other actors in the space between policy and practice. Chapter Five provides a snapshot of classroom practice before the reforms came into efect, in relation to historic trends of practice. Educators have established standard moral education lesson models bottom-up whilst drawing primarily on coursebooks alongside a range of other materials. Chapters Six and Seven examine key aspects of change in the planning and teaching of moral education lessons: question of contents and questions of pedagogy, respectively. Teachers make sense of new requirements through their existing understanding(s) of moral education practice, but they accommodate requirements pragmatically with support from artefacts and approaches shared by local enthusiasts and expert educators. In some cases, new practices underpin new ways of thinking and planning lessons. Looking back at these chapters, the role of teachers enthusiastic about moral education and other expert practitioners emerge in the analyses undertaken in Chapters Three, Four, Six, and Seven. Chapter Eight considers the role of

Introduction

13

these other expert practitioners in translating policy and making sense of it for teachers and school administrators. Expert practitioners are active, with varying degrees of infuence, at various moments in the policy trajectory between central government and the classroom. Their work is key to understanding how policy is enacted in Japan’s schools. The concluding chapter considers the signifcance of the study in relation to the wider discussion of policy enactment and the structure of the Japanese education system. Note 1 To provide one simple example of clear exchange between regions, integrated studies programmes adopting the topic of nature around ‘the local river’ are independently reported by Hooghart (2005: 217) in prefectural training in Western Japan; Cave (2007: 197) in elementary schools in the Kansai area; Bamkin (2016: 22–23) in the Chugoku area; Bjork (2016: 89–90) in junior schools in the Northwest; and Nishioka (2016: 125) on Shikoku at various grades and school levels. Studies of classroom teachers within individual schools or municipalities alone have difculty explaining these exchanges.

References Aspinall, Robert. 2001. Teachers’ Unions and the Politics of Education in Japan. SUNY Press. Aspinall, Robert & Peter Cave. 2001. Lowering the fag: democracy, authority and rights at Tokorozawa high school. Social Science Japan Journal, 4(1), 77–93. https://doi. org/10.1093/ssjj/4.1.77. Bacchi, Carol. 2009. Analysing Policy: What’s the Problem Represented to Be? Pearson Education. Ball, Stephen. 1987. Micro-Politics of the School: Towards a Theory of School Organization. Routledge. Ball, Stephen. 1993. What is policy? Texts, trajectories and toolboxes. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 13(2), 10–17. https://doi. org/10.1080/0159630930130203. Ball, Stephen. 1994. Education Reform: A Critical and Post-Structural Approach. Open University Press. Ball, Stephen, Meg Maguire & Annette Braun. 2012. How Schools Do Policy. Routledge. Bamkin, Sam. 2016. Moral Education at Elementary School in Japan. WCMT. Bamkin, Sam. 2020. The taught curriculum of moral education at Japanese elementary school: the role of classtime in the broad curriculum. Contemporary Japan, 32(2), 218–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2020.1747780. Bamkin, Sam. 2022. Moral education in Japan: Four strands of research on policy and practice. In Wing On Lee, Phillip Brown, A. Lin Goodwin & Andy Green (eds) Springer International Handbook of Education Development in Asia Pacifc. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2327-1_99-1. Bjork, Christopher. 2016. High Stakes Schooling. University of Chicago Press. Braun, Annette, Meg Maguire & Stephen Ball. 2010. Policy enactments in the UK secondary school: examining policy, practice and school positioning. Journal of Education Policy, 25(4), 547–560. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680931003698544.

14

Introduction

Cave, Peter. 2001. Educational reform in Japan in the 1990s: ‘Individuality’ and other uncertainties. Comparative Education, 37(2), 173–191. www.jstor.org/stable/3099656. Cave, Peter. 2007. Primary School in Japan: Self, Individuality and Learning in Elementary Education. Routledge. Cave, Peter. 2016a. Schooling Selves: Autonomy, Interdependence, and Reform in Japanese Junior High School. University of Chicago Press. Cave, Peter. 2016b. Story, song, and ceremony: shaping dispositions in Japanese elementary schools during Taisho and early showa. Japan Forum, 28(1), 9–31. https:// doi.org/10.1080/09555803.2015.1077875. Cohen, David K. & Deborah L. Ball. 1990. Relations between policy and practice: a commentary. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 12(3), 331–338. https:// doi.org/10.3102/01623737012003331. Colebatch, H. K. (ed). 2006. Beyond the Policy Cycle: The Policy Process in Australia. Allen and Unwin. Cuban, Larry. 1990. Reforming again, again, and again. Educational Researcher, 19(1), 3–13. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X019001003. Cuban, Larry. 1993. How Teachers Taught: Constancy and Change in American Classrooms, 1890–1990. Teachers College Press. Cummings, William K. 1980. Education and Equality in Japan. University of Princeton Press. DeCoker, Gary (ed). 2002. National Standards and School Reform in Japan and the United States. Teachers’ College Press. DiMaggio, Paul J. & Walter W. Powell. 1991. Introduction. In Walter W. Powell & Paul J. DiMaggio (eds) The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, 1–38. Chicago University Press. Duke, Benjamin. 1973. Japan’s Militant Teachers: A History of the Left-Wing Teachers’ Movement. University Press of Hawaii. Edwards, Tony, Sharon Gewirtz & Geof Whitty. 1992. Researching a policy in progress: the city technology colleges initiative. Research Papers in Education, 7(1), 79–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267152920070105. Fukuoka, K. 2023. History education. In Maria Mälksoo (ed) Handbook on the Politics of Memory, 285–302. Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800372 535.00028. Fullan, Michael. 2007. The New Meaning of Educational Change. Teachers College Press. Hargreaves, Andy, Ann Lieberman, Michael Fullan & David Hopkins (eds). 2001. Learning to Change: Learning Beyond Subjects and Standards. Jossey-Bass. Harvey, David. 2005. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford University Press. Hill, Michael & Peter Hupe. 2002. Implementing Public Policy: Governance in Theory and in Practice. Sage. Hooghart, Anne M. 2005. Teacher Learning for Curricular and Instructional Reform in Japan: A Case of Continuous Improvement. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Michigan. Ichikawa, Shogo. 1984. Japan. In J. R. Hough (ed) Education Policy: An International Survey, 100–135. Croom Helm. Ishihara, Chiaki. 2005. 国語教科書の思想 [Ideation in Kokugo Textbooks]. Chikuma Shinsho. Ishihara, Chiaki. 2009. 国語教科書の中の 「日本」[Japan in Kokugo Textbooks]. Chikuma Shinsho.

Introduction

15

Jepperson, Ronald L. 1991. Institutions, institutional efects, and institutionalism. In Walter W. Powell & Paul J. DiMaggio (eds) The New Institutionalism in Organisational Analysis. Chicago University Press. Katsuno, Masaaki. 2008. 学校経営をめぐる政策動向 [Policy on school management]. In Ogawa Masahito & Masaaki Katsuno (eds) 教育経営論 [Education Administration], 129–144. Hoso University Press. Kipnis, Andrew. 2011. Governing Educational Desire Culture, Politics, and Schooling in China. University of Chicago Press. Lacey, Colin. 1977. The Socialization of Teachers. Methuen. Lewis, Catherine & Ineko Tsuchida. 1997. Planned educational change in Japan: the case of elementary science instruction. Journal of Education Policy, 12(5), 313–331. https://doi.org/10.1080/0268093970120502. Lewis, Catherine, Ineko Tsuchida & Samuel Coleman. 2002. The creation of Japanese and US elementary science textbooks: diferent processes, diferent outcomes. In Gary DeCoker (ed) National Standards and School Reform in Japan and the United States, 46–66. Teachers’ College Press. Lipsky, Michael. 1980. Street Level Bureaucracy. Russell Sage. McLaughlin, Milbrey W. 1987. Learning from experience: lessons from policy implementation. Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 9(2), 171–178. https://doi. org/10.3102/01623737009002171. MEXT. 2020. 令和2年度　教職員団体への加入状況に関する調査結果について [2020 Survey of Membership in Organisations for Teachers and School Staf]. www. mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/jinji/1413032_00004.htm. Mulgan, A. George. 2018. The Abe Administration and the Rise of the Prime Ministerial Executive. Routledge. Nakakita, Kōji. 2020. The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan: The Realities of ‘Power’. Routledge. Nishioka, Kanae. 2016. Portfolio assessment in the period for integrated study. In Koji Tanaka, Kanae Nishioka & Terumasa Ishii (eds) Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment in Japan: Beyond Lesson Study, 112–126. Routledge. Nitta, Keith. 2008. The Politics of Structural Education Reform. Routledge. Ogawa, Masafumi. 2010a. Japan: Music as a tool for moral education? In Gordon Cox & Robin Stevens (eds) The Origins and Foundations of Music Education: CrossCultural Historical Studies of Music in Compulsory Schooling, 205–217. Continuum. Ogawa, Masahito. 2010b. 教育改革のゆくえ―国から地方へ [The Future of Education Reform in Japan]. Chikuma Shobo. Omomo, T. 2019. Primary and secondary education. In Yuto Kitamura, Toshiyuki Omomo & Masaaki Katsuno (eds) Education in Japan: A Comprehensive Analysis of Education Reforms and Practices, 25–40. Springer. Ozga, Jenny. 2000. Policy Research in Educational Settings: Contested Terrain. Open University Press. Pempel, T. J. 1998. Regime Shift: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political Economy. Cornell University Press. Porac, J. F., H. Thomas & C. Baden-Fuller. 1989. Competitive groups as cognitive communities: the case of Scottish knitwear manufacturers. Journal of Management Studies, 26(4), 397–416. Schoppa, Leonard J. 1991a. Education Reform in Japan: A Case of Immobilist Politics. Routledge.

16

Introduction

Scott, W. R. 2001. Institutions and Organizations (2nd ed.). Sage. Spillane, James P. 2004. Standards Deviation: How Schools Misunderstand Education Policy. Harvard University Press. Spillane, James P., Brian J. Reiser & Todd Reimer. 2002b. Policy implementation and cognition: reframing and refocusing implementation research. Review of Educational Research, 72(3), 387–431. www.jstor.org/stable/3515992. Taylor, Sandra, Miriam Henry, Fazal Rizvi & Bob Lingard. 1997. Educational Policy and the Politics of Change. Routledge. Thrupp, Martin & Ruth Lupton. 2006. Taking school contexts more seriously: the social justice challenge. British Journal of Education Studies, 54(3), 308–328. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8527.2006.00348.x. Thurston, Donald R. 1973. Teachers and Politics in Japan. Princeton University Press. Thurston, Donald R. 1989. The decline of the Japan teachers’ union. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 19(2), 186–205. Tobin, Joseph, David Y. H. Wu & Dana Davidson. 1989. Preschool in Three Cultures: Japan, China, and the United States. Yale University Press. Tsuneyoshi, Ryoko. 2001. The Japanese Model of Schooling: Comparisons with the United States. Routledge Falmer. Tsuneyoshi, Ryoko. 2004. The New Japanese educational reforms and the achievement ‘crisis’ debate. Educational Policy, 18(2), 364–394. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0895904803262147. Tsuneyoshi, Ryoko, Hiroshi Sugita, Kanako Kusanagi & Fumiko Takahashi (eds). 2020. Tokkatsu: The Japanese Educational Model of Holistic Education. World Scientifc. Walford, G. (ed). 2001. Ethnography and Education Policy. Emerald. Weick, Karl E. 1979. The Social Psychology of Organizing (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill. Weick, Karl E. 1995. Sense-making in Organizations. Sage. Weick, Karl E., Kathleen M. Sutclife & David Obstfeld. 2005. Organizing and the process of sensemaking. Organization Science, 16(4), 409–421. https://doi. org/10.1287/orsc.1050.0133. Zakowski, Karol. 2021. Gradual Institutional Change in Japan: Kantei Leadership under the Abe Administration. Routledge.

1

History, politics, and the changing policymaking processes

Moral education in Japan has a long history, which continues to inform debate. During the rebuilding of the education system after the Pacifc War, moral education became associated with the statist ambitions of culturally conservative and militaristic politicians. Whilst this association stretches back to the Meiji period of modernization, the horrors of the Pacifc War provided a rallying cry for ideological commitment against state control. This way of framing the debate mirrored the Left-Right debate institutionalized in politics through the post-War decades. From the early 1960s, education policymaking was largely immobile, and developments in moral education were incremental. Later, in the new millennium, the Abe administration succeeded in leveraging recently strengthened institutions to realize a signifcant degree of ‘prime ministerial leadership’ over policy. This was deployed to initiate policy reform in a wide range of sectors. One important strand was the reform of moral education. Whilst ideological opposition to moral education amongst teachers was in decline, the culturally conservative prime minister articulated the reforms in clear ideological terms, against a backdrop of statements on national pride, war history revisionism, and the valourization of ‘traditional’ values and culture. For these reasons the political history remains important background to the study of current moral education policymaking, whilst there is concurrently a case for re-evaluating the extent of its contemporary relevance to the majority of teachers. This chapter discusses the history, politics, and changing policymaking processes which serve as background for the study of contemporary moral education in Japan. Pre-War developments Centrally planned moral education in Japan began prior to the frst nationwide school system of the 1870s, initially utilizing translated moral readers from the UK and other Western countries (Karasawa 1955: 367; Nakano 1989; Tanaka 2010) combined with studies of great persons of Western and Eastern origins (Wray 2000; Kaizuka 2009). During the early years of modernization, there was a debate and power struggle between statist modernizers in the new Meiji government and Confucian scholars afliated with the Imperial Household over which system of thought, if any, should underpin moral instruction. DOI: 10.4324/9781003125471-2

18

History, politics, and policymaking processes

This period also began a debate over which should be listed frst in the order of subjects: the knowledge-based subjects or shūshin (virtue training, or moral education). The modernizers were primarily concerned with the project of building a national education system with little funding and edgy support of the provincial governors, whereas the Confucian camp was ideologically attached to the foundational status of shūshin. As such, a compromise position could be reached to give nominal precedence to shūshin whilst uniting the governing factions to advance education in the service of a modern nation. This debate culminated in the promulgation of the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education, which dressed Confucian virtue in an Emperor-centric guise, whilst extolling learning and dedication of the self to the state (Gluck 1985). Despite disagreement on the degree and favour of morality required, both camps saw themselves as standing in a privileged position in relation to knowledge. The resulting shūshin promoted a predetermined societal order intended to ‘enlighten Japanese subjects from above’ (Horio 1988: 24–64). The state textbook, which was solidifed in 1903, was largely based on Confucian principles in line with the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education (Hall 1973; Craig 2009; Shino 2018). The content of shūshin textbooks from between 1903 and 1945, taken together, embodied an emperor-centric worldview that promotes blind loyalty to the state. The textbook contents can be categorized under the headings: family, individual, school, society, the state, and the international community (Karasawa 1956). Across all pre-1945 editions, loyalty to the state or Emperor is the most frequent theme, followed by the imperial family (ibid). In the very early years of the twentieth century (Nakano 1989; Tsujimoto and Yamasaki 2017), a countermovement specifc to school education had emerged with roots in the early Meiji Enlightenment movement toward an educated populace, infuenced by the early Meiji period Education Laws (such as the Oath of Five Articles in 1868 and the Gakusei in 1872) and by followers of Yukichi Fukuzawa (1872–76, 1876; Blacker 1969), in Western progressive and humanist thought, and in educational innovation indigenous to Japan (Yamasaki and Kuno 2017). Yet the formal power of the statists was ascendant, with little threat from within the government from the 1890s onward. The state textbooks became increasingly, though erratically, militant in statist instruction in the years between the Russo-Japanese War and the Pacifc War. From 1938, schools were militarized in their entirety for total war (Khan 2000). Shūshin by this time contained explicit lessons of self-sacrifce for the state and flial piety toward the emperor as the divine father of the nation. Calls for enlightenment from above by the Meiji oligarchy were informed by self-conscious Modernization and the Westphalian notion of the nation state, combined with pre-existing practices of feudal society and loyalty to patriarchs (Dore 1965; Passin 1965; Duke 2009). Calls for ‘enlightenment from below’, or the ‘Encouragement of Learning’ (Fukuzawa 1872), from elite intellectuals during the Meiji period were informed by the reception of new theory after opening up for trade and intellectual exchange, against the background of the perceived prosperity of Western civilization. Scholar-teachers running

History, politics, and policymaking processes

19

private household schools, which were well-developed long before the Meiji school decrees (Dore 1965), already had experience of autonomous enquiry largely free from government control (Lincicome 1995; Marshall 1995; Platt 2004; Tsujimoto and Yamasaki 2017). The former intellectual tradition was energized by both threats and promises of colonialism, appeals to the divinity of the emperor, and national glory. The latter was energized by modernization, both domestic and Western developments in progressive (educational) theory, and, post-War, in military defeat. Neither calls to strengthen the hand of the state nor calls for greater civic participation were new, and both have been revived perennially throughout the modern period. Ministry of Education documents have drawn partly on both approaches since the 1950s. Post-War politics and policymaking: entrenchment of the debate Policymaking in moral education during the immediate post-War years was frustrated for numerous reasons. Moral education was one of the subjects for which the US Occupation required change. Already debatable as a defned body of knowledge, moral education became related to complex contemporaneous debates about the perceived dangers of emperor worship, the role of the US Occupation in realizing the democratization of Japan, and the extent of Japan’s right to self-determination vis-à-vis that mission in an intellectual climate that paid high regard to ‘national characters’ as essentialized constructions of national culture. This was further complicated the following decade by deep disagreements between the government of the newly independent Japan and the Japan Teachers Union (JTU) and the means by which both sides sought to further their respective positions. The JTU rallied around a repudiation of government control of moral education under the slogan ‘Never again send our children to war’. By the time moral education was (re)introduced into the curriculum, an ideological standof between the conservative government and the JTU had become entrenched. This Left-Right framing of the debate became institutionalized in the teaching community and academia, and in the corridors of government. Rohlen (1984) refers to this position as ‘warfare waged between the entrenched’, ‘characterized by uncompromising hostility between the two sides (at least at the national level) and a World War I style stalemate in terms of ground lost or won’ (Aspinall 2001: 42). The post-War history of moral education remains contentious and relatively polarized along traditional Left-Right lines in many quarters of the media and academia. Though the continued vitality of this framing amongst teachers is open to question, its infuence remains. The US occupation: education building (1945–1955)

Upon occupying Japan, the US-led Supreme Command of the Allied Powers (SCAP) moved quickly to reverse excessive reverence to the emperor and calls for self-sacrifce for the state. The teaching of Japanese geography, history, and shūshin were suspended. Textbook redaction was ordered to black-out

20

History, politics, and policymaking processes

militaristic symbolry. In textbooks current at the time, such symbolry was so prolifc that its redaction rendered many unusable. Historians tend to agree that the Ministry of Education expected shūshin to be abolished, and this possibility was discussed by the Occupation authorities (Hall 1949; Wray 2000; Kaizuka 2009). More ambiguously, the Civil Information and Education Section of SCAP found some existing shūshin textbooks acceptable for use, writing that ‘based on a detailed analysis of the shūshin textbooks, it is concluded that the textbooks in question are relatively harmless and that an overall ban is inappropriate’ (Kaizuka 2009: 43). Though unclear to which textbooks this pertains, it could be any number of textbooks from the earlier years of the twentieth century. Famously, there was confusion over the Occupation’s request to remove Tennoist content from any future shūshin textbooks, which to some implied a directive for its abolition (Kaizuka 2009: 51–53). Regardless of the details, shūshin was suspended in its entirety by the Ministry of Education, in reference to communiqués from SCAP. Early the following year in 1946, the relatively rushed (US) First Education Mission report to SCAP was – again ambiguously – open to classtime for moral education: [A] democratic system, like any other, requires an ethics to match and to perpetuate its own genius. Its appropriate virtues can be taught, and they should be taught in the schools as elsewhere. As democracy, however, represents a pluralism of values, . . . the schools in some lands do not undertake to concentrate into one curricular efort the necessary training in virtue. . . . The French have proceeded in another way. The Japanese tradition has borrowed largely from the French, and there appears to be an expectation on the part of both parent and student for a special course in ethics. (Education Mission to Japan 1946: 12) The second report in 1950 made prominent mention of, though not unambiguous agreement with, the idea that the Japanese people they panelled were supportive of dedicated classtime for moral education, seeing the provision of social studies as insufcient. This report was leveraged by the non-parliamentarian Minister of Education Teiyū Amano to declare support for moral education classtime, against some of his prior statements. Nonetheless, the former Curriculum Council recommended against establishing classtime for moral education the following year (MOE 1951). The ensuing report, signed of by Amano despite his disagreement, argued for the importance of moral education across the curriculum (as opposed to dedicated classtime). It put forward both strong declarations and more tempered position statements. The declarations rejected the revival of pre-1945 shūshin because ‘its content derived from feudal ideas and promoted ultra-nationalism. Moreover the method of teaching itself was completely wrong’. It thus called for a ‘democratic’ moral education in schools based on methods that ‘stress children’s daily life experiences and try to facilitate ethical understanding and attitudes through solving ordinary problems of

History, politics, and policymaking processes

21

daily life that they face’. The weaker position statements prompted careful deliberation and caution should a separate period for classtime be established. This approach was welcomed by the JTU and progressive teachers. The foundations for post-War education called for democratization and a progressive orientation in every dimension. The early draft school curricula (in 1947 and 1951) provided for local control over much content, with moral education infused through the curriculum. They encouraged the concentration of moral study in civics and the democratic organization of schools with nominal power given to the student body. During this time, the subject of social studies was established. The subject was initially envisaged as both civics and citizenship education in the draft curriculum (Tanaka 2010). In the frst binding curriculum of 1958, it had reverted to a more conventional knowledge-based subject, encompassing aspects of Japanese history, geography, and civics without engaging explicitly with socio-moral development. Even as the Constitution of Japan was being ratifed in 1947, the drawing of the Iron Curtain in Europe prompted a ‘reverse course’ of US Occupation policies. It limited its support of unfettered democratization in favour of economic resurgence and defensive remilitarization. Japan’s independence in 1952 coincided with the rehabilitation of members of the pre-Pacifc War (“pre-War”) regime who had initially been purged from government. The Occupation and post-Occupation US intervention supported conservative politicians and antiUnion activities in an attempt to secure against a perceived threat of communist ideology (Wray 1991). This precipitated the ‘1955 system’ of politics, which entailed the near continuous incumbency of a broad-church Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). It also entailed the survival of two opposing camps at loggerheads – ‘the governing conservative camp led by the LDP and the left-wing opposition camp led by the Japan Socialist Party’ (Aspinall 2001: 1), with the latter allied with the Japan Teachers’ Union. The consolidation of the LDP as the ruling party prompted a concerted efort to bring a progressive teaching force to heel, the latter organizing through the Japan Teachers Union. The struggle between the Ministry and the JTU was long and at times ferce (Duke 1973; Thurston 1973; Aspinall 2001). Some infuential fgures in the formerly large Union supported communist ideologies (Ichikawa 1984: 123). Nonetheless, whilst teachers on the ground were supporters of the JTU overall, they likely tended toward moderate left-leaning positions. From the very beginnings of the JTU, commentators described it as a ‘red-crested crane’. Red at the top with a large white body, the views of the Union leadership were either further left, or more strongly held, than rank-and-fle members. Whilst this is a simplifcation, Union support certainly cannot be explained solely by ideological factors. The dire conditions of facilities, equipment, and salaries created circumstances ripe for unionization (Aspinall 2001; Kariya and Rappleye 2020). As Aspinall (2001: 38) puts it: The extraordinary circumstances of the immediate post-War period meant that radical activists and ordinary teachers had much in common.

22

History, politics, and policymaking processes Once, however, a reasonable amount of normality had been restored, the allegiance of rank-and-fle to their radical leadership might be less forthcoming. A defnition of normality here might be difcult to arrive at, but it seems clear that once the majority of teachers had achieved reasonable economic security and freedom from excessive control over their teaching by the authorities, then they might be less inclined to follow the union leadership in political campaigns that they feel are remote or unnecessary.

Most accounts agree that many teachers on the ground were committed to peace as an ideological position. Simultaneously, support for the liberal and democratic post-War constitution and education laws was genuinely strong. Beyond this, the JTU stood up to oppose the education reforms of the mid-1950 under a strong interpretation of academic freedom and non-state interference in substantive education (Horio 1988). Many scholars took the academic freedom of teachers as a necessary condition for, and sometimes as a legally required, precondition for non-state interference (ibid). Though teachers rallied against state interference, widespread teacher activism for academic freedom per se is not apparent in the historical documents. Moral education classtime in the curriculum (1955–1958)

The Central Council for Education (CCE) is formally an advisory body to the Minister of Education, but in practice it sits at the apex of MEXT with the authority to issue high-level reports that constitute MEXT policy aspirations. Ichikawa’s memorable phrase ‘the supreme advisory organ to the Ministry’ (1984: 129) captures the theory and reality well. It is theoretically advisory, and it is a separate legal entity to the Ministry. But it is closely integrated in practice and has long been the most powerful barometer of ofcial education policy. The members of the council proper are co-opted from a select group of interests. However, its scope, data preparation, administration, and collation and refnement of fndings are undertaken by civil servants in the Ministry of Education (Schoppa 1991a; Schwartz 1998). Recommendations are smoothed out for compatibility with all other policies considered current. Five years earlier, a previous Minister of Education, Teiyū Amano, had failed to convince the CCE to adopt the proposal of classtime dedicated to moral education. By 1956, however, the de-purged politician Ichiro Kiyose, whose name appears in numerous episodes of political history, had been appointed Minister of Education, and he made the same request to establish moral education classtime. In the intervening years, Amano himself had become chair of the Central Council for Education, a position he would hold between 1955 and 1963. The CCE duly made the recommendation for the establishment of moral education classtime (MOE 1956), which was incorporated into the 1958 curriculum. Amano was primarily interested in moral education policy as a scholar of philosophy but demonstrated views that can be read as socially conservative. Pertinently, he authored two expository essays, On Happiness

History, politics, and policymaking processes

23

and On Love of the Nation, recommended for 9th-grade students in Ministrypublished readers (MOE 1966a: II-3–8, II-3–11), which treat ‘proper’ relations between the sexes and patriotism, respectively. When moral education classtime was recommended by the CCE, the thenpowerful Japan Teachers’ Union was already at loggerheads with the Ministry over numerous issues. The question of moral education opened up a new battleground between the Ministry and the JTU. The Union campaigned fercely against ministerial involvement in moral education textbook creation or screening, extolling caution, with extensive caveats appended to their approval of moral education (Aspinall 2001; Tanaka 2010). Though the intensity of teachers’ indignation at the 1958 (re)introduction of moral education lessons may have been fuelled more by background disputes rather than the actual issue at hand (Duke 1973: 145), the resultant adversity to moral education, and particularly government involvement in its content and suspicion toward assessment, forms part of the collective memory of the teaching community. Aspinall (2001: 41–42) concludes that: by the end of the 1950s, the battle lines had been drawn (which were to remain largely in place until the 1990s) with two camps – the progressive and the conservative – lined up facing each other in the area of education as in other areas. The idea of a JTU opposed to moral education threatening industrial action against a relentless and uncompromising Ministry is not a wholly inaccurate portrait. Nonetheless, similarly to the SCAP connection, sources which suggest that the JTU were consistently and unconditionally ‘anti-’ moral education gloss over some historical nuance. Though JTU policy tended toward a strong position of academic freedom, under which teachers would take responsibility for classroom content, the opposition to moral education classtime was intensifed by a sudden deterioration in Ministry-Union relations on account of ostensibly unrelated disputes. The perspective of classroom teachers is more elusive. There is little evidence that many teachers rejected moral education under the name of dōtoku before oppositional positions were taken on other issues. The Union was working to promote approaches to moral education through the ideal of learning through guidance, student-led meetings, and planned lessons in response to children’s and students’ daily experience. Either way, resistance to Ministerial control and to the curriculum revision was strong (Duke 1973; Thurston 1973; Aspinall 2001). Partially as a reaction, government guidance accompanying its subsequent introduction explicitly warned against a tendency to return to shūshin-style teaching. LeTendre notes that some Leftist JTU members were inclined to utilize moral education as inculcation, but into a difering set of values. Ichikawa (1984: 121) comments that left-wing politicians ‘intend to use school education for inspiring class consciousness and fostering a strong sense of the rights for pupils’ (Ichikawa 1984: 121). In more Leftist JTU training sessions, ‘[t]here was no debate over whether students should be guided to a set of beliefs, only which beliefs to inculcate and how much autonomy the teacher

24

History, politics, and policymaking processes

should have in determining these beliefs’ (LeTendre 1994: 45). Students ‘were actively encouraged to express opinions that supported the teacher’s ideological view, and teachers used composition lessons to promote “realisations” among their students’ (ibid). Such activities were likely outside of the mainstream and were unlikely to have continued into the 1970s or beyond. The widespread opposition to the introduction of classtime better fts an extension of an ongoing and quickly escalating debate over the governmental appointment of boards of education (as opposed to appointment by local election) in 1956, the requirement of government approval of textbooks (for all subjects as opposed to none) in 1956,1 and the (largely inefective) teacher rating system introduced in 1957. Finally, moral education classtime was introduced in 1958. Contemporaneous scholarly debate was centred on the comparison between direct and indirect instruction in moral education. Whilst the LDP majority in Parliament drove moral education for nationalistic purposes, envisaging stronger control, Tanida (2014) examines some of the participants and observers of the policymaking bodies that introduced the post-War moral education classtime. Yasumasa Oshima, academic and later promoter of moral education classtime pedagogy, argued at the time against installing moral education as a subject, but supported the designation of classtime: I have inherent doubts about morality as a subject. However, I do not think that it is impossible to raise awareness of moral judgement at school. . . . The point is to make time for teachers and children to enjoy thinking together using various methods such as question-and-answer, dialogue, and dramatization in order to develop children’s spontaneous judgement. (1959, quoted in Tanida 2014: 41–2) Mitake Katsube, a government-sponsored independent researcher on moral education, advocated the importance of both direct and indirect instruction in reference to US theory. In Katsube’s view, direct instruction has the advantages of completeness, efciency, opportunities for conscious choice, generalization, and applicability. Its disadvantages included its untimeliness, the unattractiveness of desk study for children, and its potential to result in blind reverence for authority. On the other hand, the indirect method was seen as being natural, incorporated with practice, and timely because it is either spontaneous or planned in accordance with teacher judgement in reference to students or events in the actual class. It holds potential to prompt applied discussion and opportunities for application of judgement. Its disadvantage was presented as the uncertainty over completeness. Aspects may be left out over any given period. The two, however, can be complementary: In the special time for moral education, the teacher, rather than teaching morality, can work with students to examine aspects of life, to think together about the issues and their application. The teacher both teaches and guides. In that respect, moral time is not a so-called subject. (Katsube 1959, quoted in Tanida 2014: 42)

History, politics, and policymaking processes

25

Many practice-oriented scholars who repudiated the idea of government-screened textbooks for moral education as a subject nonetheless saw potential value in allocating classtime for moral education. This position sought to avoid the potential for state control over ethics and particularly its capacity to inculcate self-sacrifce for the state. What was agreed by all infuential parties was that moral education serves as an indispensable part of school education. What was contested was the form it would take and the role of the government in determining its content. The following curriculum was published in 1958 for general implementation in 1962/63. However, implementation of moral education classtime was required almost instantaneously. More precisely, the confrming notifcation was published in March 1958 with a requirement to implement the forthcoming provisions for moral education classtime by October of the same year. The provisions for dōtoku were fnally published as a curriculum chapter in August – less than two months before their date of implementation. The curriculum thereafter provided a space for teachers to utilize in response to the needs of the class in reference to substantive aims. The 1958 moral education curriculum

The opening section of the 1958 curriculum provides that: Moral education in schools is conducted throughout the school’s educational activities. As such, in addition to moral education classtime, guidance to enhance morality must be provided at every opportunity in each subject, extracurricular activities and school events [later restructured as special activities]. The goal of moral education is based on the spirit of education as stipulated in the Fundamental Law of Education and the School Education Law. That is, without departing from the spirit of respect for human beings, we endeavour to foster this spirit in family, school and all aspects of social life to develop a democratic nation and society; create a culture abundant in individuality; and raise Japanese people who will contribute to the continuation of international peace. While maintaining close relation to moral education in each subject, extracurricular activities, school events, etc. moral education classtime will supplement, deepen, integrate, and be planned in relation to them to foster habits, feelings, and judgement, to proactively deepen awareness of the individual in society, and to improve practical virtue. (MOE 1958a) The chapter on moral education similarly provides that: Classtime for moral education in elementary school and junior high school is established. Moral education classtime will supplement, deepen and integrate with moral education planned for and implemented in all subjects [and educational activities] through systematic and developmental teaching (shidō). Whilst deepening their awareness of moral values and thinking about how to live, children will develop moral practice in everyday life. (MOE 1958a)

26

History, politics, and policymaking processes

Whilst most classes, including moral education, at elementary school are taught by the homeroom teacher at elementary school, the curriculum for junior high school provided that ‘moral education classtime shall be undertaken by the homeroom teacher’ (MOE 1958b). The curriculum was careful to create distance from pre-War practices, explicitly warning against ‘preaching’ values or moralizing and against a preWar didactic style of teaching: Teaching should be conducted based on the consideration of students’ experiences and interests, utilizing various teaching methods such as spoken and written argumentation, questioning, commentary, readings, audiovisual materials, dramatization and other activities that relate to the lived experiences of children. Materials should be used appropriately, taking special care not to sermonize or lead the lesson toward a onesided exposition of a virtue. (MOE 1958a) Though the introduction of moral education was a conservative move, its veneer and guidance refected the democratic ideals of the Occupationera New Roadmap for Education (MOE 1946), arguably imposed by the Occupation authorities. Particularly in light of the 1951 opinion of the CCE against the need for moral education classtime, consternation within its sub-committees and other departments of the Ministry of Education was likely, either due to divided opinion or due to a concerned understanding of the likelihood that this sensitive issue would provoke a backlash on the ground. In terms of content, the curriculum listed a series of values to foster in moral education. Taniguchi (2013) argues that because history, geography, and civics had been monopolized by the new social studies subject, classtime for moral education did not have recourse to these areas of knowledge. As such, moral education emerged as a domain of classroom teaching centred on individual virtues. Immobilism in education politics (1960–1989) The civil service played a signifcant role in policymaking in post-War Japan in what Mulgan described as a ‘dual power structure of party-bureaucracy policy-making in which the prime minister and cabinet play a subordinate, rather than a superordinate role’ (2003: 84; see Hayao 1993). As politicians began to develop a parliamentary career track centred on policy expertise in a specifc area, Campbell found policy groups operating as ‘subgovernments’ comprising councils of the relevant ministry, such as education, the relevant division of the LDP’s policy planning council (Policy Afairs Research Council), parliamentary interest groups (zoku, Inoguchi and Iwai 1987; Schoppa 1991b), lobby groups, and professional bodies, with access ‘patterned’ along

History, politics, and policymaking processes 27 a ‘conservative policy line’ (Muramatsu and Krauss 1987). In Campbell’s (1984: 301) words: Subgovernments constitute a set of interest-based cleavages that divide the entire decision-making system. These cleavages are crucially reinforced by the deep formal-organization cleavages between ministries. Interactions within subgovernments must be taken into account in analysing the confict patterns of nearly all policy issues, and moreover the relationship between subgovernments are the key to understanding most issues that are broader than the jurisdiction of a single ministry. This kind of sub-governmental activity may be more concentrated in the budgeting process where divisions are laid bare but was accepted as an important part of a more complex picture. As Schoppa (1991b: 104) puts it in relation to education policymaking, ‘zoku contribute a certain kind of power (infuence in their sectors) and detract another kind (the ability of the LDP to coordinate interests)’. These features of Japanese politics continued from the 1970s into the 1990s. From the 1970s onward, domestic newspapers and policymakers concerned themselves with a perception of ‘educational pathologies’, such as increased bullying, non-attendance at school, violence, breakdown of class-group cohesion or the leadership of the teacher (‘collapse of classrooms’), and other such perceived problems. It was in this climate in the early 1980s that Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone bid to make education policy from the Prime Minister’s Ofce, with support of popular interest. Nakasone made much of the limited achievements of reform proposals made by the Ministry of Education. He framed central government intervention as necessary to overcome the narrow scope of ministerial policymaking which rarely considered issues outside its portfolio. He publicly sought to overcome the disadvantages of cleavages between subgovernments in relation to the education pathologies debate, which were issues that mattered to the electorate. Though it is often said that Nakasone established the Ad Hoc Council on Education Reform, its establishment was a thorny problem for the prime minister to overcome. Legally, it was established by Parliament2 with an LDP majority in 1984. Though it was established as a council reporting directly to the prime minister, the law stipulated signifcant limitations. It was limited to a maximum length of three years and a maximum size of 25. Also, the prime minister was empowered to appoint members (on the advice of the Minister of Education) only provided each was additionally approved by both houses of Parliament. The law also required the reports of the Council to be submitted to Parliament. Opposition parties could hardly oppose a review of education for the same reasons that the government could not ignore it. ‘Educational pathologies’ had been brought into public consciousness as a crisis. Their agreement to support the bill, however, was contingent on an understanding that the Council would keep debate within the confnes of the then-current (1947) Fundamental Law of Education (Omomo 2019: 28).

28

History, politics, and policymaking processes

Recounting these details is important for two reasons. Firstly, as demonstrated comprehensively by Schoppa (1991a), the structure of its establishment provided a new forum for existing immobilist politics to continue. That is, the education zoku within the LDP and other members of the education subgovernment objected to the creation of the Council. Not only would the council undermine their competency in administering education issues, but it would serve (neo-)liberal trends to reduce both their budget and control of policy. To smooth over these tensions, Nakasone also agreed to install a highranking zoku and vice-minister of education to head the Council’s secretariat, which would be stafed by the Ministry of Education. This had the efect of essentially ensuring an even split of reform-minded economically liberal thinkers on the one hand, and Ministry allies on the other. It is precisely the inevitability of this compromise situation and its resultant lack of reform that convinced Schoppa of ‘immobilist politics’ in Japan throughout the 1980s. Whilst the subgovernments are concerned with incremental reform, they eroded more fundamental reform into compromise or delay. The proposals of central reformists and subgovernment bureaucratic (status quo) conservatives would be partly horse-traded and partly watered-down, with indefnite delays used as an avoidance tactic. Schoppa’s arguments on the immobilism of policy have been widely accepted in relation to education through the period of his study and also during the early years of the 1990s. Secondly, it demonstrates that although the deliberations of the AHCE were private, it was a public council with both structural and informal mechanisms to curtail prime ministerial power. Mulgan stressed the importance of this power dynamic. The [Japanese] system does not produce strong cabinet government with a prominent leadership role played by the prime minister, but a dual power structure of party-bureaucracy policy-making in which the prime minister and cabinet play a subordinate, rather than a superordinate role. (2003: 84) From the closing years of the twentieth century, however, the political system transformed into one centred on prime ministerial leadership (kantei shudō), with policymaking power, at least in the strategic direction, coordinated by central government under the direction of a prime ministerial executive. ‘Rebuilding education’ under prime ministerial leadership (1997–2015) Revision of the Fundamental Law of Education

The National Council for Education Reform was established as a private policymaking council by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi in 2000 aiming for ‘a comprehensive examination of post-War education’ (Kantei 2000). This refects concerns of the culturally conservative wing of the LDP that the post-War Fundamental

History, politics, and policymaking processes 29 Law of Education (FLE) overly emphasizes ‘Western’ values, those seen to have been imported along with learning about Western technology during the modernization period and during the US-led Occupation, at the expense of ‘Japanese’ values. Its stated purpose was to hear the opinions of experts and come to deliberated conclusions about the direction of education reform in consideration of wider ‘cross-cutting’ issues, where education interacts with other areas of society and policy. Drawing on the text of the law establishing the earlier Ad Hoc Council for Education, the council was said to ‘hear private opinions’, invocative of citizens and stakeholders entering the room to express their views, which would be considered and weighed. In reality, its elite members were handpicked by the prime minister’s inner circle and undertook discussion using evidence prepared by members with ‘patterned’ access and by its secretariat housed in the Cabinet Secretariat. The prime minister attended the frst meeting to make an opening speech. The second meeting was attended by the following prime minister, Yoshiro Mori. In his opening address, Obuchi referenced the need to strengthen moral education (tokuiku), but more specifcally he declared that the purpose of the deliberation was the revision of the FLE. This declaration exposes the potential of the supracabinet council to deliver the political goals of the prime minister, or perhaps more accurately to legitimize decisions already made. The Council produced its fnal report within nine months. Many of the key points relate to developing ‘rich humanity’. This incorporates volunteering and leadership activities, as well as the strengthening of moral education by exhorting schools to ‘not hesitate to teach issues of morality’ and to ‘address education for problem children head-on’. Broader reform visions recommend a ‘better’, ‘fexible education’, with some mention of elite academic tracks with a tighter management structure where teachers are rewarded for ‘performance’. It advocates a pedagogy that ‘makes lessons easy to understand for all children’. Explicitly related to moral education the report makes the following recommendations: 1 A ‘moral education’ course at elementary school, a ‘humanity course’ at middle school, and a ‘life course’ at high school should be established, taught by specialized teachers and community members with a wealth of experience. These courses will teach the basic patterns of living as a human, including the nature of life and death, equipping students to create their future with high spirits and ambition. 2 Particularly in the elementary years, emphasis should be education in reading, writing, and speaking. 3 School education should respect tradition and culture, placing importance on learning classics, philosophy, and history. Also, art and cultural activities such as music, art and drama, and physical education activities should be a major pillar. 4 Hands-on learning such as children’s nature experience, workplace experience, and art/cultural experience should be enhanced, also promoting exchanges at all grades such as overnight feld trips in class or year groups and community activities.

30

History, politics, and policymaking processes

The fnal report of the National Council for Education Reform was submitted to Mori, whose short premiership ended before the CCE had published its response. In large part, the report became a general statement of principles. Not all directions for policy were stated in specifc terms. However, a strong and specifc recommendation was made for the post-War Fundamental Law of Education to be revised. The signifcance of this clear recommendation should not be underestimated. Its realization would require serious political investment by any politician involved. The subsequent Prime Minister Jun’ichiro Koizumi placed the FLE revision as a legislative priority, alongside economic priorities (Okada 2002). The reformist ideas of new courses and teacher licences in moral education fell by the wayside and were not implemented. Though these ideas appear occasionally in academic discussion, they did not appear in subsequent policy statements. The CCE duly produced a working draft of the FLE in March 2003 (MEXT 2003), based on their earlier interim report (MEXT 2002). The Fundamental Law of Education was revised for the frst time in 2006. The original Fundamental Law of Education, passed in 1947, enshrined democratic principles in education, aiming for civic control with limitations on state power. The early arguments made in favour of FLE revision were concerned with strengthening morality and patriotism (Okada 2002). The wording of the aims of education was revised to include morality, along with other additions such as non-discriminatory attitudes and respect for life and the environment. The section most discussed with reference to moral education, as transposed into the curriculum section that states the overall aims of education (MEXT 2008), prescribes that education: foster an attitude to respect our traditions and culture, love the country and region that nurtured them, together with respect for other countries and a desire to contribute to world peace and the development of the international community. Though similar phrases had existed in the moral education chapters for successive curricula since 1989 (see Figure 3.2), this was seen to hold implications for moral education classtime amongst other school activities, and it re-opened now-familiar debates on the statist potential for moral education. In the debate on the revision of the FLE, many studies took the statist Imperial Rescript as a touchstone (e.g. Takayama 2011), in reference to the LDP’s longer-term plan to strengthen patriotism (e.g. Rose 2006). Rear (2011) analysed discourse in prime ministers’ speeches in the Diet from 1996 until 2010, identifying a conservative turn towards subordinating individual autonomy to the interests of wider society and the state. Takayama, focusing on a diferent section of the revision, saw the law as strengthening the hand of the government to determine values taught at school (Takayama 2008: 37). There was a relatively strong and ongoing reaction from the Union and various infuential academics. Moves to assert control over morality raised the

History, politics, and policymaking processes

31

spectre of militaristic statism and seemed to work against the democratic aims of the post-War education institutions. Scepticism toward state control of education associated the inclusion of ‘love of country’, no matter how diluted, with the militarization of education. The arguments against nationalism based on democracy and anti-war principles had been well-rehearsed amongst educational scholars and Left-leaning journalists. The attention paid to these opening sections in the entrenched debate over patriotism, government control, and freedom from political interference in education obscured newer areas of contestation. Discussions on educational commitments newly written into the FLE – to enhance state subsidization of private education providers, the requirement of local governments to make ‘Basic Plans to Advance Education’ and others related to fnance and governance through a more politicized local government (Yotoriyama 2011) – received less direct attention in journalistic and academic works. Indeed, the wholescale restructuring of educational responsibilities, accountability, and governance solidifed into a new legal framework under the shadow of the protracted argument over the FLE articles on patriotism and the role of the state in moral education. The National Council for Education Reform was established by Cabinet Order rather than by statute. It involved neither the opposition parties nor the education ‘subgovernment’. As such, the National Council avoided the concessions made by Nakasone to establish the AHRC. The Council was conducted in private without scrutiny of its deliberations. It did not need to report to or sufer oversight of Parliament. It excluded most education zoku and housed its secretariat in the Cabinet Secretariat, which excluded actors afliated with the Ministry of Education who might tend toward (anti-reform) bureaucratic conservatism. Nonetheless, the apparatuses of the Ministry were utilized to fesh out recommendations and flter them through to Parliament. Having undergone formal debate and the assent of Parliament, the revised FLE holds legitimacy under a system of representative democracy. However, more importantly for the policymaking process, the National Council for Education Reform had not yet demonstrated the full power of the private council as a mechanism for driving policy through the Ministry. The Abe administrations

The late Shinzo Abe served as prime minister from 2006 until 2007 and again from 2012 until 2020. Analysis generally fnds Abe’s frst administration to have been politically inefective but indicative of his priorities and aspirations. Abe is culturally conservative (Abe 2006), long committed to the revision of historical accounts of Japan’s wartime history and revision of the post-War constitution. He is a member of Nippon Kaigi, a culturally conservative group that argues against ‘masochistically’ teaching ‘dark moments’ in Japanese history. They frame Japanese aggression during the pre-1945 period as a regrettable but not unreasonable response to the international politic of the time (Nippon Kaigi 2016). He had long advocated revision of the Fundamental

32

History, politics, and policymaking processes

Law of Education and the constitution through various semi-ofcial research caucuses. Following the National Council, he was instrumental as a backbencher3 in the drafting and passage of the revision to the Fundamental Law of Education, leading the LDP-Komeito Committee for the FLE Revision (2001–2006). Abe was an advisor to the revisionist Association for Making New History Textbooks (Cave 2013) and appointed cabinet members afliated with various other culturally conservative, nationalist, nativist, and revisionist groups (Penney 2012: 3; expanded by Kolmaš 2018: 59). During Abe’s frst term as prime minister, his ideological commitment to rooting out certain carefully selected ‘Western infuences’ and to education for the purpose of nation-building outshone his activities in other areas. As Burett explains, ‘Abe deprioritised the economy in favour of constitutional reform and other personal ideological crusades’, ‘vacillating between traditional LDP developmentalism and his predecessor’s neo-liberalism’ (Burrett 2017: 402, citing Ko Mishima). Murakami and Stockwin each compare his outlook with that of his predecessor: In the Koizumi administration, the educational policy itself was not the target of reforms but rather a result of the strengthening of leadership of the Prime Minister’s ofce. . . . The strengthening of the Prime Minister’s ofce had the efect of boosting the cabinet’s infuence on overall policymaking, and educational policy was no exception in that regard. In comparison, the Abe administration has positioned educational policy as an issue of importance, listing educational reforms as one of the cabinet’s priority issues. (Murakami 2019: 71) Whereas Koizumi was primarily a neoliberal determined to squeeze vested interests out of the system in favor of free-market economics, Abe . . . , rather than concentrating on economic recovery, pursued nationalistic aims redolent of far-right movements of the 1950s. (Stockwin and Ampiah 2017: 75) Media commentators were correct to see Abe’s immediate aims as security reform and education policy, which were connected in the aim of vindicating Japan’s wartime record. To this end, he established a new policymaking council. The frst Education Rebuilding Council followed the hollow legal framework (Nishikawa 2007) of the National Council for Educational Reform as a private advisory council to the prime minister. The second report of the frst Education Rebuilding Council declared that ‘moral education (tokuiku) will be made into a subject (kyōkaka) and its contents and teaching materials will be enhanced’ (Kantei 2007). However, this and other results of the frst Education Rebuilding Council lay largely dormant when Abe stepped down and through the fve short premierships that followed, to be efectively revived on his return to power. Abe reprised leadership of the LDP party in September 2012 and led them to a decisive election victory in December.

History, politics, and policymaking processes 33 The second Abe administration leveraged the administrative reforms of 1997– 2001 to further strengthen the prime ministerial leadership (Kantei shudō) of policymaking. Though detailed discussion of administrative reform is beyond the scope of this study (see Mulgan 2018; Nakakita 2020; Zakowski 2021), it is important to note that Abe’s construction of a ‘prime ministerial executive’ (Mulgan 2018) subordinated dissenting LDP factions, the parliamentary interest groups (zoku) who serve the interests of government sectors (Machidori 2012; Mikuriya 2015), and even the cabinet as a collective body (Mulgan 2018: 65–66) to the prime minister under normal circumstances. The resources of the Cabinet Ofce and the Cabinet Secretariat, efectively (re)created in 2001, provide the capacity for the prime minister to nominally head every council and headquarters, spearhead every initiative, and ‘formulate a response to each and every important issue facing the government’ (ibid) without reliance on any ministry or party faction. It is the domination of the government by a prime ministerial executive (rather than as a pure cabinet government) and the great resources they aford to the ofce of the prime minister that defnes prime ministerial leadership in Japan. Whilst Koizumi ground out victorious crusades one after another, the power to centralize policymaking was more fully realized by the Abe administration. Continuing the same agenda as his frst term, the second and subsequent terms have been characterized as more energetic – even relentless – in pursuit of policy change in a wide range of sectors concurrently: economics, education, constitutional afairs, and national security. Abe soon established the second Education Rebuilding Council (Kyōiku Saisei Jikkō Kaigi, literally ‘the Education Rebuilding Implementation Council’) to continue the work of the frst Education Rebuilding Council, under the slogan ‘building people, building the nation’ (Kantei 2013). The idea and nomenclature were reminiscent of Nakasone’s recognition that his Ad Hoc Council on Education Reform would be unable to efect change by itself because of the power of the Ministry of Education to protect its interests. As Schoppa (1991a: 243) writes: Nakasone, in his fnal months as prime minister, tried to convince his party that the AHCE needed a strong supra-cabinet ‘post-AHCE’ council to oversee the implementation of its recommendations. The second Education Rebuilding Council was created to wrest control of education policymaking from the Ministry of Education, which should, in his view, simply implement the intentions of central government. The central government has increasingly used private advisory councils to the prime minister to create policy. Such councils are chaired by the prime minister and undertaken through private deliberation. These education councils have steadily reduced the number of educationalists appointed. The frst Education Rebuilding Council included only two education specialists, both of whom expressed dissent on the recommendation to make moral education a subject (Katsuta 2020). The second Education Rebuilding Council appointed no educationalists. Because of

34

History, politics, and policymaking processes

the decline of factional power under Abe and other structures of the Cabinet Ofce and prime ministerial executive, ministers could also be more easily replaced than under previous administrations, chilling dissent. Earlier analyses see this as an exception to the general policymaking process, in which matters wholly within the education portfolio and related to curriculum matters are the province of the Ministry of Education. However, the Council reached its 11th report and exhibited all the hallmarks of a permanent or semi-permanent feature of the policymaking process.4 Veteran scholars of education policy such as Omomo (2019) see this as the ‘new normal’. Education policy can be initiated by the prime minister, supported by the great resources of the Cabinet Ofce. Nonetheless, how this policy flters through the Ministry of Education, and how it is enacted in local contexts and schools remains an open question. The Ministry of Education, local government, and arguably schools also have great resources and institutionalized ways of understanding and doing policy. The reports of the second Education Rebuilding Council do not have legal force, but they are assigned to the Minister of Education and ‘driven through’ the Ministry despite its internal procedures and the views of parliamentary special interest groups. In relation to the curriculum and many other matters of education administration, policies are efectuated by the Ministry of Education through legally binding ordinances (secondary legislation) and a series of exhortative apparatuses, including curriculum guidance, notifcations, the production of resources, and through informal means. One important ordinance is the national curriculum itself, which is legally binding upon promulgation by the Ministry. Chapter Three examines the policy that emerged from the Ministry of Education in response to cabinet policy, with particular focus on the curriculum and curriculum guidance. Enduring frameworks of debate Moral education has served as a key ideological battleground in post-War education, and perhaps further back in history. This was not inevitable given the general acceptance of a signifcant role for the school in the character formation of children. The early debate unfolded, on the one hand, inside government between modernizing statists and emperor-centred Confucian scholars; and, on the other hand, between the government and movements for civic learning, both against a background of colonial promises and threats from Western powers. Numerous experiments in progressive education were undertaken and widely reported during the interwar years until militarism took hold of the education system. The post-War argument unfolded against the background of a bitter struggle between the Ministry of Education and the Japan Teachers’ Union. Like in many countries, the policymaking initiative of the Japanese central government has been strengthened in recent years through administrative reform. This has precipitated a decline in the direct power of the Ministry of Education. The second Abe administration, which leveraged new executive

History, politics, and policymaking processes 35 resources to drive education reform, also encroached into curriculum issues. Reforms to moral education were declared in the frst report of the second Education Rebuilding Council. The politicized nature of the reform brought historic tensions to the fore. However, the response from teachers and school administrators was largely muted. Debates instead played out in the press and in the academy. These debates, their enduring assumptions, analytical tools, and their relation to school practice are discussed in the following chapter. Notes 1 The LDP government had introduced a draft bill into Parliament in 1956 that would limit the number of textbooks for each subject. On the day of the parliamentary vote, half a million teachers walked out, and debates in the chamber became so ferce that police intervention was required in the debating chamber. The current textbook screening system was introduced in the same year by ministerial ordinance (Duke 1973). 2 Ad Hoc Council on Education Reform Establishment Law 1984. 3 Abe was briefy Chief Cabinet Secretary when the bill was submitted to Parliament and assumed the ofce of prime minister shortly before its assent. However, the drafting and passage of the bill were largely secured before his frst cabinet-level appointment. 4 When the second Education Rebuilding Council was dissolved under the Kishida administration in 2021, it was simultaneously replaced by the similarly structured Council for Future Education. Regardless of future policy direction, prime ministerial leadership over the policymaking process seems entrenched.

References

Abe, Shinzo. 2006. 美しい国へ [Toward a Beautiful Nation]. Bushun Shinsho. Aspinall, Robert. 2001. Teachers’ Unions and the Politics of Education in Japan. SUNY Press. Blacker, Carmen. 1969. The Japanese Enlightenment: A Study of the Writings of Fukuzawa Yukichi. Cambridge University Press. Burrett, Tina. 2017. Abe road: comparing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s leadership of his frst and second governments. Parliamentary Afairs, 70(2), 400–429. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsw015. Campbell, Joseph C. 1984. Policy confict and its resolution within the governmental system. In Ellis Krauss, Thomas Rohlen & Patricia G. Steinhof (eds) Confict in Japan, 294–334. University of Hawai’i Press. Cave, Peter. 2013. Japanese colonialism and the Asia-Pacifc war in Japan’s history textbooks. Modern Asia Studies, 47(2), 542–580. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S0026749X11000485. Craig, Albert. 2009. Civilisation and Enlightenment: The Early Thought of Fukuzawa Yukichi. Harvard University Press. Dore, Ronald. 1965. Education in Tokugawa Japan. University of California Press. Duke, Benjamin. 1973. Japan’s Militant Teachers: A History of the Left-Wing Teachers’ Movement. University Press of Hawaii. Duke, Benjamin. 2009. The History of Modern Japanese Education: Constructing the National School System. Rutgers University Press.

36

History, politics, and policymaking processes

Education Mission to Japan. 1946. Report of the Education Mission to Japan. US Department of State. Fukuzawa, Yukichi. 1876 [2009]. An Outline of a Theory of Civilization (trans. David Dilworth & G. Cameron Hurst). Columbia University Press. Fukuzawa, Yukichi. 1872–76 [2013]. An Encouragement of Learning (trans. David Dilworth). Columbia University Press. Gluck, Carol. 1985. Japan’s Modern Myths – Ideology in the Late Meiji Period. Princeton University Press. Hall, Ivan P. 1973. Mori Arinori. Harvard University Press. Hall, Robert King. 1949. Shūshin: The Ethics of a Defeated Nation. Columbia University Teachers’ College Bureau of Publications. Hayao, Kenji. 1993. The Japanese Prime Minister and Public Policy. University of Pittsburgh Press. Horio, Teruhisa. 1988. Educational Thought and Ideology in Modern Japan (ed. & trans. Steven Platzer). University of Tokyo Press. Ichikawa, Shogo. 1984. Japan. In J. R. Hough (ed) Education Policy: An International Survey, 100–135. Croom Helm. Inoguchi, Takashi & Tomoaki Iwai. 1987. 族議員の研究: 自民党政権を牛耳る主役た ち [Zoku: Who Conteolrs LDP Governments]. Nikkei. Kantei/National Council on Education Reform. 2000. National Council on Education Reform, Record of the 1st Meeting. https://web.archive.org/web/20000510190933/ www.kantei.go.jp/jp/kyouiku/index.html (archived 2000-05-10). Kantei/Education Rebuilding Council. 2007. 社会総がかりで教育再生を [The Whole of Society Rebuilding Education (Second Report)]. https://web.archive.org/ web/20071119183133/www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/kyouiku/houkoku/honbun0601.pdf (archived 07-11-19). Kantei. 2013. 人づくりは、国づくり: 教育再生への取組み始まる～教育再生実行会議 [Building People, Buildingthe Nation].https://web.archive.org/web/20130401115537/ www.kantei.go.jp/jp/headline/kyouikusaisei2013.html (archived 13-04-01). Kaizuka, Shigeki. 2009. 道徳の教科書 [Dōtoku Textbooks]. Gakujutsu Shuppankai. Karasawa, Tomitaro. 1955. Changes in Japanese education as revealed in textbooks. Japan Quarterly, 2(3), 365–383. Karasawa, Tomitaro. 1956. 教科書の歴史 [History of Textbooks in Japan]. Sobunsha. Kariya, Takehiko & Jeremy Rappleye. 2020. Education, Equality, and Meritocracy in a Global Age: The Japanese Approach. Teachers College Press. Katsuta, Miho. 2020.「道徳の教科化」の政策過程 ‐私的諮問機関の役割を中心に して‐ [The policy making process of the subjectisation of dōtoku, with special focus on the role of private advisory councils]. The Journal of Gifu Kyoritsu University, 54(3), 17–34. http://hdl.handle.net/11207/366. Khan, Yoshimitsu. 2000. Schooling Japan’s imperial subjects in the early Shōwa period. History of Education, 29(3), 213–223.https://doi.org/10.1080/004676000284337. Kolmaš, Michal. 2018. National Identity and Japanese Revisionism: Abe Shinzō’s Vision of a Beautiful Japan and Its Limits. Routledge. LeTendre, Gerald. 1994. Guiding them on: teaching, hierarchy, and social organization in Japanese middle schools. Journal of Japanese Studies, 20(1), 37–59. https:// doi.org/10.2307/132783. Lincicome, Mark E. 1995. Principles, Praxis and the Politics of Educational Reform in Meiji Japan. University of Hawai’i Press.

History, politics, and policymaking processes 37 Machidori, Satoshi. 2012. 首相政治の制度分析： 現代日本政治の兼局基盤形成 [Prime Ministerial Politics: Building the Power Base of Contemporary Japanese Politics]. Chikura Shobo. Marshall, Byron K. 1995. Learning to Be Modern: Japanese Political Discourse on Education. Routledge. MEXT. 2002. 新しい時代にふさわしい教育基本法と教育振興基本計画の在り方につ いて (中間報告) [A Fundamental Law of Education and Basic Education Plan for the Next Generation: Interim Report]. MEXT. www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/ chukyo/chukyo0/toushin/021101.htm. MEXT. 2003. 新しい時代にふさわしい教育基本法と教育振興基本計画の在り方に ついて [A Fundamental Law of Education and Basic Education Plan for the Next Generation]. MEXT. www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo0/toushin/ 030301.htm. MEXT. 2008. 学習指導要領「生きる力」[2008 Course of Study, for 2010]. www.mext. go.jp/a_menu/shotou/new-cs/youryou/index.htm. Mikuriya, Takashi. 2015. 安倍政権は本当に強いのか [Is the Abe Administration Really Strong?]. PHP. MOE. 1946. 新教育指針 [New Roadmap for Education]. MOE. MOE/Curriculum Council. 1951. 道徳教育振興に関する答申 [Report on the Promotion of Moral Education]. 4th January. MOE. MOE/Curriculum Council. 1956. 小学校・中学校の教育課程の改訂についての答申 [Report on Revising the Curriculum for Elementary and Junior High School]. MOE. MOE. 1958a. 学習指導要領 [Elementary/Junior High School Curriculum, for 1962/63]. MOE. https://web.archive.org/web/20210420011722/https://erid. nier.go.jp/guideline.html (archived 21-07-07). MOE. 1958b. 学習指導要領 道徳編 [Elementary/Junior High School Moral Education Curriculum, for Oct 1958]. MOE. https://web.archive.org/web/20210420011722/ https://erid.nier.go.jp/guideline.html (archived 21-07-07). MOE. 1966a. 中学校道徳の指導資料集 [Collection of Materials for Moral Education at Junior High School] (3 volume combined ed.). MOE. Mulgan, A. George. 2003. Japan’s ‘un-westminster’ system: impediments to reform in a crisis economy. Government and Opposition, 38(1), 73–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/ 1477-7053.t01-1-00005. Mulgan, A. George. 2018. The Abe Administration and the Rise of the Prime Ministerial Executive. Routledge. Murakami, Yusuke. 2019. National and local educational administration. In Yuto Kitamura, Toshiyuki Omomo & Masaaki Katsuno (eds) Education in Japan: A Comprehensive Analysis of Education Reforms and Practices, 67–83. Springer. Muramatsu, Michio & Ellis Krauss. 1987. The conservative policy line and the development of patterned pluralism. In E. Yamamura & Y. Yasuba (eds) The Political Economy of Japan: The Domestic Transformation, 516–554. Stanford University Press. Nakakita, Kōji. 2020. The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan: The Realities of ‘Power’. Routledge. Nakano, Akira. 1989. Moral Education in Modern Japan (trans. Ruth McCreery), Understanding Japan, 55. International Society for Educational Information. Nippon Kaigi. 2016. Nippon kaigi-ga tokuteki-suru mono-no [Objectives of Nippon Kaigi]. https://web.archive.org/web/20180122152316/www.nipponkaigi.org/ about/mokuteki (archived 18-01-18).

38

History, politics, and policymaking processes

Nishikawa, Meiko. 2007. 審議会等・私的諮問機関の現状と論点 [Points on Public and Private Policy Councils]. Reference, H19,5. National Diet Library. Passin, Herbert. 1965. Society and Education in Japan. Teachers College Press. Penney, Matthew. 2012. The Abe cabinet – an ideological breakdown. Asia-Pacifc Journal: Japan Focus, 10, 137. https://apjjf.org/-Matthew-Penney/4747/article.html. Platt, Brian. 2004. Burning and Building: Schooling and State Formation in Japan, 1750–1890. Harvard University Press. Okada, Akito. 2002. Education of whom, for whom and by whom? Revisiting the fundamental Law of Education in Japan. Japan Forum, 14(3), 425–441. https://doi. org/10.1080/0955580022000008754. Omomo, T. 2019. Primary and secondary education. In Yuto Kitamura, Toshiyuki Omomo & Masaaki Katsuno (eds) Education in Japan: A Comprehensive Analysis of Education Reforms and Practices, 25–40. Springer. Rear, David. 2011. Mixed messages: discourses of education in policy speeches to the Japanese diet. Asia Pacifc Journal of Education, 31(2), 129–142. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/02188791.2011.566985. Rohlen, Thomas. 1984. Confict in institutional environments: Politics in education. In Ellis Krauss, Thomas Rohlen & Patricia G. Steinhofm (eds) Confict in Japan, 136–173. University of Hawaii Press. Rose, C. 2006. The battle for hearts and minds: Patriotic education in Japan in the 1990s and beyond. In N. Shimizu (ed) Nationalisms in Japan, 131–154. Routledge. Schoppa, Leonard J. 1991a. Education Reform in Japan: A Case of Immobilist Politics. Routledge. Schoppa, Leonard J. 1991b. Zoku power and LDP power: a case study of the Zoku role in education policy. Journal of Japanese Studies, 17(1), 79–106. https://doi. org/10.2307/132908. Schwartz, Frank J. 1998. Advice and Consent: The Politics of Consultation in Japan. Cambridge University Press. Shino, Y. 2018. 西村茂樹 『小学修身訓』における道徳観—西洋と中国のはざまで [The moral perspective of Nishimura Shigeki’s Shōgaku Shūshinkun: the space between China and the West. 明治大学心理社会学研究 [Meiji University Departmental Bulletin], 14, 17–28. Stockwin, Arthur & Kweku Ampiah. 2017. Rethinking Japan: The Politics of Contested Nationalism. Lexington Books. Takayama, Keita. 2008. Japan’s Ministry of Education ‘becoming the right’: neo-liberal restructuring and the Ministry’s struggles for political legitimacy. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 6(2), 131–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767720802061439. Takayama, Keita. 2011. Reconceptualising the politics of Japanese education, reimagining comparative studies of Japanese education. In D. Willis & Jeremy Rappleye (eds) Reimagining Japanese Education, 247–280. Symposium. Tanaka, Maria. 2010. 日本の道徳教育の変成 [The transformation of moral education]. In Takeo Yoshida, Maria Tanaka & Kazuyoshi Hosoda (eds) 道徳教育の変成 と課題： 「心」から 「つながり」へ [The Transformation and Problems of Moral Education], 1–51. Gakumonsha. Tanida, Shin’ichi. 2014. 日本の教育制度史における道徳の教育課程:「道徳の教科化」 の問題をめぐって [Morality education curriculum in the history of the Japanese education system: considering the issue of making ‘morality’ a school subject]. 大阪産 業大学論集 人文・社会科学編 [Departmental Bulletin of Osaka Sangyo University], 22, 31–50.

History, politics, and policymaking processes 39 Taniguchi, Kazuya. 2013. The history of the idea of citizenship and its teaching in Japan before World War II. In Norio Ikeno (ed) Citizenship Education in Japan, 3–13. Palgrave. Thurston, Donald R. 1973. Teachers and Politics in Japan. Princeton University Press. Tsujimoto, Masashi & Yoko Yamasaki (eds). 2017. The History of Education in Japan (1600–2000). Routledge. Wray, Harry. 1991. Change and continuity in modern Japanese educational history: allied occupational reforms forty years later. Comparative Education Review, 35(3), 447–475. https://doi.org/10.1086/447047. Wray, Harry. 2000. The fall of moral education and the rise and decline of civics education and social studies in occupied and independent Japan. Japan Forum, 12(1), 15–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/09555800050059441. Yamasaki, Yoko & Hiroyuki Kuno. 2017. Educational Progressivism, Cultural Encounters and Reform in Japan. Routledge. Yotoriyama, Yosuke. 2011. Dynamics of three structures of responsibility in education under the new basic Law of Education. Journal of Japanese Law, 16(1), 21–47. Zakowski, Karol. 2021. Gradual Institutional Change in Japan: Kantei Leadership under the Abe Administration. Routledge.

2

The disjoint between research on policy and research on practice

Research on contemporary moral education in Japan has presented ostensibly contradictory fndings. On the one hand, journalism and research on highlevel policymaking have exposed nationalistic motives with direct antecedents in pre-Pacifc War (“pre-War”) imperialistic indoctrination. On the other hand, planned moral education contributes to the experience and character formation of all Japanese children through every grade of compulsory education. Teachers and school administrators are unlikely to be willing agents of massindoctrination, nor are they ignorant of debates critical of moral education. The majority of research has emphasized the former perspective, using document analysis to build knowledge on the policy intentions of ‘the government’ and particular politicians, along selected themes. In doing so, the experiences, everyday practice, and policy work of practitioners are often overlooked. This chapter considers the research questions and related methodological approaches of previous literature that sought to characterize moral education in Japan based on documentary study. It makes the case, less importantly, for a re-examination of contemporary textbook content and, more importantly, for studying moral education and its reform in practice. Analysing curriculum and coursebook documents The majority of scholarly literature on moral education in Japan utilizes curricula, textbooks, and other documents as the main sources of data. Previous studies of successive curricula and coursebooks have sought to evaluate the degree to which the state attempts to shape morality. Such studies employ closed frameworks to isolate content with continuities from the Meiji-period Imperial Rescript on Education (1890) or similarities to Japan’s pre-1945 subject shūshin (virtue training, or moral education), in turn associating some aspects of moral education with statism. The legacy of shūshin

Hofman surveys moral education curricula since 1900 for occurrences of values interpreted as statist, suggesting that ‘Humanistic Moral Education, DOI: 10.4324/9781003125471-3

The disjoint between policy and practice 41 Patriotism and Work Ethics in the Betterment of the State have remained essentially unchanged since their introduction in the Meiji era’ (Hofman 1999: 96). Similarly, Yoshimitsu Khan (1997) traced the values that underpinned pre-1945 shūshin through to post-War curricula and coursebooks. In the context of contemporaneous curricula, Khan characterizes the values provided in early textbooks – ‘thoughtfulness, reverence, tenacity, modesty, magnanimity, progress, patriotism, sincerity and courage’ (Khan 1997: 204) – as Confucian in nature and largely enduring through successive revisions from the Meiji period, extending the reach of the Imperial Rescript on Education, venerated as a cornerstone of education before and during the Pacifc War, to the postWar period. Hofman tallied the number of pre-1945 shūshin materials which promoted patriotism and statism. These tallies are reminiscent of Karasawa’s (1955) analysis of pre-1945 textbooks, presenting more detail on the increase in nationalistic ethics, amongst other metrics. Fridell (1970) provided further historical interpretation of these metrics using historical documents, describing the ofcially sanctioned pre-War value system as one underpinned by a Prussian ‘state organism’ theory that characterized the state as an actor with a collective ‘will’, a Confucian metaphor of the state as a family, and Tennoist (State Shinto) myths to legitimize the government agenda above others. These curriculum and textbook analyses largely saw shūshin as a quintessential system of statism, indoctrinating children to serve the state, which seems justifed as a general characterization. Some analyses then suggest that, insofar as contemporary or future moral education shares characteristics with shūshin, it is bad. As Roesgaard (2016: 45) writes: By fnding similarities with the pre-War or pre-surrender system, the proponents of this discourse succeed in describing the proposed changes as the antithesis of democratic and individualistic values. Polarized perspectives on moral education, born of the ‘entrenched’ LeftRight debate of the Cold War era, have partly legitimized research that seeks to characterize the whole of moral education based on the analysis of carefully selected themes and on the basis of similarities with shūshin. Moral education is the successor to shūshin insofar as it treats values and virtues. It does not necessarily follow, however, that the value items are the same or that they are treated in the same way or for the same purposes. As one of the few book-length studies on dōtoku in English, Khan’s exposition went a long way to associate post-War Japanese moral education with imperialism and reverence for the emperor amongst anglophone readers. It has been widely read despite its serious shortcomings. Khan provides a wellresearched and valuable study into the history of shūshin. However, the fndings on contemporary moral education are premised on the discovery of similarities between pre-1945 textbooks and the materials for 1st and 2nd grades in one series of coursebooks. The work used the most recent edition of one coursebook, published in 1992, which may or may not have been popular at the time.

42

The disjoint between policy and practice

The analysis provides short comments on each of the 69 stories included for 1stand 2nd-grade lessons. In the story The Class Garden’s Sweet Potatoes (Tokyo Shoseki, 2G, 1983–current), for example, the character Michiko is unwell on the day that her class is picking the sweet potatoes that they have grown in the class garden. A classmate picks her own, and also some for Michiko, and brings them to her house with notes from the class. Michiko is very grateful. Here is Khan’s (1997: 182) ‘comparison with presurrender moral virtue’: In the shūshin textbook Jinjō Shōgaku Shūshinsho (Taisho period edition), Second Grade Lesson 10 is titled ‘Tomodachi ni shinsetsu de are’ (Be Kind to Friends). In the [Imperial] Rescript [on Education] verse hōyū ai shinji (friends be true) the same virtues of omoiyari (thoughtfulness) and shinsetsu (kindness) are described. The book continues to make similar associations for most of the stories. The Great Bear (Tokyo Shoseki, 2G, 1983–current) is a short story by Leo Tolstoy in which the naïve beauty of a child’s actions is met with worldly treasures and is ultimately credited with the creation of the Ursa Major (Great Bear) constellation. Khan explains (1997: 185): The concept of reverence (keiken) is invariably associated with the emperor, as is shown in the First Grade [shūshin] Lesson 16, Jinjō shōgaku shūshinsho (Taisho period edition). The yoku chū ni (unite in loyalty) refers to the notion of revering the emperor. Examining other materials, Khan’s analysis attributes honesty instructed through Aesop’s Golden Axe (Tokyo Shoseki, 2G, 1971–current) to the Imperial Rescript and to the feudal expectations for Edo townsfolk decreed by the seventeenthcentury Tokugawa shogunate. It relates the perseverance in a story of children learning to roll backward over playground bars (I Rolled Backward Over the Bar, Tokyo Shoseki, 2G, 1992–current) to the shoshi kantetsu ideology used to train kamikaze pilots. It takes a particularly vertical interpretation of gratitude in I Became a Trafc Light (Tokyo Shoseki, 2G, 1992–current) and infers ‘endless flial piety’ in relation to a story in which a daughter listens to stories about her birth and feels the depth of her mother’s afection (Birthday, Tokyo Shoseki, 2G, 1992–current).1 No matter the content of these stories, using only the lens of shūshin allows them to be interpreted as nationalistic indoctrination. As Edward Beauchamp (1999: 434) comments: Khan’s criticism of the teachings of such pre-war moral concepts as thoughtfulness, reverence, tenacity, modesty, magnanimity, progress, patriotism, sincerity and courage as part of today’s moral education classes does not prove that these teachings mirror the way they were taught in pre-war Japan. Indeed, all of them can be taught in a positive, democratic manner. The author provides no evidence that they are taught to the contrary.

The disjoint between policy and practice 43 The Imperial Rescript and shūshin textbooks included many values which are, in and of themselves, uncontentious (for example, ‘Be kind to friends’), alongside problematic ones. Wray distinguishes the values of ‘honesty, respect for elders and parents, duty, diligence, harmony, endurance’ from their militaristic interpretation extolling ‘self-sacrifcing, obedient, passive, blindly loyal subjects of an inviolable emperor’ (Wray 2000: 16). More rigorous studies comparing dōtoku with shūshin consider the signifcance of both continuities and departures from pre-1945 moral education. Important groundwork for this approach has been provided by historical works documenting changes in shūshin through time (Wray 1991, 2000; Kaizuka 2009; Kotera 2016a). Kaizuka (2009: 33–37) analysed successive shūshin textbooks, fnding shifts in direction and emphasis in the values promoted by the contents. The 1903 edition mixed Confucian and Western moral mores. The 1910 edition venerated the emperor as the nation’s imperial father and included no great persons as moral exemplars who were not Japanese. The 1918 edition balances respect for the emperor with ideas of internationalism, pacifsm, and ‘child-centred approaches’. The 1933 edition lauds nationalistic loyalty to the continuation of the nation state, asserting the divine right of the Japanese. And fnally the 1941 edition continued the same themes with even greater militarism. Karasawa’s study also goes some way towards explaining variation in nationalistic, international, humanistic, and Confucian content in relation to contemporaneous politics. In other ways, too, ‘the history of shūshin is a history of reform’ (Kaizuka 2016: 75). The school system was reconfgured in its entirety by 1937 as a military project of ‘total mobilization’ (Khan 2000). Not only subjects such as shūshin and history, but also other subjects and activities ‘pedagogically progressive in their focus on whole-person education, encouraging drama, singing, and other artistic activities, could serve nationalist purposes by making such heroes’ stories more emotionally involving’ (Cave 2016b). In the post-War era, measures taken by SCAP alongside the censorship of textbooks included the removal of imperial pictures, symbols, and the ceremonial copy of Imperial Rescript on Education held by each school, ending the deployment of military ofcers at schools and ending the training they supervised at boys’ schools. Though attempts at statist indoctrination were undertaken through shūshin during the build-up to war, it is not clear that this mode characterizes shūshin throughout its history. Continuities exist in stated values, but discontinuities likely exist in their interpretation and implementation, and these are difcult to identify from curricula and textbooks alone. Document-based studies of shūshin help us to understand broad questions of education in wartime, as well as the historical background and statist potential for moral education. Those utilizing closed frameworks to isolate problematic content may inform incremental improvement of materials. However, rigorous studies of shūshin have demonstrated the complexity of its characteristics. At the zenith of emperor worship, Japanese schools were saturated with militaristic practices from morning greetings to physical education to kokugo.

44

The disjoint between policy and practice

More research is needed that directly questions contemporary resources using open frameworks to capture the full range of content in curricula and textbooks, including a quantifcation of the proportion of content which might be seen as problematic, however defned. General limitations of document-based study

More broadly, the dominance of document analysis risks unjustifed inferences being made. Even ‘complete’ knowledge of curriculum content and textbook content is not, in simple terms, knowledge of how moral education is implemented in practice. It only directly elucidates the content and perhaps the pedagogies intended by certain government bodies and/or educational publishers. As Anzai suggests: Whilst Japanese education is now regarded both inside and outside Japan as pressing for a greater emphasis on patriotism and nationalism, there is still insufcient empirical inquiry into the issue of whether such an inclination is actually manifested. (2015: 438) Unfortunately, countless news articles (see Anzai 2015: 436–438 on Japanese media; Bolton 2015: 6–7 on Anglo-American media) have described moral education lessons or teaching on the basis of document studies, and some academic studies have glossed over this important disjoint (e.g. Khan 1997; Roesgaard 2016; Mishima 2022). The relationship between policy and practice is complex and under-researched. As a pertinent demonstration of the limitations of textbook analyses to education practice, there are some cases where the books are simply not used extensively. As a historic case, Karasawa (1955), Kaizuka (2009: 33–37) and (implicitly) Fridell (1970) each position the fnal 1941 shūshin textbook as the hightide of emperor worship in shūshin. However, Kotera provides historical evidence that the textbook was received by very few schools due to wartime printing and distribution issues (2016a: 42–43). In the contemporary context, Bolton has analysed the coursebook and material usage of one elementary school class over 30 weeks’ observation. He found that the MEXT-issued coursebook was used in only a minority of lessons (Bolton 2015: 55–56). Coursebooks and curricula may be utilized selectively as teachers follow or expand upon them in some places and skip or skim in others. Similarly, studies of the curriculum have demonstrated that documents show only part of what teachers deliver in the classroom or what pupils receive as learning. Jackson et al. (1993: 42) list eight aspects of teaching that might be evaluated for moral content, only two of which appear in written form. Although Poukka’s study utilizes document analysis, the study is clear in delimiting its research question ‘on written curriculum, not on educational practice’: Since the written manifesto of educational beliefs concern the statements of intent – laws and regulations – the point of view is not that of the

The disjoint between policy and practice 45 teachers and children – in the sense of what is actually delivered or learnt in the classroom – but the ofcial view of the policy-makers. (Poukka 2011: 123) Few methodical studies exist on moral education practice. This gap exists in both English and Japanese literature. The general disjoint between policy and practice is of great importance to draw inferences with educational signifcance. If policies were simply and perfectly implemented in classrooms, then documentary research would hold educational signifcance. As illustrated in Figure 2.1, however, this is not the case. Policy infuences practice. However, the relationship between policy and practice is complex because policies are mediated by teachers, multiple levels of administration, expert practitioners, associations, and their bulletins. Whilst written policy holds symbolic meaning, and its analysis holds important political signifcance, it is the analysis of classroom practice that holds educational signifcance, for it is practice that shapes the lives of individual children. Whilst acknowledging the political signifcance of studies on government intentions to strengthen moral education as a project of state-building, the question of education practice remains largely unexplored. In addressing this research question, it is important to incorporate classroom data into the analysis, avoiding the assumption that policy is understood or implemented as intended. Imagining the outcomes of the ofcial coursebook

Nobutaka Machimura entered Parliament with a background in the civil service. He served as Minister of Education under Prime Minister Hashimoto, as statutory aide responsible for education reform to Obuchi toward the end of the latter’s tenure and was re-appointed Minister of Education under Mori. Supported by key LDP fgures such as Ikuo Kamei and Hirofumi Nakasone, he reprised the education portfolio in 2001 with a plan and the budget for the Ministry of Education to create its own coursebook for moral education. The coursebook, an ‘ofcial bid for translating the curriculum guidelines into a practice or a common language of morality’ (Roesgaard 2016: 74), represented a symbolic victory for the LDP’s vision of instilling a ‘healthy patriotism’ into the youth. It also raised a serious prospect of problematic content, however defned, impacting directly on classroom practice. Whilst not mandatory in the legal sense, a nation-wide ‘default position’ of using the ofcial coursebook was intended. The 2003 Kokoro no Nōto and later its 2014 successor Watashi-tachi no Dōtoku were freely distributed to all schools between 2003 and 2018/19 (though suspended for three years between 2010 and 2013, ostensibly for budgetary reasons whilst the LDP was out of power). Critique of the new coursebook from journalists and scholars of education was swift and severe. In addition to content, this critique analysed the structure and the pedagogies that they imagined the ofcial coursebooks would engender. One line of critique again establishes guilt by association through similarities identifed

46

The disjoint between policy and practice Data source

Policy: Reports, Political discourse (Cabinet, Diet)

Empirical implication

Analysis -------˜

Symbolic meaning Political significance

Analysis -------˜

Symbolic meaning Political significance

Analysis -------˜

Lived meaning Educational significance

| ° (?) L Policy: Curriculum, textbook, reports (MEXT) | ° L Classroom practice

° complex relationship

Figure 2.1 Simplifed illustration of data source and its empirical implication (Bamkin 2019: 252)

with shūshin textbooks. Shimamura (2005) and Tanaka (2010) draw a direct line from the decorative imagery of the book, including clouds and mountains, from those of pre-1945 shūshin textbooks, which also featured prominent pictures of mountains and clouds. Tanaka moreover notes the prominence of clouds and other aspects of nature in the creation myth of Japan. Indeed, symbols can be co-opted to serve statist ends. Memorably Ohnuki-Tierney (2002) illustrates how cherry blossoms were used in wartime propaganda extolling the sacrifce of would-be kamikaze pilots. However, though the symbol was ‘politically appropriated to generate people’s allegiance’ (Takayama 2023: 81), it does not follow that statism can be necessarily found in the symbol of cherry blossom. Clouds and mountains appear in many places, from the works of William Wordsworth to those of Hayao Miyazaki. To the extent that nonspecialists in Japan know the creation myth in question (often traced to the eighth-century text Kojiki), it seems tenuous that children would make any such association. Separately, Shimamura (2005) argues that the use of the second person usage (‘you’) in the coursebook is subtly linked to the phrase ‘our country’ (wagakuni), which can have patriotic undertones. The tenuousness of this ‘guilt by association’ was discussed earlier in reference to the values found in the Imperial Rescript.

The disjoint between policy and practice 47 Ozawa and Hasegawa (2003) and Miyake (2003) criticized Kokoro no Nōto for embodying a ‘psychologized pedagogy’. The Science Council of Japan Philosophy Committee (2020) summarizes, in relation to multiple subjects in Japanese schooling, that ‘[p]sychologism refers to the consequences of pedagogies that replacing political, social, and economic problems with problems of the individual’s mind’, choices, or habits, suggesting that they should be solved by the individual without changing the political, social, or economic situation. The answers encouraged are those that stem from the characters’, and implicitly from students’, own actions. ‘Artifcial’ coursebook scenarios make each child feel as though she is the only actor and thus develop an ‘infated sense of self’, ‘fxated on herself’, ‘only looking inward’ (Tanaka 2010), becoming capable of a relationship only with the state and barely with other humans, thus becoming a ‘child susceptible to the state’ (Sugihara 2017). Similarly Ozawa and Hasegawa (2003: 28) and Miyake (2003) suggest that the ofcial coursebook’s composition ‘makes readers think that they have questioned and realized something by themselves’, but that those lessons are covertly didactic. Irie (2003) explicitly refers to this as ‘brainwashing’. Kokoro no Nōto encouraged children to name their book, to look after it, and to make a cover ‘which is yours only’. Needless to say, regardless of the cover decoration, the contents are the same for the entire cohort. Irie sees this as a cynical imposition of the government’s will through the subjective experience of the child. Tanaka is particularly concerned by the isolating efects of psychologized pedagogy. She hopes for pedagogies that encourage great connections between children and other people rather than encouraging them to look inward only. Roesgaard is relatively critical of Tanaka’s recommendation of materials that encourage greater connections to other people, writing that ‘[i]t is a bit ironic that Tanaka should make this very recommendation, since establishing relations to other people features prominently in the MEXT series [Kokoro no Nōto] as well as in the curriculum’. Tanaka also re-iterates the longstanding problem that Japanese coursebook materials fail to represent pluricultural identities.2 Non-Japanese people are represented only in discussions of something foreign or ‘ethnic’. The notion of ‘psychologized pedagogy’ represents a development in critique of moral education coursebooks. The term psychologization was either serendipitous or rather shrewd in its oblique implication of psychology as a scholarly discipline. Though the identities of the commissioning and editorial committees of Kokoro no Nōto were not ofcially published, they were widely known by those connected to the world(s) of education administration and practice. Some of the most prominent members of the committees were educational psychologists (see Chapter Four). More problematically, the argument remains premised on analyses of coursebooks, in this case the ofcial coursebooks commissioned and disseminated by MEXT. Drawing attention to the responsibility placed primarily on the individual in materials of ofcial coursebooks may prove productive in reimagining moral education curricula and materials for the future.3 However, similarly to earlier coursebook analyses, it says little of practice or classroom

48

The disjoint between policy and practice

pedagogy. The Science Council of Japan Philosophy Committee (2020: 15) notes that classroom discussion can introduce political, social, and other philosophical dimensions into even the most didactic of materials to bring out ‘value-to-value conficts’ and ‘values-to-reality discrepancies’. Practitioner literature Contemporary teaching guides and practitioner literature on moral education provide a stark counterbalance to scholarly and journalistic analyses that take shūshin as the point of departure. By invoking the horrors of the Pacifc War and the preceding years, it is easy to forget that moral education is undertaken by teachers as everyday professional practice and, to the extent that moral education has any actual educational infuence, it has contributed to the character formation of almost every Japanese child for 60 years. Practitioner writers draw on their professional expertise to judge, refne, and share best practices; to promote thinking about practice; or to gently infuence practice. Practitioner literature and teaching guides have received little attention as primary data in scholarly research. From the perspective of practitioner literature, moral education is a valuable everyday professional practice that aims to foster healthy, prosocial attitudes, good relationships, cooperative and collaborative practices, service, perseverance, and identifcation with the country, with the ultimate goal of living better alongside others (Kaizuka 2016: 60; Matsumoto et al. 2016: viii). It refects the perspective of expert practitioners who write the books, and also the subset of teachers inclined to buy them. Whilst recognizing commonalities, practitioner works address in detail the break from pre-War shūshin. They suggest that shūshin sought instruction towards an idealized and predefned model character (Kaizuka 2016: 76), an approach inciting ‘right answer regurgitation’, whereas moral education promotes refection on character for children’s development (ibid; Kotera 2016c: 8–13). Moral education, along with physical education, is seen to underpin both fulflment in life and academic performance (ibid: 8–13). It is a space for refection on social practices undertaken in the school community. Satō’s teaching guide suggests that lessons ‘gravitate around themes such as kindness and consideration for others (omoiyari), relations with other people, being thankful, showing respect for all things living and ‘being proud of what the Japanese can do’ (Satō 2008: 74–113). Practitioner literature promotes lessons that encourage student refection on morality, kindness, and prosocial behaviour. Pedagogically, teaching approaches to moral education are often compatible with constructivism. Teachers are encouraged to approach everyday problems with a level of complexity appropriate to challenge the age group, including problems that the teachers ‘cannot answer’ (Matsumoto et al. 2016: 104– 105). Active learning is encouraged, particularly through class discussion and role-play (Kotera 2016b: 204–207). Countless studies on general school or teaching practice in Japan have commented on the importance that Japanese educators attach to moral development

The disjoint between policy and practice 49 (Rohlen 1983; Lewis 1995; Shimahara 2002; Sato 1998; Cave 2007, 2016a; Bjork and Fukuzawa 2013; Bjork 2016), whilst many have praised its approaches (Lewis 1989, 1995; Poukka 2011). Rohlen (1976: 128) famously wrote that ‘character improvement is close to being a national religion’. Previous research relevant to education practice in the moral domain in Japan has largely followed a tradition of social anthropology, utilizing ethnographic methods to elucidate socialization that occurs through classroom interactions (e.g. Lewis 1989, 1995 at preschool; Lewis 1995; Cave 2007 at elementary school; Rohlen 1983; Bjork and Fukuzawa 2013 at junior high school) and explanations rooted in teachers’ shared beliefs and practices in the tradition of ethnopedagogy. Beginning with the observed experience of children and with interviews, these studies provide insight into moral dispositions and spontaneous decisions of teachers to converge on sets of implicit beliefs and practice (Tobin et al. 2009) that inform classroom practice. Pedagogic decisions may be explained in reference to beliefs that: (children’s) social relationships precede learning, that children need to feel safe and unthreatened to be their honest selves, that development occurs within the context of close personal relationships with the teacher and with other children, that children are inherently good and thus deviant behaviour can be explained by inferring misunderstanding, that confict provides opportunities for social learning, or that educational achievement is a function of perseverance (e.g. White and LeVine 1986; Yamamura 1986; Inagaki and Kudomi 1994; Singleton 1989; Lewis 1995; Rohlen and LeTendre 1996; Shimahara 2002; Tobin et al. 2009). These give way to an emphasis on independence and discipline at junior high school, but without reducing the assumption that students need care or the importance placed on perseverance. Classic studies of junior and senior high teachers’ orientation to student relationships fnd ‘intimacy coupled with severity’ (Rohlen 1983: 201), based on an implicit belief that there are periods of life that require achievement in the face of hardship (White and LeVine 1986; LeTendre 2000; Cave 2004). More recently, the kind of cajoling based on indulgence or ‘explaining unexpected behaviour as misunderstanding’ has increased, and severe regulation has decreased (Bjork and Fukuzawa 2013; Bjork 2016). Researchers have also theorized more politically contentious beliefs, such as a preference for equality interpreted as egalitarianism (Cummings 1980; Rohlen 1983; Kariya and Rappleye 2020), though these progressive values are less consistent and resilient than they perhaps once were. Despite extensive research on implicit beliefs and practices, there is less research on the extent to which the broader taught moral curriculum is planned in schools, which needs to be undertaken in reference to the requirements of the written curriculum (but see Tsuneyoshi 2001; Tsuneyoshi et al. 2020; Bamkin 2020). Practitioner literature illuminates further perspectives on moral education, somewhere between those of practitioner writers and what might appeal to classroom teachers enthusiastic enough to purchase a primer or teacher guide in response to curriculum revisions. However, it does not aim to work from descriptions of representative practice. For example, recent teaching guides express

50

The disjoint between policy and practice

a ‘need’ to move away from story-based approaches in moral education. This implicitly communicates a view that the use of stories is a widespread teaching approach. Nonetheless, the primary purpose of practitioner literature is to provide a vision of what moral education could or should look like. They are informed by the practice-based experiences and aspirations of particular authors and their collaborators, often in oblique proximity to policymaking. Clear descriptions of practice are carefully selected as examples of innovative or desirable practice. Practitioner literature intends to infuence educators in local schools. It is difcult to fnd teaching guides that do not use terms borrowed from the latest curriculum or its explanatory documents. Whilst practitioner literature speaks to practitioners drawing on a shared knowledge of practice, its recommendations are often presented as working within the confnes of an interpretation of policy, as its teacher audience is normally assumed to do. Indeed, its intended readership is hoping to discover how to fulfl policy demands without compromising on professional values and aspirations for the socio-moral development of their pupils and students. Practitioner literature has largely escaped scholarly examination. It encourages teachers to develop pedagogic capacity to better plan lessons and activities, and to ofer a range of resources in support of their eforts. Leading practitioner writers have continued to maintain these shared beliefs whilst presenting work within the confnes of policy. However, the role of practitioner literature in the enactment of moral education reform remains an open question. Similarly to coursebook and curriculum analysis, the infuence of practitioner literature needs to be studied on the ground to understand its role in enactment and on its educational signifcance. Constructing defciencies in teachers: dōtoku by reading

After moral education had been (re)introduced as classtime in 1958, the Ministry of Education struggled to ascertain that the classes were being implemented. The extent and means of its implementation played out in each local context. In regions with a strong union chapter and where boards of education were not inclined to escalate tensions over the enforcement of requests related to moral education, practice was varied. Measures to reinforce control undertaken by the Ministry sought to legitimize requests for standardization. In 1963, the (MOE) Curriculum Council presented what it saw as the challenges for moral education: 1 ‘Insufcient understanding of the teaching philosophy of moral education among teachers and enthusiasm for moral teaching. 2 Each school has difculties in creating efective teaching plans and selecting teaching materials. 3 In some cases, school management is relaxed. Order is not maintained sufciently, and it becomes difcult to provide thorough instruction to children and students, which adversely afects moral education.

The disjoint between policy and practice 51 4 There are diferences in values between home and social education and moral education at school. 5 There are aspects for which guidance is not thoroughly provided by the Boards of Education due to insufcient placement of supervisors’ (MOE 1963). The report recommended that measures be taken to (1) ensure that the curriculum objectives of moral education are met, (2) provide materials for teachers, (3) provide reading materials for children and students, (4) improve initial teacher training, (5) enhance in-service education, (6) ensure internal systems at schools for accounting for moral education activities, (7) cooperate with homes and society, and (8) clarify that the curriculum issued by MOE is legally binding (which was an actively contested question at the time). Many of these recommendations (4–8) were not possible to realize through curriculum policy. The following curriculum adjusted some wording but changed little substance. Emphasis was placed on the requirement to plan moral education classtime and on instruction on judgement, sentiment, attitude, and willingness to transfer learning from the classroom to real life. On the other hand, the teaching approaches of ‘discussion’ and ‘question and answer’ were dropped, which had been included in the moral education curriculum since 1933. The Ministry of Education connected poor moral learning with low understanding on the part of teachers and with lax management. Approaching moral education from the children’s experience to encourage growth and moral learning was seen as unplanned and un-rigorous. Soon after this report was published, the MOE produced a series of readings recommended for use in moral education lessons (collated in MOE 1966a, 1996b). Even during the period of immobilization in education policy, there were areas of agreement between conservative politicians and senior civil servants in the Ministry of Education. In particular, those areas that increased the administrative capacity of the MOE were likely to evoke support from the Ministry (Schoppa 1991). Through the 1990s, moral education lessons were largely undertaken in reference to reading materials from commercially published coursebooks (see Chapter 5). The Ministry of Education capitalized on the standardization of classroom practices that operated in reference to reading materials to legitimize additional ‘guidance’ on teacher development. The Ministry of Education built a case against ‘dōtoku by reading’, which developed into a relatively sophisticated call for change. Dōtoku by reading refers to classes in which students walk through the reading materials, sympathizing with characters and identifying what they might do diferently. The problem is identifed as the supposed failure to address the target value of any given class, and the narrow opportunity for students to think deeply about nuance and alternatives. It could be seen as ironic that the Ministry of Education is utilizing the criticism of dōtoku by reading to legitimize the latest round of policies working to strengthen moral education, considering the eforts of the MOE 50 years earlier (and intermittently in the intervening years) to promote the use of its published readings. MEXT would argue that the change in stance can be explained

52

The disjoint between policy and practice

by changing social circumstances, including changing expectations of parents and children; by advances in pedagogy; and because of the wide availability of commercially published materials. More likely, however, these two perspectives represent diferent voices which have co-existed in the Ministry (and in the wider policymaking community) throughout the post-War period. Whilst practitioner writers are sympathetic to teacher perspectives, they concurrently call for enthusiasm in their feld of interest and expertise. Practitioner writers thus also hold a stake in the critique of dōtoku by reading. It adds importance to their work and weight to the signifcance of their expert recommendations. The introduction to Sakamoto’s practitioner guide Making Dōtoku Lessons for the New Curriculum provides an explanation that overlaps with MEXT’s ofcial framing of the problem (2018: 11) that: • • • •

Many teachers are adverse [to moral education] for historical reasons. It is sometimes considered less important than other subjects. There are examples of imposing values on children. There are examples of teaching that prompts children to say the right things without conviction or belief. • There are examples of teaching which tend to merely supervise the understanding of character’s feelings and reasons. • Lessons may be based simply on discussion of life experience without suffciently addressing the lesson’s subject or aims. There is thus a line of argument fnding defciencies in teachers and school administrators which is legitimized by the Ministry of Education and at times deployed by practitioner literature on moral education. A new round of critique One mainstay of critique in much journalistic and scholarly analysis is a deep suspicion of government rooted in an ascription of moral education as particularly culpable in the historic mobilization of youth for war. An assertion of academic freedom for teachers also reverberated, animated by historical accounts of scholarly participation in teacher activism during the immediate post-War decades, and perhaps further back in history. It is well-established that successive culturally conservative LDP governments have sought to strengthen moral education, attempting to co-opt it as a means of defning an ofcial morality and teaching patriotism, relegating individual freedoms for its defnition of the good of society, envisioning an ‘enlightenment from above’. In recent years, the Abe administration ‘doubled down’ on its support of patriotic education, consciously framing proposals within the Left-Right oppositional framework and against the post-War ‘Americanized’ (or ‘democratic’) structure of the education system. Partly goaded by the nationalist rhetoric of culturally conservative LDP politicians, analyses of the MEXT-commissioned ofcial coursebooks re-marshalled arguments taking pre-1945 shūshin as the

The disjoint between policy and practice 53 key point of comparison (Miyake 2003; Ozawa and Hasegawa 2003; Takahashi 2003; Irie 2004; Shimamura 2005) and continued to largely overlook both the broader content of coursebooks and moral education in practice. The 2015 revision of moral education was reported widely in the press, again polarized along Left-Right lines. Fukuoka and Takita-Ishii (2021) present examples from the Left-leaning press in publications such as Asahi, and the Right-leaning press represented in publications such as Yomiuri. One side expressed concern over moral education becoming an oppressive instrument of the state, tangentially supported by a mushrooming of research on rightwing NPOs and civic associations (e.g. Shinogase et al. 2014; Sugano 2016; Shibuichi 2017; Fukuoka 2018). The other side supported ‘healthy patriotism’ to foster pride in the nation, seen as necessary to counter defeatism and under-confdence in an increasingly problematic youth. As Bolton (2015: 57) suggests, on both sides, ‘[m]edia framing has succeeded, to a certain degree, in labelling the coming reform as Abe’s moral education, and the textbook [sic] is being treated as an extension of the Abe cabinet’s will’. Nonetheless, whilst the elite press may both shape public policy preferences and pander to their target readership (Suzuki 2015; Takekawa 2015), such arguments apply far less to professional educators. Hand and Pearce (2009) demonstrate that media opinion difers greatly from that of teachers on the issue of teaching patriotism, in both content and tone. This is because of their situated and social experience as both objects of and subjects of education policy. Though the entrenched polarization of the debate on moral education originated in bitter struggles for professional conditions and autonomy, peace education, anti-nationalism, and perhaps progressive pedagogies, it is not clear that they capture the perception of contemporary teachers or refect what moral education does in the contemporary classroom. Beyond document-based study Documentary research on curricula and coursebooks constitutes a mature body of research. Document analysis is methodologically appropriate to question the intentions of policymakers and publishers, to evaluate the efectiveness of their vision(s), and to lay foundations for the study of administration and practice. The debate on statism has informed closed frameworks for analysis, which are designed to isolate content widely seen as problematic, particularly statism, patriotism, and values seen as overly Confucian or reminiscent of the Imperial Rescript on Education. These have illustrated that curriculum change is slow and that at least strands of state-oriented content remained in commercial coursebooks and later in the ofcial coursebook commissioned by the Ministry of Education. This literature holds important political signifcance, particularly in elucidating the degree to which the state attempts to shape morality. Moreover, it highlights key areas to consider for improvement. However, they treat only selected themes amongst many (see Cave 2008). More research is needed that directly questions contemporary teaching

54

The disjoint between policy and practice

materials using open frameworks to fully characterize textbooks or capture their full range of content, including a quantifcation of the proportion of content which might be seen as problematic, however defned. Chapter Four examines research using open frameworks to characterize the textbooks that would later emerge alongside the curriculum revision in moral education and moreover examines the various lobby groups and intellectual currents that infuence the compilation of textbooks. More broadly, as policy is strengthened from above, it remains unclear whether teachers and students are undertaking (more) patriotic education in the classroom. Research that directly addresses how moral education is implemented in schools and classrooms and how it is changing remains scant. Such research on practice is important to understand how reform is enacted in schools and local settings. Research in other contexts and on other reforms in Japan have suggested that reform is rarely implemented as intended, but it is mediated by teachers, school administrators, and other actors. After the policy was initiated by the supra-cabinet council, its trajectory may be mediated by various processes discussed in the following chapters. Chapters Five to Eight move with the change, following the policy into schools and classrooms. Before this, however, it is important to examine the ways in which written policy evolves as it moves through the Ministry of Education. Chapter Three considers how actors in the Ministry of Education make sense of policy as it constructs the curriculum and its associated ‘curriculum guidance’. Notes 1 This paragraph includes Khan’s comments on six of the ten 2nd-grade materials which were still included in this textbook series (Tokyo Shoseki) in 2018. Most materials discussed in this book are current (see Appendix C). 2 Tanaka uses the term multiculturalism, which could denote a range of meanings. I follow Roesgaard (2016: 114) in inferring this more specifc meaning. 3 For example, toward a transition toward citizenship education (Tomano 2019).

References Anzai, Shinobu. 2015. Re-examining patriotism in Japanese education: analysis of Japanese elementary school moral readers. Educational Review, 67(4), 436–458. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2014.975783. Bamkin, Sam. 2019. Moral education in Japan: the disjoint between research on policy and research on practice. Social Science Japan Journal, 22(2), 247–260. https://doi. org/10.1093/ssjj/jyz008. Bamkin, Sam. 2020. The taught curriculum of moral education at Japanese elementary school: the role of classtime in the broad curriculum. Contemporary Japan, 32(2), 218–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2020.1747780. Beauchamp, Edward. 1999. Review: Japanese moral education past and present. Pacifc Afairs, 72(3), 433–434. http://doi.org/10.2307/2672245. Bjork, Christopher. 2016. High Stakes Schooling. University of Chicago Press.

The disjoint between policy and practice 55 Bjork, Christopher & Rebecca Fukuzawa. 2013. School guidance in Japanese middle schools. In Gary DeCoker & Christopher Bjork (eds) Japanese Education in an Era of Globalisation, 18–30. Teachers College Press. Bolton, Kristofer. 2015. Moral Education in Japan: The Coming of a New Dawn. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Oslo. www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/49714. Cave, Peter. 2004. Bukatsudō: the educational role of Japanese school clubs. The Journal of Japanese Studies, 30(2), 383–415. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25064493. Cave, Peter. 2007. Primary School in Japan: Self, Individuality and Learning in Elementary Education. Routledge. Cave, Peter. 2008. Morality, patriotism, and Japan’s new curricular guidelines: a response to Tawara Yoshifumi. Pacifc Review, 6(9). https://apjjf.org/-Adam-Lebowitz/2908/ article.html. Cave, Peter. 2016a. Schooling Selves: Autonomy, Interdependence, and Reform in Japanese Junior High School. University of Chicago Press. Cave, Peter. 2016b. Story, song, and ceremony: shaping dispositions in Japanese elementary schools during Taisho and early Showa. Japan Forum, 28(1), 9–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/09555803.2015.1077875. Cummings, William K. 1980. Education and Equality in Japan. University of Princeton Press. Fridell, Wilbur M. 1970. Government ethics textbooks in Late Meiji Japan. Journal of Asian Studies, 29(4), 823–833. https://doi.org/10.2307/2943090. Fukuoka, Kazuya. 2018. Japanese history textbook controversy at a crossroads? Joint history research, politicization of textbook adoption process, and apology fatigue in Japan. Global Change, Peace and Security, 30(3), 313–334. https://doi.org/10.10 80/14781158.2018.1501012. Fukuoka, Kazuya & Sachiko Takita-Ishii. 2021. Teaching how to love your country in schools? A study of Japanese youth narratives on patriotic education. National Identities, 24(3), 247–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/14608944.2021.1931084. Hand, Michael & Joanne Pearce. 2009. Patriotism in British schools: principles, practices and press hysteria. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 41(4), 453–465. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2009.00528.x. Hofman, Stuart D. 1999. School texts, the written words, and political indoctrination: a review of moral education curricula in modern Japan (1886–1997). History of Education, 28(1), 87–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/004676099284816. Inagaki, Takahiko & Yoshiyuki Kudomi (eds). 1994. 日本の教員文化 [A Cultural Perspective on Japanese Teachers]. University of Tokyo Press. Irie, Yoko. 2004. 教科書が危ない― 『心のノート』 と公民・歴史 [Textbooks Are Dangerous: Kokoro No Nōto, Civic Society and History]. Iwanami. Jackson, Philip, Robert Boostrom & David Hansen. 1993. The Moral Life of Schools. Jossey-Bass. Kaizuka, Shigeki. 2009. 道徳の教科書 [Dōtoku Textbooks]. Gakujutsu Shuppankai. Kaizuka, Shigeki. 2016. 修身の歴史 [The history of Shūshin]. In M. Matsumoto, S. Kaizuka, M. Nishino & T. Gōda (eds) 特別強化道徳 Q&A [Dōtoku Special Subject: Q&A], 70–83. Mineruva. Karasawa, Tomitaro. 1955. Changes in Japanese education as revealed in textbooks. Japan Quarterly, 2(3), 365–383. Kariya, Takehiko & Jeremy Rappleye. 2020. Education, Equality, and Meritocracy in a Global Age: The Japanese Approach. Teachers College Press.

56

The disjoint between policy and practice

Khan, Yoshimitsu. 1997. Japanese Moral Education Past and Present. Associated University Presses. Khan, Yoshimitsu. 2000. Schooling Japan’s imperial subjects in the early Shōwa period. History of Education, 29(3), 213–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/004676000284337. Kotera, Masakazu. 2016a. 道徳の歴史 [History of moral education]. In Masakazu Kotera & Hojun Fujinaga (eds) 道徳教育を学ぶ人のために [For Those Studying Moral Education], 29–75. Sekaishisosha. Kotera, Masakazu. 2016b. 道徳の時間の指導 [Teaching moral education classes]. In Masakazu Kotera & Hojun Fujinaga (eds) 道徳教育を学ぶ人のために [For Those Studying Moral Education], 173–216. Sekaishisosha. Kotera, Masakazu. 2016c. 道徳と教育. In Masakazu Kotera & Hojun Fujinaga (eds) 道 徳教育を学ぶ人のために [For Those Studying Moral Education], 8–24. Sekaishisosha. LeTendre, Gerald. 2000. Learning to be Adolescent: Growing up in US and Japanese Middle Schools. Yale University Press.  Lewis, Catherine. 1989. From indulgence to internalization: social control in the early school years. Journal of Japanese Studies, 15(1), 139–157. https://doi. org/10.2307/132411. Lewis, Catherine. 1995. Educating Hearts and Minds. Cambridge University Press. Matsumoto, M., Shigeki Kaizuka, Mayumi Nishino & T. Gōda (eds). 2016. 特別強化 道徳 Q&A [Dōtoku Special Subject: Q&A], 70–83. Minerva. Mishima, Kei’ichi. 2022. Moral education and historical revisionism. In Lothar Wigger & Marie Dirnberger (eds) Remembrance – Responsibility – Reconciliation, 79–91. J.B. Metzler. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-64185-9. Miyake, Akiko. 2003.「心のノート」 を考える [Considering Kokoro No Nōto]. Iwanami Booklets, 595. Iwanami. MOE. 1966a. 中学校道徳の指導資料集 [Collection of Materials for Moral Education at Junior High School] (3 volume combined ed.). MOE. MOE. 1966b. 小学校道徳の指導資料集 [Collection of Materials for Moral Education at Elementary School] (3 volume combined ed.). MOE. MOE/Curriculum Council. 1963. 答申:学校における道徳教育の充実方策について [Report: Moral Education Implementation Plan for Schools]. MEXT. Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. 2002. Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History. Chicago University Press. Ozawa, Makiko & Takashi Hasegawa. 2003.「心のノート」 を読み解く [Understanding Kokoro no Nōto]. Kamogawa Publishing. Poukka, P. 2011. Moral Education in the Japanese Primary School Curricular Revision at the Turn of the Twenty-frst Century. PhD thesis, University of Helsinki. Department of Teachers’ Education Research Report, 323, University of Helsinki. Roesgaard, Marie Højlund. 2016. Moral Education in Japan: Values in a Global Context. Routledge. Rohlen, Thomas P. 1976. The promise of adulthood in Japanese spiritualism. Daedalus, 105(2), 125–143. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20024404. Rohlen, Thomas P. 1983. Japan’s High Schools. University of California Press. Rohlen, Thomas P. & Gerald LeTendre. 1996. Teaching and Learning in Japan. Cambridge University Press. Sakamoto, Tetsuhiko. 2018. 小学校新学習指導要領 道徳の授業づくり [Making Dōtoku Lessons for the New Curriculum]. Meiji Tosho. Satō, Koji. 2008. 道徳授業は自分でつくる [Create Moral Education Classes by Yourself]. Nippon Hyōjun.

The disjoint between policy and practice 57 Sato, Manabu. 1998. Classroom management in Japan: A social history of teaching and learning. In N. Shimahara (ed) Politics of Classroom Life: Classroom Management in International Perspective, 189–214. Garland. Schoppa, Leonard J. 1991. Education Reform in Japan: A Case of Immobilist Politics. Routledge. Science Council of Japan Philosophy Committee. 2020. 道徳科において 「考え、 議論する」教育を推進するために [Promoting Thinking and Discussion in Education in Relation to Dōtoku]. www.scj.go.jp/ja/info/kohyo/pdf/kohyo24-h200609.pdf. Shibuichi, D. 2017. The Japan conference (Nippon Kaigi): an elusive conglomerate. East Asia, 34(3), 179–196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12140-017-9274-1. Shimahara, Nobuo. 2002. Teaching in Japan: A Cultural Perspective. Psychology Press. Shimamura, Teru. 2005.『心のノート』 の言葉とトリック [The Language and Tricks of Kokoro No Nōto]. Tsunan Shuppan. Shinogase, Yuji, Keita Hayashi & Kei Sato. 2014. Introduction to Nippon Kaigi. Tokyo Shinbun, 2014-07-31. English translation by J. Victor Koschmann published in the Asia-Pacifc, Journal 2015. https://apjjf.org/-Mine-Masahiro/4410. Singleton, John. 1989. Ganbaru: A Japanese cultural theory of learning. In J. J. Shields (ed) Japanese Schooling: Patterns of Socialization, Equality, and Political Control, 8–15. Penn State University Press. Sugano, Tamotsu. 2016. 日本会議の研究 [Nippon Kaigi]. Fusōsha. Sugihara, Satomi. 2017. 国に都合のいい子、 親、 教師をつくる教育政策 [Education policies that produce children, parents, and teachers who are susceptible to the state]. In Hotaka Tsukada (ed) 日本の右傾化 [Japan’s Drift to the Right], 168–179. Chikuma Sensho. Suzuki, Shogo. 2015. The rise of Chinese ‘other’ in Japan’s construction of identity: is China a focal point of Japanese nationalism? The Pacifc Review, 28(1), 95–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2014.970049. Takahashi, Tetsuya. 2003.「心」 と戦争 [Heart and Mind and War]. Shōbunsha. Takayama, Keito. 2023. Decolonial interventions in the postwar politics of Japanese education: reassessing the place of Shinto in Japanese language and moral education curriculum. Revista Española de Educación Comparada, 43, 71–87. https://doi. org/10.5944/reec.43.2023.37089. Takekawa, Shunichi. 2015. Reconciliation prospects and divided war memories in Japan: An analysis of major newspapers on the comfort women issue. In M. Kim (ed) Routledge Handbook of Memory and Reconciliation, 79–94. Routledge. Tanaka, Maria. 2010. 日本の道徳教育の変成 [The transformation of moral education]. In Takeo Yoshida, Maria Tanaka & Kazuyoshi Hosoda (eds) 道徳教育の変成 と課題： 「心」から 「つながり」へ [The Transformation and Problems of Moral Education], 1–51. Gakumonsha. Tobin, Joseph, Yeh Hsueh & Mayumi Karasawa. 2009. Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited: China, Japan, and the United States. University of Chicago Press. Tomano, Ittoku. 2019. ほんとうの道徳 [Real Moral Education]. Toransubyū. Tsuneyoshi, Ryoko. 2001. The Japanese Model of Schooling: Comparisons with the United States. Routledge Falmer. Tsuneyoshi, Ryoko, Hiroshi Sugita, Kanako Kusanagi & Fumiko Takahashi (eds). 2020. Tokkatsu: The Japanese Model of Holistic Education. World Scientifc. White, Merry & Robert LeVine. 1986. What is iiko (good child)? In Harold Stevenson, Hiroshi Azuma & K. Hakuta (eds) Child Development and Education. W. H. Freeman.

58

The disjoint between policy and practice

Wray, Harry. 1991. Change and continuity in modern Japanese educational history: allied occupational reforms forty years later. Comparative Education Review, 35(3), 447–475. https://doi.org/10.1086/447047. Wray, Harry. 2000. The fall of moral education and the rise and decline of civics education and social studies in occupied and independent Japan. Japan Forum, 12(1), 15–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/09555800050059441. Yamamura, Yoshiaki. 1986. The child in Japanese society. In Harold Stevenson, Hiroshi Azuma & Kenji Hakuta (eds) Child Development and Education in Japan, 28–38. Freeman.

3

Policy evolution through the Ministry

The second Education Rebuilding Council, which initiated the reform of moral education, was established in 2013 as a supra-cabinet council under the prime minister. The council sought to drive policy through the Ministry of Education (MEXT), pressuring its Central Council for Education (CCE) to implement its declarations. Whilst, historically, the Ministry of Education held the lion’s share of the prerogative to make education policy, especially in curriculum matters, this supra-cabinet council made declarations on curriculum structure and content. Rather than supplanting the policymaking role of the Ministry, however, the supra-cabinet council overlaid the existing system, resulting in a dual system of education policymaking. Whilst the prime ministerial executive moved to ‘strengthen’ moral education, the Ministry was concurrently deliberating a full curriculum revision. The new curriculum would be based on active learning and assessment for growth. Though these concepts were still under development, they were considered current policy by most quarters of MEXT. As such, there is a rift between the interests of the central government and the Ministry in relation to policy intentions for moral education. Simultaneously, MEXT is not a monolith, but is both a multi-layered and a multi-dimensional organization balancing remits to implement cabinet requirements faithfully, to administer education with a professional workforce of over 900,000,1 and to consider the current and future state of education based on educational expertise, along with other stakeholders – notably the prefectural and municipal boards of education, textbook publishers, and semi-independent experts who are appointed to policy councils or positions attached to MEXT. These various remits and its organization and overall size allow for protracted disagreements within MEXT and between its various semi-independent policy councils, also allowing for external expertise to work through it. Whilst the CCE is now confgured to realize cabinet policy, other departments further down its echelons prioritize consistency and other strands of policy, some of which are informed by knowledge of practice. It is inherent in the structure of a bureaucracy not only to build and maintain policies over longer timescales, but to keep abreast of all policies which are considered current to construct documents that fnd some compromise between them. This chapter discusses how policy ‘evolves’ (Majone and Wildavsky 1978) as it DOI: 10.4324/9781003125471-4

60

Policy evolution through the Ministry

Table 3.1 Relevant policy council, their secretariats, and purpose Council

Secretariat location

Select functions

Central Council for Education

Bureau of Lifelong Learning Policy

Determines policy direction. Approves curriculum.

Roundtable on the Enhancement of Moral Education

Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education

Legitimized the CCE adoption of cabinet recommendations, particularly the adoption of textbooks.

Curriculum Sub-committee [of the CCE]

Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education

Reports on curriculum matters to the CCE. Curriculum drafting.

Moral Education Expert Panel [of the Primary and Secondary Education Sub-committee]

Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education

Forms a working group to address questions on moral education.

External collaborators on the curriculum guidance for moral education

Curriculum Division, Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education

Drafted the curriculum guidance for moral education.

moves through the Ministry of Education. It also reveals how some quarters of MEXT are permeable to education practitioners, bringing in career educators to its policymaking process. It brings into focus some of the actors who work through the Ministry to interpret the moral education curriculum. The councils and departments discussed through this chapter are overviewed in Table 3.1. Strengthening moral education: prime ministerial leadership Since 1958, the national curriculum has required moral education provision infused throughout the school subjects and domains of planned school education: The aims [of moral education] should be taken into account when planning all lesson content and school activities to enrich it through deeply integrated, structured and developmental supervision to additionally deepen thinking on autonomous living and consciousness of moral values to underpin application in real life. (MEXT 2008a, 2008b) Concurrently, all curricula applicable from 1958 until 2017/18 provided for non-subject classtime devoted to the curriculum domain (ryōiki) of moral education. This classtime has been charged with ‘supplementing, deepening and integrating with other subjects . . . and educational activities where time is insufcient in their time allocation.’ Since 2008, moral education classtime has

Policy evolution through the Ministry 61 additionally been described as ‘the cornerstone of moral education’ – implying that the narrow sense of moral education provides a foundation for the broader sense to function. A textual reading of the written curriculum remains unclear whether moral education classtime is supportive of other subjects or provides a foundation on which other activities are based. Promoting the new curriculum, Nishino (2017: 46, 54–55) suggested on the one hand that ‘Japan has traditionally fostered a whole-school approach to moral education with a class for moral education at its core’, whilst listing one of the challenges of curriculum change to be ‘making moral education classtime the cornerstone of moral education’. These two ideas have continued to coexist in the curriculum since then. The 2008 curriculum also incorporated the wording of the revised Fundamental Law of Education to establish as an aim of education ‘respect for culture and traditions and love for their nation and region that nurtured them, along with respect for other countries and attitudes contributing to the peace and development of the international community’ into its general provisions. However, these items had long existed in the value items required in the moral education chapter of the curricula (using weaker language at elementary level). The value items have changed little over the past three decades and remained more or less the same after the 2015 revision.2 Table 3.2 lists the value items required by curricula over the past three decades and their gradual expansion into lower grades.3 The prime ministerial executive sought to strengthen moral education as part of a suite of nation-building policies, against a background of statements on national pride, war history revisionism, and increased value placed on traditional values and culture. The policy was announced in the frst report of the second Education Rebuilding Council. Unlike previous supra-cabinet councils established at a time of immobility in education politics, the second Education Rebuilding Council was packed with politicians and loyalists and was frmly under prime ministerial leadership. It expected the policies to be implemented by the Ministry of Education, and the prime minister had installed an ideologically committed Minister of Education for the task. Its frst report, entitled Declaration of Countermeasures Relating to Bullying, Etc. (Kantei 2013), was short and succinct. It called for moral education to be made into a subject without much elaboration: The state (kuni) will enhance moral education. To that end, whilst drastically improving teaching materials, enhancing teaching plans and clarifying efective teaching methods, moral education will become a subject under a new framework. Explicit reference made to the earlier reports of the frst Education Rebuilding Council clarifed that this would entail the use of textbooks that require approval of the Ministry of Education, and assessment. The frst report of the second Council for Rebuilding Education (Kantei 2013) ostensibly addressed bullying, an issue with a broad base of support from government, schools, teachers, and the public. It is likewise not unusual to address social

62

Policy evolution through the Ministry

Table 3.2 List of values prescribed in the 2008 and 2015 curricula 1–2 3–4 4–5 Elementary level

Junior high level

7–9

autonomy, self-discipline, freedom, and responsibility

〇

Mainly relating to the individual 〇 〇 〇 ◎ 〇

〇 〇 〇 〇 〇

〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇

good judgement, self-discipline freedom, and responsibility honesty and sincerity temperance and modesty individuality hope, courage, diligence, and strong will inquiry for truth

temperance and modesty aspiration and individuality hope, courage, self-control, and strong will inquiry for truth and creativity

Mainly relating to relations with other people 〇 〇 〇 〇

〇 〇 〇 〇 ◎

〇 〇 〇 〇 〇

kindness, omoiyari gratitude comportment and manners friendship and trustworthiness/trust mutual understanding and tolerance

omoiyari and gratitude comportment and manners friendship and trustworthiness/trust mutual understanding and tolerance

Mainly relating to relations with groups and society 〇

〇

〇

△ 〇

〇 〇

〇 〇

〇

〇

〇

◎

〇

◎

◎

〇

〇

〇

〇

〇

normative consciousness and public spirit justice, fairness, and social justice justice, fairness, and social justice social participation and public spirit work ethic work ethic and public spirit love of family, enhancing love of family, enhancing family life family life improving school life, improving school life, enhancing group activities enhancing group activities respect and love for hometown respect for culture and and its culture and traditions traditions, love for the nation respect and love for the nation and hometown and its culture and traditions international understanding, international understanding, international goodwill contribution to international [society] respect for rules

Mainly relating to relations with life, nature, and the sublime 〇 〇 〇

〇 〇 〇

〇 〇 〇

◎

respect for life stewardship of the natural environment sense of wonder and reverence for the sublime joy of living a better life

respect for life stewardship of the natural environment sense of wonder and reverence for the sublime joy of living a better life

〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇

〇 〇 〇 〇

〇 Applicable since 1998 or before 　 △ Newly introduced in 2008 　 ◎ Newly introduced in 2015

Policy evolution through the Ministry 63 issues, including bullying, through the curriculum. Nonetheless, moral education is only one possible means of response, and one which holds potential for controversy. The report announced that ‘moral education will be made into a subject (kyōkaka) and taught throughout the year through a new framework’. Following cabinet policy The top of MEXT is fused with the cabinet and the ruling party (or coalition) of the time mainly through the ofce of the Minister of Education. As occurred earlier with the installation of an ofcial coursebook (Kokoro no Nōto), the recommendations of the second Education Rebuilding Council were channelled through the Minister. Hakubun Shimomura, an active supporter of patriotic education, was appointed from the corresponding shadow positions as both Minister of Education and Cabinet Ofce Minister for Rebuilding Education in Abe’s comeback cabinet. The implementation was handed over in 2013 to the Central Education Council (CCE), the advisory body to the Minister with de facto authority to issue reports that guide MEXT policy. Members of the CCE are active in policymaking to an extent. However, there is a large extent to which structural constraints and appointments encourage participation which is partly ceremonial. Much of the policymaking work of the CCE, particularly drafting and recommendation, is undertaken by civil servants appointed to its secretariat (Schoppa 1991; Schwartz 1998; Nitta 2008: 18). The CCE secretariat (until 2018) was housed in the Bureau of Lifelong Learning Policy, which was closely afliated with the Minister’s Ofce, and its members are selected to support key policy drives. The Central Council for Education adopted the recommendations of the second Education Rebuilding Council in 2014 (MEXT 2014a) on the basis of recommendations of the hand-picked Roundtable on the Enhancement of Moral Education (Dōtoku Kyōiku no Jūjitsu ni kan-suru Sōdankai) (MEXT 2013). Members of the Roundtable on the Enhancement of Moral Education were regular members of high-level policy councils. Notable fgures with a profle in moral education included the educational historian Shigeki Kaizuka, educational psychologist Yoshio Oshitani, and child (development) psychologist Takashi Muto. Kaizuka, Oshitani, and others had long worked in the scholarly and cultural sphere to promote the desirability of textbooks for moral education. Though the idea, and their support for it, precedes the reports of the frst Education Rebuilding Council, their recommendations continue to advocate outcomes compatible with these reports. A guest-edited volume of Contemporary Educational Science (Kaizuka 2011b) saw the frst use of the term special subject dōtoku, which would later be written into policy. The volume also includes contributions from Kaizuka, Oshitani, and Muto. Amongst other topics, the volume discusses the break that post-War moral education makes from pre-1945 shūshin, both by emphasizing diferences and by rehabilitating parts of shūshin that they argue remain relevant to contemporary and democratic society. According to Kaizuka (2016: 76) and others, shūshin denoted instruction towards an ideal and predefned model character, an approach begging for shallow ‘right answer regurgitation’, whereas

64

Policy evolution through the Ministry

moral education promotes refection on character for children’s development. Kaizuka’s discussion of the history of shūshin is well-researched and convincing. It is leveraged to locate gaps into which the policy ideas he advocates can be nestled. The earlier publication (Kaizuka 2011a) also proposed the idea that some thorny problems of making dōtoku a subject could be avoided by designating it a ‘special subject’. In particular, the School Education Law seems to suggest that each school subject requires teaching using a textbook; numeric grading of each student; and, at junior high school, teaching by a teacher licensed in that subject. The theory of the ‘special subject’ clears the path for moral education to require a textbook whilst not mandating a moral education teaching licence or requiring graded assessment. Much to the ire of Left-leaning scholars, the works also resurrect arguments made during the heated debate of the 1950s. Kaizuka, for example, refers to the wisdom of the philosopher and controversial 1950s Minister of Education Teiyū Amano. Aspects critical of teachers discussed in an earlier consultation by the Minister were dropped from the CCE (MEXT 2014) report, but the substantive recommendations changed little. A new ‘special subject’ was established to provide a ‘cornerstone’ for moral education which would run through the whole curriculum. Technically, this was achieved by promulgating a partial revision of the curriculum in 2015 (MEXT 2015a, 2015c), for implementation beginning with the 2018–19 and 2019–20 school years in elementary and junior high schools respectively. The new status of moral education as a subject entails three substantive changes. Textbooks are subject to ministerial approval, schools are required to draw up an annual moral education syllabus plan, and the subject entails assessment. The curriculum revision was drafted by the Curriculum Subcommittee of the CCE with input from the Moral Education Expert Panel, which included a mix of actors. It included policy entrepreneurs, including Oshitani, Muto, and Kaizuka; along with board of education loyalists, and a small number of teachers with expertise in moral education practice. Sensitive issues In the months after the curriculum revision had been promulgated, other departments of MEXT were frefghting against anticipated fallout from the strengthening of moral education. Various explanations have been proposed for the tendency of the Ministry of Education to soften education reform. Schoppa argues for a bureaucratic conservatism at the Ministry of Education in which ‘the predominant attitude of the MOE, across the whole range of policy issues, has been its desire to maintain existing practices and policies’ (Schoppa 1991: 93). This is because of the perceived balance in the system built under its authority, which Schoppa calls a certain kind of ‘pride’; and because civil servants in the Ministry deal on a daily basis with education administrators through visits, consultations, and personnel rotation. Nonetheless, the Ministry is inevitably also concerned with expanding (or at least maintaining) the scope of its control, as seen in its support of unpopular policies to strengthen the teacher licensing system, which is determined by

Policy evolution through the Ministry 65 MEXT. Whilst not denying the importance of collegiality between some civil servants in the Ministry of Education and local educators, Aspinall adapts the more realpolitik approach following Junko Kato (1994): ‘the MOE has found, over the years, that if a policy does not have the support of the personnel who will implement it, then it will not be a success’ (Aspinall 2001: 108). Yung Park argues additionally that the experience of bitter confrontation in the immediate post-War years remains in the collective memory of the bureaucracy so much that ofcials shy away from doing anything that might provoke unnecessary controversy (see Schoppa 1991: 97). Nitta (2008: 31) is more cautious, suggesting that senior bureaucrats at MEXT during the years of Nakasone’s AHRC tended against mandating use of the fag and anthem at school ceremonies, but they were not upset about conceding the issue in a horse-trade for other issues more precious to them. Indeed, the moral education curriculum chapter saw some focus on the role of the individual in international society in the 1989 revision, following the direction of Nakasone’s AHRC. Love of country, home region, and Japanese culture were added to the values prescribed for junior high level in 1989. Weaker language was used for corresponding values at elementary level. Discussing recommendations of the subsequent National Council for Education Reform (2001), former CCE and Curriculum Council4 member Azuma Hiroshi describes frustration in the higher echelons of MEXT with calls for additional reform since the CCE had stated their priorities in their own report only a couple of years earlier. Azuma summarizes that the report of the National Council: was transferred to the 18th CCE in the spring of 2001. Although both the [National Council] and the Ministry of Education list similar priorities the Prime Minister’s Council seems more concerned with the academic standards and traditional morality refecting the interests of industry and academia, while the ministry seems more concerned with well-being and psychological health in line with recent CCE reports. At this time, the ministry does not seem very enthusiastic about the nostalgic tendency of the [National Council] report, especially the tendency to frame issues in terms of pre-War ideology, and is making eforts to consolidate the ministry reforms of 1998. (2002: 17) This is indicative of a rift between each successive supra-national council and the Ministry of Education. More recently, Takayama has suggested that the Ministry of Education works to avoid ideologically sensitive topics in cases which do not expand its scope of control: To the MEXT’s bureaucratic conservativism, both the explicitly nationalistic agenda proposed by social conservatives and the quasi-market reform plans by economic rationalists were too radical and divisive, most likely to bring the MEXT into an unwanted ideological minefeld. (Takayama 2013: 662)

66

Policy evolution through the Ministry

Documents published by MEXT in response to the 2015 reforms showed a high level of caution toward the moral education revision and acknowledged its sensitivities. This was reminiscent of moral education provision in the first binding post-War curriculum published in 1958. At that time, during a highpoint of tension between the JTU and the Ministry of Education, the course of study was ‘driven through’ by a hawkish Minister, but also carefully drafted to create distance from questionable practices, explicitly warning against ‘preaching’ values and against a pre-War didactic style of teaching (MOE 1958). The first subsequent attempt to reform moral education was undertaken by the first Abe administration in 2006–2007. At that time, two successive Ministers of Education, Bunmei Ibuki and Kisaburo Tokai, followed the Central Council for Education of the time, essentially expressing dissent toward the reforms (Katsuta 2020). The later attempt in 2013 was successful partly because of stronger political will in a more culturally conservative ruling party, partly because of an assertive minister, and partly because the number of education experts on the CCE had declined precipitously. Regarding the recent reforms, the (MEXT) Curriculum Division of the Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education worked to pre-empt discontent and released a one-page announcement onto the main web page for moral education (MEXT 2016c; transcribed in Figure 3.1). It begins with a statement on nationalism, then summarizes a series of additional positions on moral education textbooks and assessment.

Figure 3.1 Bulletin summarizing assessment, linked from the MEXT website main dōtoku page (MEXT 2016c)

Policy evolution through the Ministry 67 Question: When moral education becomes a subject, is it true that assessment of ‘nationalism’ will count toward entrance examinations? If it is assessed, there is concern [that children and students] will no longer be able to speak their mind, creating an oppressive atmosphere. Answer: In assessing moral education, no specifc way of thinking will be imposed, and it will not be used for entrance examinations. The special subject of moral education will move toward a model using thinking and discussion, based on moral values that belong to the child. Rather than expecting children to uncritically follow a particular way of thinking, it raises ‘children for the future’ who think independently: • The system of moral education classes so far had various issues. • It did not address bullying. • Classes that only discuss the feelings of characters in a story need to end. • Because there is no assessment or textbooks, etc., it tends to be disregarded. • The second Education Rebuilding Council has planned unprecedented reform of moral education to become a special subject: • an appropriate nine-year programme based on high-quality textbooks • moral education for thinking and discussion based on children’s own moral perspectives • Assessment will be used to evaluate moral learning and progress, and to improve instruction. It will not be used for examinations. • The particular situation surrounding moral education assessment has been explained numerous times in various fora such as Parliament. • Assessment is for the improvement of education. In moral education, especially, it will not be used for such purposes as ranking children through numeric grades or for examinations. • Curriculum items such as ‘an attitude of love toward hometown and nation’ will not be assessed. Therefore, it is not possible to assess ‘nationalism’. • Assessment will be undertaken by carefully observing the child’s progress in the way that they come to terms with their own thinking and the thinking of others; and by encouraging and stretching each child in relation to the [curriculum] criteria. • This kind of assessment is not appropriate for entrance examinations, and it will not be included. (Abbreviated. All sections with underlining in the original are included).

68

Policy evolution through the Ministry

At a functional level, the poster provides an update on assessment, much of which was not concretized until 2017. However, it also serves as a declaration of compromise, positioning MEXT as an arbiter between the supra-cabinet council under prime ministerial leadership that had initiated the policy and the education community. Its use of language aligns with the authority of the government, referencing parliamentary debate and the supra-cabinet council. In making promises, however, MEXT is acting as a political player. This compromise position is a bid to determine policy. The MEXT journal Papers on Primary Education is published jointly by two departments of the (MEXT) Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education. Circulated by the Ministry, it constructs an ofcial history of the reform, declaring how it ‘will’ be implemented and the public-facing reasons for doing so. The articles provide expositions of the policy, comparisons with the previous requirements, and case studies of ‘best practice’. Besides the promise for detailed guidance on how schools might approach assessment, the history ends with the 2016 Specialist Committee Report on moral education assessment (MEXT 2016b). This compromise position represents policy and the ofcial line at MEXT. It also illustrates the Ministry’s cognizance of educators’ scepticism toward nationalism and the sensitivity of both textbooks and assessment in moral education, which form part of the collective memory of the teaching community. Active learning Active learning is the latest name for a series of attempts to infuence pedagogy in Japanese classrooms, reaching back several decades (Takayama 2021; Bamkin 2022). Active learning encourages consideration of the experience of the students in the class to foster deeper learning through more relevant connections to student experiences and deeper learning through experiential learning. It encourages teachers to ‘use’ textbooks but not to ‘follow’ textbooks. When the moral education curriculum chapter was revised in 2015, active learning was being promoted in anticipation of the call for the CCE Curriculum Sub-committee to begin drafting a new curriculum. Indeed, when the full curriculum revision later emerged in 2017, active learning was a prominent feature of the text. The CCE report (MEXT 2014: 11) set out proposals ‘to proactively promote the use of diverse and efective teaching methods’ to facilitate ‘each individual child to think about and face’ difcult real-world problems such as bullying by drawing on their own experiences, viewpoints, and values and on discussion. The vision presented a ‘process in which children examine the issues [at hand] and deepen their individual thinking in dialogue and debate with the teacher and other students, and through refection and deliberation’ (ibid). Though the spirit of active learning is taken further, such provisions in the curriculum are not new. The course of study placed an emphasis on thinking

Policy evolution through the Ministry 69 for oneself, discussion or debate, exchanging ideas, and expression since 2008. The previous curriculum provided that: The goal of moral education is to foster moral sentiment, judgement, practical willingness and attitude, to be implemented throughout the curriculum, in accordance with the general provisions of the curriculum. (MEXT 2008b) The moral education classroom should: provide ample opportunity for expression through activities such as composition and debate and, whilst coming into contact with thought diferent from one’s own, deepen one’s own thinking and experience individual growth. (ibid) Prior to this, similar ideas had surfaced in the progressively minded 1998 CCE report Raising Hearts and Mind for the Future: The Danger of Losing Heart to Educate the Next Generation (MOE 1998), referred to by Azuma above. Curriculum guidance for moral education Curriculum guidance (gakushūshidōyōryō kaisetsu) is published by MEXT alongside each curriculum revision to provide further details on content, planning, and pedagogical issues, as well as elaboration on the content of the curriculum. Whilst the national curriculum chapter on moral education spans about eight pages of objectives and lists, supported by its general provisions, the curriculum guidance initially extended to 108 pages, then grew to 167 along with the full curriculum revision.5 Roesgaard describes the creation of a moral education coursebook by MEXT as both an ofcial bid for contents and ‘an ofcial bid for translating the curriculum guidelines into a practice’ (Roesgaard 2016: 74). The curriculum guidance is likewise a bid to translate the curriculum into practice, or at least to provide preparatory groundwork toward that end. The curriculum guidance for the new moral education (MEXT 2015b, 2015d) promoted active participation for deep learning, with an expanded emphasis on thinking and discussion. The curriculum guidance, consistent with active learning, used the phrase ‘moral education for thinking’ alongside ‘moral education through discussion’ and thinking ‘from various standpoints and from various perspectives’ (ibid). The teaching community began to use these phrases during practice sharing, and ‘moral education for thinking and discussion’ was adopted by the CCE the following year (MEXT 2016a) in a wide-ranging report that conveyed similar aspirations for all subjects. A few changes are noteworthy in the 2015 curriculum guidance for moral education. As explained in ofcial commentary on the revision: To reinforce the purpose of fostering a desire and attitude more conducive to refection, thinking from multiple perspectives and multiple standpoints, ability to make judgements, moral sentiment and moral

70

Policy evolution through the Ministry behaviour, the previous ‘deepening [children’s] awareness of the listed moral values and how to live as a human on their basis’ is changed to the concretization of learning activities and ‘studies based on an understanding of the [listed] moral values in order to fnd oneself, think about multiple perspectives and from standpoints to broaden one’s perspective and deepen thinking about how to live as a human being’. Furthermore, to clarify the purpose of fostering qualities and ability to live a better life, the previous ‘promoting practical ability in morality’ is changed to fostering ‘moral sentiment, judgement, practical willingness and attitude’. (MEXT 2015d: 4)

Moreover, the guidance encourages classroom discussions to be undertaken in reference to and applied to ‘contemporary issues’: The moral values provided for the moral education subject are directly related to issues in contemporary society. In accordance with age-appropriacy, issues close to children’s lives should be related to contemporary issues and refection on the self. When addressing issues experienced in contemporary society, it is important to devise teaching methods such as problem-based activities to deepen discussion, to understand how the issue connects to oneself, and foster the attitude and desire to continue thinking for solutions. For example, to promote deeper refection on what is important to live better as a person and how to achieve such aims, the utilization of teaching materials should incorporate contemporary issues, such as nutrition and eating habits, health education, consumer education, disaster [preparedness] education, education relating to social services, law, civic education, traditional culture, international understanding, and career education, in relation to such content in other subjects, foreign language activities, integrated studies and special activities, and to enhance study through engagement with multiple perspectives on moral values and encourage children’s selfmotivated study. This may include, for example, in the context of sustainable society, various issues such as the environment, poverty, human rights, peace, and development, that there is disagreement (kattō) relating to various moral values such as respect for rules, the value of life and human rights, justice and fairness, social justice, improving international goodwill (kokusai shinzen) and protection of the natural environment. In this way, there are also many real-life examples in which disagreement and opposition occur that are closely related to contemporary issues, particularly relating to the values [listed]. The document continues to explain how contemporary issues should be taught. Care should be taken to foster motivation for collaboration with people with diverse values when addressing problems about which there are various perspectives and ways of thinking, and which cannot be solved with a

Policy evolution through the Ministry 71 single approach. For that purpose, it is possible to elicit ideas from children and provide guidance to consider multiple perspectives collaboratively. Moreover, in studying these contemporary issues, it is important to foster the attitude and desire to continue thinking about those for which there is no single answer from multiple perspectives and multiple standpoints. Care should be taken not to draw easy conclusions or to provide guidance that leans toward any specifc way of seeing or thinking, but to encourage children to deepen their own thinking in reference to positions and opinions (kangaekata) diferent from their own. (MEXT 2015d: 95–96) The curriculum guidance for moral education (MEXT 2015b, 2015d) was well suited to legitimize and enable some of the practices that well-known practitioner writers and expert practitioners in the feld had been promoting since before the reform. This is no coincidence. The curriculum guidance is drafted in the Ministry under the purview of the Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education. However, it is lengthy and written in a particular technical code. As such, the Bureau brings in collaborators largely drawn from amongst policy-engaged expert practitioners. Civil servants in some sections of this bureau have familiarity with school and classroom practice and rely partly upon teachers on the administrative track (Takayama and Lingard 2019) to deliberate and work on drafting curriculum guidance. In this process, MEXT needs to be porous to ensure input from practitioners so that policy makes sense to school administrators and classroom teachers. In the process, however, those educationalists infuse new meanings into the guidance. Resultantly, they not only make sense of high-level policy, but they make sense of it for school administrators and classroom teachers. They also make sense for civil servants who then adopt the curriculum guidance as policy and work, to an extent, to adjust subsequent policies to ensure a degree of consistency. The panels convened to deliberate and draft the curriculum guidance for the moral education subject were populated by experts with experience of classroom practice. As such, this interpretation of the curriculum is informed by knowledge of practice. Practitioners working through the Ministry A group of ‘external collaborators’ were commissioned to deliberate and defne the curriculum guidance in cooperation with civil servants in the Curriculum Division of the Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education. This separate group was newly convened rather than drawing members from the Moral Education Expert Panel, which is a panel of the Primary and Secondary Education Sub-committee of the CCE appointed in the name of the Chair of the CCE on advice of the Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education. For the elementary guidance, the external collaborators included practitioners listed as school principals (2), vice-principals (2), classroom teachers (1), teacher supervisors (1), textbook examiners (1), and professors of education mainly related to teacher training (3) (MEXT 2015d: 109). As illustrated in Table 3.3, however, the particular title listed in ofcial

72

 

Tetsuya Asami Kenji Saito Mayumi Saito Tetsuhiko Sakamoto Tsuneo Shima Kunio Suzumura Shigeo Nagata Hiromi Hashimoto Mayumi Miyata Yoshitake Monai Total

Classroom teacher

BoE instructional supervisor similar

(Vice-) Principal

Chōsakan or MEXT employee

〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 10

〇 〇 ー 〇 〇

〇 〇 ー 〇 ー 〇 ー ー 〇 ー 5

〇 〇 ー ー ー ー 〇 ー ー ー 3

〇 ー 〇 〇 7

Educ. professor

(Vice-) Chair of a national dōtoku association

Coursebook/ textbook author/ editor

Published other book(s) on dōtoku

● ー ー ● ● 〇 〇 ー ー 〇 5

ー ー ー △ ー 〇 〇 ー ー 〇 3~4

ー ー 〇 ー 〇 〇 〇 〇 ー 〇 6

〇 ー 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 ー ー △ 6~7

△ In a domain of education aligned with moral education (UDL, nutrition education, etc.) ● Specially appointed to teach postgraduate development courses for qualifed teachers (i.e. practitioner instructor at a Graduate School of Teacher Education)

Policy evolution through the Ministry

Table 3.3 Career background of external collaborators who supported the drafting of the 2015 curriculum guidance for dōtoku

Policy evolution through the Ministry 73 documents provides only a snapshot. Most collaborators held or had held multiple roles before and after serving this commission. Many have served in at least four roles amongst: teacher (10 out of 10); board of education instructional supervisor (7); principal or vice-principal (5); direct appointment to MEXT, such as textbook examiner (3); education professor (5); (vice-)chair of national research associations on moral education (3); and author or editor of a dōtoku coursebook or textbook (6). The makeup of the group of external collaborators is not dissimilar at junior high level. Importantly, external collaborators who drafted the 2015 curriculum guidance for dōtoku are education administrators with extensive knowledge of practice, in addition to other experience. These practitioners have a range of backgrounds. Most began their careers as teachers and transferred into boards of education as instructional advisors, demonstrating extensive experience in education practice and local school administration. Some have additionally served in policy-focused roles and have contributed nationally to debates on moral education. Shigeo Nagata and Tetsuhiko Sakamoto are prominent examples, and they demonstrate the potential for practitioners to shape the meaning of policy through the curriculum guidance. Both began their careers as teachers and were transferred into the board of education as instructional advisors (shidōshuji). Sakamoto held a concurrent role in teacher education at a university before transferring to serve as viceprincipal and then principal. Nagata became a university professor, building practice-based networks and teaching practicing schoolteachers. He is chair of the practice-oriented Japan Society for Moral Education, chaired the Tokyo Gakugei University Attached Schools Research Group for Moral Education, and organized countless practice sharing conferences on moral education in a non-governmental capacity. As such, the two work almost daily with teachers interested in moral education practice and locate such work largely in the school. Both have written numerous books for an audience of teachers, moral education subject lead teachers, and principals. Their expertise in moral education becomes bolstered by appointments to distinguished positions, but it is founded on expertise in practice. To this end, the early careers of these practitioner experts are also telling. As a teacher without administrative duties, Sakamoto documented his moral education and integrated-studies lessons on a public website for over a decade. The period covers experimentation in some key areas of reform, including the year leading up to the introduction of the new Integrated Studies classtime introduced in 2002, early work with the ofcial moral education coursebooks from their release date in 2003, and early work in information [communication technology] education. Nagata has led many hundreds of national conferences, practice-sharing seminars, study meetings, and commentary engagements at school-based lesson studies. The names of these practitioner experts become synonymous with practical questions in moral education. Also amongst the external collaborators brought in to draft the curriculum guidance is Tetsuya Asami, who edits moral education content for the MEXT

74

Policy evolution through the Ministry

journal Papers on Primary Education, writing the history of policymaking efectively under the banner of the Ministry of Education. Numerous special collections on moral education are edited by Asami,6 with short introductions to collate the key points. Asami served for 18 years as a teacher in municipal schools before serving as an instructional supervisor at a prefectural board of education, deputy section head and instructional supervisor at a municipal board of education, and later some years as vice-principal and principal of municipal schools. The external collaborators commissioned to deliberate and defne the junior high school guidance (MEXT 2015b: 113) demonstrate a similar composition to the elementary collaborators. They include two secondary school principals, one classroom teacher, a prefectural teacher trainer (listed in his capacity as a MEXT textbook inspector), the deputy section chief of school education at a prefectural board of education, fve university professors, and a NIER7 researcher. The professors vary in their felds of expertise. Two are retired teachers, one was promoted to instructional advisor before teaching teacher training at university, the other serving three terms both as vice-principal and as principal of secondary schools. One is a scholar of moral education, one of psychology, and one is an educational philosopher with interests in the practice and applications of Western theory in moral education. The NIER researcher likewise has a long-standing interest in evaluating international models for moral education in Japan. Despite ostensibly difering authorship, the curriculum guidance for elementary and for junior high school level is similar. There may well have been correspondence between external collaborators, but it was unlikely sustained throughout the drafting process. Much of the smoothing process could only have realistically occurred through work in the secretariat of the two groups of external collaborators, both housed in the (MEXT) Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education with overlapping membership. From this can be seen the hand of civil servants in the text of the documents. Schwartz’ (1998) analysis of policy councils demonstrates the extent and regularity of direction provided to independent policy councils by civil servants in their secretariats, though this is likely to be stronger at higher levels since the expertise of panel members at lower levels is more likely to overlap with the narrower subject of discussion. It is important to afrm not only the smoothing efect, but the active consent of the secretariat who are efectively free to elide disagreeable passages from later versions. Intractable disagreement is unlikely because the civil servants in the secretariat who select the external collaborators have prior knowledge of those practitioners prior work. Further, this concordance is more likely in this case because the group of external collaborators was created specifcally for this task. The Curriculum Division of the Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education had at its disposal the Moral Education Expert Panel, which sits under the CCE. However, it did not consult this Panel, in spite of administrative guidelines limiting the creation of new groups.8 As an aside, the poster on assessment released by MEXT (Figure 3.3), which signalled the compromise position between strengthening moral education and

Policy evolution through the Ministry 75 limiting strong assessment, was based on a report composed by a panel of experts also appointed by the Curriculum Division of the Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education (MEXT 2016b), which was likewise was composed of teachers, school administrators, and professors in university schools of education. What is dōtoku for ‘thinking and discussion’? Much depends on the meaning of ‘dōtoku for thinking and discussion’ and related concepts found in the curriculum guidance. This section unpacks the meaning attached to this concept in practitioner literature in reference to the work of Shigeo Nagata and Tetsuhiko Sakamoto, two practitioners brought in by the Ministry’s Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education to draft the curriculum guidance. Their works are practitioner literature which partly construct a ‘model’ of how teachers might be expected to understand the curriculum guidance. Here, however, they are leveraged to expand on what was intended in the curriculum guidance by dōtoku for thinking and discussion by some of its more prominent architects. Tetsuhiko Sakamoto’s primer for practitioners (2018: 35) recognizes that the introduction of textbooks is more restrictive, but it discusses numerous means to develop materials through both content and approaches to teaching. Lessons are likely to begin with the story contents popular in textbooks, but they need not be confned to that content. Either way, further planning or classroom practice is required to meet the aspirations of ‘moral education for thinking and discussion’ and ‘thinking from multiple standpoints and multiple perspectives’. The primer promotes the potential in the curriculum for teachers to redirect textbook materials by focusing on contemporary issues: ‘current issues, information morality, nutrition and eating habits, health, consumerism [consciousness], disaster preparedness, education relating to social services, law, civic education, traditional culture, international understanding, career education’ (Sakamoto 2018: 37–40). Those italicized are not necessarily included in textbooks at any grade, though materials on disaster preparedness, treated in other subjects, are entering the dōtoku circuit, as are issues relating to law to a lesser extent. Sakamoto (ibid: 46) encourages teachers to reduce questions that merely check understanding or prompt one-word answers since these do not comprise the main substance of the lesson. This partly adopts the critique of ‘dōtoku by reading’ and also fts recommendations into requirements of the non-binding curriculum guidance. Sakamoto encourages questions that elicit detailed and perhaps unexpected responses. He creates a classifcation of questions (ibid: 50–55), differentiating those that operate within the textworld of the teaching materials or story and those which move into debate of a moral value. The frst two take the character’s subjective position; the latter two analyse the character objectively. Within the teaching materials are questions such as: 1 At this point, how does the character feel? 2 At this point, why did the character do X, or what was s/he thinking?

76

Policy evolution through the Ministry

3 If it were you, how would you feel? 4 What do you think about Y doing X? Sakamoto credits Nagata for classifying these as: empathic, analytic, projective, evaluative. There is a progression through question types 1-to-4. However, these are preparatory for the substantive discussion of moral education for thinking and discussion. The following questions 5–8 move into discussion because there is greater scope for further questions and difering reasons between children and between child and teacher. There is also scope for children and students to fnd greater nuance or to adjust their thinking in response to ‘what somebody else thinks’. Questions that examine the teaching material from the outside include: 5 So is it important to consider value Z? 6 What does the material have to do with value Z? This can progress from discussions about the material to wider discussion about the self. 7 Thinking about our studies today, a what good points can you identify about yourself? b what issues might arise in the future? 8 Do you have experience of X? How did you feel? Models developed by Shigeo Nagata overlap with those of Sakamoto. Nagata writes about lesson planning using the new textbooks in the materials for a national practice conference: ‘Thinking from multiple standpoints is probing, deepening understanding and comparing one matter from numerous perspectives, making use of the viewpoints of various people’. People here could be other characters in the story or other members of the class. ‘Thinking from multiple perspectives is mainly the clarifcation of one’s understanding of the matter and the understanding of one’s own way of living or decisions in dialogue and debate with others who may have difering perspectives’ (Nagata and Matsuo 2017: 8). Figure 3.2 attempts to illustrate how ‘recognition’ of the situation leads to a ‘sharpening’ of one’s position. There is a progression from ‘questioning the situation: the characters feelings or reasons for acting’, their standpoints, to ‘questioning the characters (their way of living)’, which thinks from multiple perspectives but is ‘safe’; to more ‘adventure driving’ by ‘questioning the teaching materials (their characteristics or meaning)’ then ‘questioning the main theme or values’ in the story or situation. Again, the early two stages work within the teaching material and the latter two outside of the materials. Nagata’s model, however, goes further in its more ‘advanced’ applications. Nagata subsumes Sakamoto’s latter two questions as ‘questions

Policy evolution through the Ministry

77

about the self’ and adds ‘questions about the moral value itself’. This is added to Sakamoto’s typology: 9 What have we learned about value Z? Practitioners continue to construct the meaning of key terms used in the curriculum guidance through practitioner literature. This is discussed further in later chapters. Policy evolution The strengthening of moral education was precipitated by nationalistic impulses of the cabinet and culturally conservative – now mainstream – wing of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to utilize moral education as a vehicle of nation building. The recommendations of the supra-cabinet second Education Rebuilding Council were driven through the (MEXT) Central Council for Education. Though anticipated some years earlier, the revised curriculum was promulgated in March 2015. Moral education would be reassigned as a special subject, to take effect in the years leading up to 2018/19. The wording of the revised curriculum chapter holds resonances of a pre-determined social order and of national pride. Substantively, it now requires the use of a textbook selected from a range approved by the Ministry of Education, a syllabus to be pre-written by each school, and qualitative assessment of children and students throughout the nine grades of compulsory education. However, the choreographed deliberations and qualified agreement of the CCE represents only one moment in the trajectory of this strand of policy. In Nitta’s (2008: 135) terminology, though the Ministry must deliver the centrepiece of the reform, it may simultaneously ‘hijack’ cabinet driven reforms, ‘filling in the

Questioning the story and events

Questioning the characters’ ways of living

Many ‘safe’ lesson models We can guess most of the responses from children. We can plan everything.

Questioning the teaching materials and story

Questions about the self. Questions about moral value(s) and actions

‘Adventure driving’ We are unsure. We need to think whilst teaching. We might follow unknown routes.

Figure 3.2 Moral education lessons as ‘adventure driving’ (Nagata and Matsuo 2017)

78

Policy evolution through the Ministry

blanks’ with details emerging from longer-standing objectives within MEXT and those of educators brought into MEXT. Policy evolves as it moves through the Ministry of Education. Active learning was already being promoted as a principle of the (then) forthcoming full curriculum revision, and it was considered current policy. Following active learning, the Ministry produced curriculum guidance that called for ‘moral education for thinking and discussion’, encouraging educators to ‘use textbooks but not follow them’, which held some potential to bypass or reformulate contents seen as disagreeable to teachers and school administrators. In making the curriculum guidance, the Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education relies on experienced practitioners to ensure that the document makes sense to classroom teachers. The mobilization of policy in the 1990s coincided with greater involvement of expert practitioners in departments of MEXT closer to the ground. The Ministry brings in education professors and current or semi-retired teaching professionals, school administrators, and policy-engaged expert practitioners who work through the Ministry to create the very policy they will later translate into practice. Aspects salient to practitioners, or at least to expert practitioners writing for a readership of teachers and school administrators, were introduced into the curriculum guidance by practitioners brought into the policymaking process. These experienced practitioners overlap with practitioner writers who value moral education as an everyday professional practice that aims to foster healthy, prosocial, attitudes to live better alongside others, and encourages teachers to develop pedagogic capacity to better plan lessons and activities and ofer a range of resources in support of their eforts. The Ministry is implicated in multiple ways: as an arm of government fused with the cabinet; as a bureaucracy whose civil servants work to realize numerous current policies, which might otherwise seem only partially compatible; and as a conduit for expertise based on knowledge of practice and school administration. At each level, actors work to make sense of the requirements in line with their prior knowledge, expectations, and problem-solving resources. Understanding the limits of the Ministry’s power and its semi-porous structure along with the contributions of various interest groups reveals some aspects of how policy evolves in the Ministry of Education. A wide range of stakeholders work through the Ministry of Education, including politicians, policy entrepreneurs, and expert practitioners. Another group of stakeholders that enjoys a multifaceted relationship with multiple departments of the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders is that of textbook publishers, discussed in the following chapter. Notes 1 There were 907,000 teachers at public and private elementary, junior and senior high schools in 2020. Public school teachers are employed by the prefectural boards of education. Nonetheless, MEXT both partly administers the employment of teachers and relies on teachers at the end of the line to carry out national policies. 2 The 2015 curriculum revision removed the item in preceding junior high curricula ‘to deepen understanding of the diferent qualities between the sexes and to respect

Policy evolution through the Ministry 79

3 4 5

6

7 8

the characteristics of the other’. Some of the values related to autonomy and individuality were introduced in 1998 alongside the yutori reforms. The translations provided in Table 3.2 follow those provided by Nishino (2017) for the junior high curriculum, with some adjustments. Predecessor to the current Curriculum Sub-committee of the CCE. The revised curriculum chapter was 7–8 and 5 pages at elementary and junior high school respectively. The initial 2015 curriculum guidance was 108 and 112 pages. The 2017 release was 167 and 170 (MEXT 2017a, 2017b). Much of the change was to accommodate assessment and minor amendments to accommodate the general provisions of the new curricula. Shotō Kyōiku Shiryō: Jan 2018: 1–41 on preparations for the new dōtoku; Nov 2018: 55–77 on improving the quality of dōtoku lessons; Dec 2018: 1–41 on what is the same, what is diferent, and what is required for the new dōtoku; Apr 2019: 1–39 on linking dōtoku to content in other subjects; Dec 2019: 47–69 on dōtoku assessment in light of active learning; Jan 2021: 45–67 on education for the heart during the COVID-19 period. The National Institute for Educational Policy Research is the semi-autonomous research arm of MEXT. The cabinet order Guidelines on holding administrative meetings such as roundtables (Kantei 1999) discourages the creation of new groups, though scope remains for interpretation.

References Aspinall, Robert. 2001. Teachers’ Unions and the Politics of Education in Japan. SUNY Press. Azuma, Hiroshi. 2002. The development of the course of study and the structure of educational reform in Japan. In Gary DeCoker (ed) National Standards and School Reform in Japan and the United States, 5–18. Teachers College Press. Bamkin, Sam. 2022. From enthusiasm to caution: Remaining questions surrounding the new curriculum. In Akito Okada & Sam Bamkin (eds) Japan’s School Curriculum for the 2020s: Politics, Policy, and Pedagogy. Springer. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-981-19-2076-9_12. Kaizuka, Shigeki, 2011a. 道徳の 「教科化」 を提案する [Proposal to make dōtoku a subject]. 現代教育科学 [Contemporary Educational Science], 657. Meiji Tosho. Kaizuka, Shigeki (ed). 2011b. 現代教育科学：道徳の 「教科化」 を提案する [Contemporary Educational Science: Planning for the Subjectifcation of Moral Education]. Issue 657. Meiji Tosho. Kaizuka, Shigeki. 2016. 修身の歴史 [The history of Shūshin]. In M. Matsumoto, S. Kaizuka, M. Nishino & T. Gōda (eds) 特別強化道徳 Q&A [Dōtoku Special Subject: Q&A], 70–83. Mineruva. Kantei. 1999. 懇談会等行政運営上の会合の開催に関する指針 [Guidelines on Holding Administrative Meetings Such as Roundtables]. https://web.archive.org/ web/20000117234906/http://www2.kantei.go.jp/jp/kakugikettei/990524singikai. html (archived 00-01-17). Kantei/Education Rebuilding Implementation Council. 2013. 第一次提言：いじめ の問題等への対応について [First Declaration: Countermeasures Relating to Bullying, etc]. https://web.archive.org/web/20130626131123/www.kantei.go.jp/jp/ singi/kyouikusaisei/pdf/dai1_1.pdf (archived 13-06-26). Kato, Junko. 1994. The Problem of Bureaucratic Rationality: Tax Politics in Japan. Princeton University Press.

80

Policy evolution through the Ministry

Katsuta, Miho. 2020.「道徳の教科化」の政策過程: 私的諮問機関の役割を中心にして [The policymaking process of the subjectisation of dōtoku, with special focus on the role of private advisory councils]. The Journal of Gifu Kyoritsu University, 54(3), 17–34. http://hdl.handle.net/11207/366. Majone, Giandomenico & Aaron Wildavsky. 1978. Implementation as evolution. In Howard Freeman (ed) Policy Studies Annual Review, 103–117. Sage. MEXT. 2008a. 中学校学習指導要領解説: 道徳編 [JHS Curriculum Guidance for Dōtoku for 2010]. www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/detail/__icsFiles/afeldfle/2016/08/10/1282846_2.pdf. MEXT. 2008b. 学習指導要領「生きる力」[2008 Course of Study, for 2010]. www.mext. go.jp/a_menu/shotou/new-cs/youryou/index.htm. MEXT. 2015a. 中学校学習指導要領平成20年３月告示，平成27年３月一部改正 [Junior High Course of Study, for 2019]. MEXT. www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/newcs/youryou/__icsFiles/afeldfle/2015/03/26/1356251_1.pdf.　 MEXT. 2015b. 中学校学習指導要領解説：特別教科道徳編 [Guidance on the Course of Study: Junior High School Dōtoku Special Subject, for 2019]. MEXT. www. mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/micro_detail/__icsFiles/afieldfle/2016/01/08/1356257_5.pdf. MEXT. 2015c. 小学校学習指導要領平成20年３月告示，平成27年３月一部改正 [Elementary Course of Study, for 2018]. MEXT. www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/new-cs/ youryou/__icsFiles/afeldfle/2015/03/26/1356250_1.pdf. MEXT. 2015d. 小学校学習指導要領解説：特別教科道徳編 [Guidance on the Course of Study: Elementary School Dōtoku Special Subject, for 2018]. MEXT. www. mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/micro_detail/__icsFiles/afieldfle/2016/01/08/1356257_4.pdf. MEXT. 2016a. 幼稚園、小学校、中学校、高等学校及び特別支援学校の学習指導要領 等の改善及び必要な方策等について [Report: Improvements to the Curriculum and Necessary Measures, etc]. MEXT. https://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo0/toushin/__icsFiles/afeldfle/2017/01/10/1380902_0.pdf. MEXT. 2016b.「特別の教科 道徳」の指導方法・評価等について [Teaching and Assessemnt for Special Subject Dōtoku]. MEXT. www.mext.go.jp/component/b_menu/ shingi/toushin/__icsFiles/afeldfle/2016/08/15/1375482_2.pdf. MEXT. 2016c.「道徳」 の評価はどうなる？ ？[How to Assess Dōtoku??]. MEXT. https:// web.archive.org/web/20210813100422/www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/ education/detail/__icsFiles/afeldfle/2017/05/25/1379579_001.pdf (Archived 21-08-13). MEXT. 2017a. 中学校学習指導要領解説：特別の教科道徳編 [2017 Guidance on the Course of Study: Junior High School Dōtoku]. MEXT. www.mext.go.jp/ content/220221-mxt_kyoiku02-100002180_004.pdf. MEXT. 2017b. 小学校学習指導要領解説： 特別の教科道徳編 [2017 Guidance on the Course of Study: Elementary School Dōtoku]. MEXT. www.mext.go.jp/component/a_ menu/education/micro_detail/__icsFiles/afeldfle/2019/03/18/1387017_012.pdf. MEXT/CCE. 2014. 答申: 道徳に関わる教育課程の改善等について [Report: Improvement of the Dōtoku Curriculum, etc]. MEXT. www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo0/toushin/__icsFiles/afeldfle/2014/10/21/1352890_1.pdf. MEXT/Roundtable on the Enhancement of Moral Education. 2013. 今後の道 徳教育の改善・充実方策について (報告) [Improving Moral Education]. www. mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chousa/shotou/096/houkoku/__icsFiles/afieldfle/2013/12/27/1343013_01.pdf.

Policy evolution through the Ministry 81 MOE. 1958. 学習指導要領 道徳編 [Elementary/Junior High School Moral Education Curriculum, for Oct 1958]. MOE. https://web.archive.org/web/20210420011722/ https://erid.nier.go.jp/guideline.html (archived 21-07-07). MOE/CCE. 1998. 新しい時代を拓く心を育てるために: 次世代を育てる心を失う危機 [Raising Hearts and Mind for the Future: The Danger of Losing Heart to Educate the Next Generation]. MOE. https://web.archive.org/web/20130131153957/www. mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chuuou/toushin/980601.htm (Archived 13-01-31). Nagata, Shigeo & Naohiro Matsuo. 2017. 道徳授業パワーアップセミナー第８回: 考え、 議論する道徳を作る. Tokyo Gakugei University. Nishino, Mayumi. 2017. The challenge of developing meaningful curriculum initiatives for moral education in Japan. Journal of Moral Education, 46(1), 46–57. https:// doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2016.1276438. Nitta, Keith. 2008. The Politics of Structural Education Reform. Routledge. Roesgaard, Marie Højlund. 2016. Moral Education in Japan: Values in a Global Context. Routledge. Sakamoto, Tetsuhiko. 2018. 小学校新学習指導要領 道徳の授業づくり [Making Dōtoku Lessons for the New Curriculum]. Meiji Tosho. Schoppa, Leonard J. 1991. Education Reform in Japan: A Case of Immobilist Politics. Routledge. Schwartz, Frank J. 1998. Advice and Consent: The Politics of Consultation in Japan. Cambridge University Press. Takayama, Keita. 2013. Untangling the global-distant-local knot: the politics of national academic achievement testing in Japan. Journal of Education Policy, 28(5), 657–675. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2012.758833. Takayama, Keita. 2021. The global inside the national and the national inside the global: ‘Zest for Living,’ the Chi, Toku and Tai Triad, and the ‘Model’ of Japanese education. In Weili Zhao & Daniel Tröhler (eds) Euro-Asian Encounters on 21stCentury Competency-Based Curriculum Reforms, 229–247. Springer. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-981-16-3009-5. Takayama, Keita & Bob Lingard. 2019. Datafcation of schooling in Japan: an epistemic critique through the ‘problem of Japanese education’. Journal of Education Policy, 34(4), 449–469. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2018.1518542.

4

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

The reform of moral education stipulated the use of approved textbooks. Though textbooks do not defne classroom practice, they work to translate policy into the language of practice and provide a common language through which planning and practice can be discussed. The extent to which textbooks are followed and incorporated into syllabus and lesson planning are considered in later chapters. This chapter provides, in the frst half, an overview of the content of recent coursebooks and current textbooks for moral education. The second half discusses the processes by which the new textbooks were compiled in reference to the curriculum and in relation to stakeholders – most importantly the Ministry of Education, boards of education responsible for selecting textbooks for adoption, and policy entrepreneurs and expert practitioners appointed to editorial committees directly responsible for their compilation. Navigating changes to the textbook usage Textbook usage for moral education has undergone a series of changes. The historical state of prevailing materials for moral education lessons is summarized in Table 4.1. The textbooks now legally required are compiled by commercial publishers and submitted to the Ministry of Education for screening. Those approved form a limited range of options for mandatory usage. A local panel, essentially appointed by the municipal board of education, selects one textbook series for municipal elementary and one for municipal junior high schools. Moral education textbooks were frst screened by the Ministry of Education for use in 2018 for elementary school and 2019 for junior high school. However, the same commercial publishers that now produce textbooks have long produced supplementary coursebooks.1 Knowledge of previous coursebooks can aid the analysis of current textbooks and, more importantly, the analysis of their direction of change. However, serious limitations exist in previous studies of moral education coursebooks. Firstly, as discussed in Chapter Two, most historic analyses of the moral education curricula and coursebooks have utilized closed frameworks, designed to isolate problematic content, such as continuities from pre-1945 shūshin and statism. Neither open frameworks for material selection and categorization nor analyses of change through time have been applied to moral education materials as they DOI: 10.4324/9781003125471-5

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 83 Table. 4.1 The historical state of textbook usage for moral education and shūshin. 1872–1902

Ad hoc. Translations of Western morals books. Confucian readers.

1903–1945

Mandatory state textbooks created and issued (1903. Revised: 1910, 1918, 1933 and 1941).

1945–1957

No moral education classtime. No clear policy on materials.

1958–2017/18

Moral education classtime. Commercial publishers produced a range of coursebooks. No binding policy on textbooks. The MOE produced reading materials intermittently and encouraged the use of commercial coursebooks.

2003–2017/18

Ofcial coursebooks commissioned by MEXT and distributed to all schools (2003. Revised: 2009 and 2014) with strong encouragement to use them. Use of commercially published coursebooks was simultaneously encouraged.

2018/19 – present

Moral education subject. Requirement to select one from a range of approved textbooks (screened for: 2018/19 and 2020/21).

have for the subjects of history (Nozaki 2008), kokugo (Ohagi 2022), and science (Lewis et al. 2002). Secondly, the introduction of the ofcial coursebook in 2003 rightly attracted the majority of research attention through the subsequent years. Therefore, signifcantly less research has been done on commercially published coursebooks over the past two decades. Now that responsibility for producing the chief materials for use in moral education has been handed back to commercial publishers, research on the content of commercial coursebooks through the past two decades is once again directly relevant for understanding classroom practice. The new textbooks are more closely related to the commercial coursebooks than to the ofcial coursebooks. Thirdly, the extent, quality, and means of government control over commercial materials for moral education have not been examined in any great depth. This was a less complex question in relation to the ofcial coursebooks because they were commissioned and compiled directly under the purview of a high-level governmental body. However, the return to commercially published textbooks revives this issue in a new guise. The materials now operate within the textbook system, which involves a range of stakeholders with various roles and interests. In the absence of large-scale research that examines the content of multiple textbook series through time, it is argued that the open framework research that does exist on recent coursebooks makes a signifcant contribution to the understanding of current textbooks. This is because many publishers developed textbooks from their existing coursebooks. However, the extent to which previous research on recent coursebooks can inform our understanding of current textbooks depends on how much they changed before being submitted for screening. Much concern has been raised over the potential for the textbook screening system to bend contents unduly toward the interests of the state. However, the relationships between curriculum and textbook are

84

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

complex. The degree and direction of change engendered by the application of the textbook system to dōtoku materials remains unanswered. Moreover, other important topics that have received little attention in relation to moral education are the adoption process of the boards of education and the editorial processes of commercial textbook publishers. The processes of screening and adoption are each discussed further, after examining their contents. Recent coursebooks This section works to characterize recent coursebooks, drawing on the few studies that examine their contents using open frameworks for categorization. It also draws on a recently published open database of almost 3000 materials published since 1992 by the three textbook series with the largest current market share (Bamkin 2022) to analyse change through time. Thematic by values

Anzai (2015) provides one of the most comprehensive studies of moral education coursebooks. The study is a content analysis of fve elementary-level coursebook series published around 2011. Anzai constructs an open framework to analyse all materials through the six grades for each of the fve elementary coursebook series. The most frequently portrayed values through all grades were ‘appreciation of life’, ‘modesty and self-restraint’, and ‘faithfulness and friendship’. These were followed by ‘sympathy and kindness’, ‘politeness and manners’, and ‘love for family’. The most frequently occurring values in these coursebooks are summarized in Table 4.2. The ten most frequently occurring values are disaggregated for each publisher in Table 4.3. Separately, Anzai fnds that more materials discuss relationships with others than relationships with society, relationships with nature, and those concerning the self. These fndings are summarized in Table 4.4. Moreover, since patriotism was included as one of the values analysed, the study moreover demonstrates that the revision of the FLE and 2008 changes to curriculum content did not lead to an easily discernible increase in state-centred content. Table 4.2 Six most frequently occurring values in coursebooks (utilized roughly 2011–2017) by fve publishers (Anzai 2015: 447) Moral values

Frequency

Appreciation of life

85

Modesty and self-restraint

82

Faithfulness and friendship

76

Sympathy and kindness

67

Politeness and manners Love for family

52 50

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 85 Table 4.3 Ten most frequently occurring values in coursebooks published in 2010/11 by fve publishers (Anzai 2015: 447) Nichibun

Kyōiku

Kōbun

Gakuto

Bunkei

Modesty and Appreciation self-restraint (19) of life (16)

Faithfulness and friendship (22)

Appreciation of life (18)

Modesty and self-restraint (16)

Sympathy and kindness (15)

Love for nature (13)

Appreciation of life (22)

Appreciation of Modesty and self-restraint (16) life (15)

Appreciation of life (14)

Modesty and self-restraint (13)

Public morality and respect for rules (20)

Public morality and respect for rules (16)

Diligence and endeavour (14)

Faithfulness and friendship (16)

Public morality and respect for rules (14)

Modesty and Faithfulness and A spirit of friendship (13) veneration (13) self-restraint (18) Politeness and manners (12)

Faithfulness and friendship (12)

Sympathy and kindness (12)

Sympathy and kindness (15)

Sympathy and kindness (13)

Love for nature (11)

Sympathy and kindness (12)

Love for the community and the region (11)

A spirit of veneration (12)

Faithfulness and friendship (13)

Public morality and respect for rules (11)

Politeness and manners (11)

Work with Politeness and integrity manners (10) and social contribution (10)

Sincerity and cheerfulness (10)

Sincerity and cheerfulness (11)

Politeness and manners (9)

Politeness and Work with manners (10) integrity and social contribution (10)

Love for family (10)

Love for family (11)

Love for family (9)

Love for family (10)

Love for nature (10)

A spirit of veneration (9)

Judiciousness and introspection (10)

Love for family (10)

Love for Respect and appreciation (9) school (8) Respect and appreciation (8)

Sincerity and cheerfulness (10)

Love for school (10)

Great persons

Many textbook materials in pre-1945 shūshin, both in its militaristic period and in earlier iterations based on translated textbooks from Western countries, utilized great persons as moral exemplars (Roesgaard 2014). The preWar form (Hall 1949, excerpted in Passin 1965: 259–65) connected desirable behaviour with rewards that implicitly follow from that cause, or the dangers that follow from undesirable behaviour. In the pre-War stories, a single ‘moral of the story’ is often declared by a character in victory or in atonement. Again

86

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

Table 4.4 High frequency moral values by area of morality (Anzai 2015: 448) Grouped by curriculum category

Frequency

Moral values

Concerning relationships with others

212

Concerning relationships with groups and society

160

Concerning relationships with nature and piety

153

Concerning oneself

137

Faithfulness and friendship * Sympathy and kindness * Politeness and manners * Respect and appreciation Love for family * Public morality and respect for rules Love for the community and the region Work with integrity and social contribution Love for school Appreciation of life * A spirit of veneration Love for nature Modesty and self-restraint * Sincerity and cheerfulness Diligence and endeavour Judiciousness and introspection

* Moral values appeared for all fve publishers studied by Anzai

re-emphasizing that shūshin and moral education do not necessarily refer to those subjects that are moral in the Western-philosophical sense, shūshin also included stories with rewards for those who oriented their worldview to science over superstition; and who study on the basis of inquiry over listening for knowledge (ibid). The social world extolled by these stories is hierarchical, with the emperor eventually emerging at its apex during the hightide of militarization, which at times permeated all corners of society. There is a small but identifable body of literature on the roles and identities of the great persons depicted in moral education coursebooks. Han et al. analysed the 137 great persons in two series of junior high school coursebooks which were both current in 2013, including only real persons. The majority are writers (33%), followed by people portrayed in their student days (18%), followed by scholars (15%). Very few political leaders are included (3%), and very few religious and philosophical fgures appear (6%). Both athletes/entertainers and medical doctors are frequent enough to feature as standalone categories. These data are summarized in Table 4.5(a). The same study also found that most of the great persons are depicted in the post-War era (1945– present). Specifcally, 80% of great persons are from the post-War period, 15% from the period between the years 14532 and 1945, and 4% from before 1453. The vast majority are male (81%). Han et al.’s study is an international comparison not designed for comparisons between Japanese coursebooks, and thus it combines data for one commercially produced coursebook (Tokyo Shoseki, 2011 edition) and the data for the ofcial coursebook Kokoro no Nōto (2009 revised edition). Table 4.5(b)

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 87 Table 4.5 Categories of ‘great persons’ portrayed in moral education coursebooks and textbooks (a) One commercial coursebook (Tokyo Shoseki) and one ofcial coursebook in 2011 at junior high level (exclusive categories). Abbreviated from Han et al. (2018: 70). (b) The 2017 elementary editions of all textbooks (non-exclusive categories). Based partly on Nishiguchi and Watanabe (2020: 4–5). (a) Writers Students Scholars Athletes or entertainers Religious or philosophical leaders Medical doctors Political leaders Social activists

Other

(b) 32.8% 18.3% 14.6% 11.0% 5.8% 5.1% 2.9% 0.7%

20.5% Literary writers, artists, musicians 12.0% 19.7% 4.3% 4.3% 6.8% 12.0% 1.7% 16.2% 2.6%

Scholars or scientists Athletes or entertainers Religious or philosophical leaders Medical doctors Political leaders Social activists Military News stories of everyday people Business pioneers

8.8%

categorizes the 159 occurrences of 113 great persons (Nishiguchi and Watanabe 2020: 4–5) arising through six grades for all elementary textbooks approved for 2018. The results count each occurrence of great persons, and so the results are weighted according to the number of times each appears. For example, Yukina Miyakoshi is included in six of the eight current textbook series and is thus counted as a ‘news story of everyday people’ six times. Compared to Han et al.’s results for JHS, the current commercially published textbooks include fewer writers and probably fewer artists, and similar numbers of scholars, scientists, religious and philosophical leaders, and medical doctors. The greater number of athletes might be infuenced by the imminence of the Tokyo Olympics when the later textbooks were compiled. Surprisingly, there are more social activists, though this fgure includes those volunteering to make social change, not only those taking a critical stance against power. As a general rule, military leaders and soldiers are not included in dōtoku textbooks due to the sensitivity of depictions of recent war in school materials. The two military ‘great persons’ who appear in the later results (Table 4.5(b)) are Tadanao Miki and Yasuyoshi Katsu (Katsu Kaishū). Both appear exclusively in the textbooks published by Kyōshu, which include more biographies of people than other textbooks. Miki is depicted applying knowledge developed for the Pacifc War to develop the shinkansen (bullet train), whereas Katsu is lauded for strategizing the capitulation of Edo Castle ‘without bloodshed’ during the Boshin War whilst serving as a negotiator for the (defeated, anti-Restoration) Shogunate.

88

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

Across all 2018 textbook series, the number of biographies increases steadily through the grades. Nishiguchi and Watanabe (2020: 3) count an average of twenty ‘biographies of people’ (9.1% of the total) in each elementary textbook series. All series except for that of Kyōshu include a range between 12 and 23 per series (ibid). Rearranging fgures provided by Nishiguchi and Watanabe, the proportion of biographies increases from 2.7% of 2nd-grade materials, to 8.5% of 4th-grade materials, to 18.9% of 6th-grade materials. Han et al.’s fgures for junior high coursebooks are higher. Whilst a slightly higher proportion might be expected to continue the trend noted through the elementary grades, this cannot be said for certainty, given the aggregation of data for the ofcial coursebook into their results. Roesgaard (2016: 81) notes that Watashi-tachi no Dōtoku includes more great-person materials than commercial coursebooks. However, she also notes that Watashi-tachi no Dōtoku includes signifcantly more moral icons than its predecessor Kokoro no Nōto. As such, the number of biographies in commercial junior high textbooks remains unclear. Thematic by structure, genre, and device

Categorizing great persons who appear in textbooks is an established means of analysing content. Other structures, genres, and devices are discussed in the text that follows. Closed, moralizing stories

Honest Abe (Various textbooks, 3G, 1964–current) is a ‘great person’ story which most teachers and many children will have encountered at elementary school. Presented as a true account, it tells the story of the young Abraham Lincoln as a shopkeeper in New Salem. He short-changes a customer without noticing. After closing shop, he realizes the mistake and walks many miles the same night to return the small amount of money. Honest Abe is a moralizing story, implicating the young Lincoln’s honest disposition in the great success of his later life, symbolized by his becoming President of the United States. Honesty and the immediate rectifcation of mistakes are the ‘right answers’. Closed moralizing stories were ubiquitous in pre-War shūshin. Amongst these were the Greek everyman fable The Boy who Cried Wolf (Various textbooks, 1G, 1964-current), which has appeared in almost all coursebook series and remains in use in some current textbooks. Some examples of these moralizing stories remain in most textbooks. Open stories

The extent to which materials are open, or ‘writerly’ to use Barthes’ (1970) term, describes their capacity to prompt discussion. Many stories remain where the meaning is relatively closed. However, many writerly stories, which

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 89 have no single right answer, can be found. The Red Ogre Who Cried (various textbooks, 2G-4G, 1965–current), adapted from the eponymous 1935 work of fction by Hirosuke Hamada, has been featured in multiple textbooks for many years. The story had been recommended by the Ministry of Education for usage in dōtoku lessons since 1962 (MOE 1966: II-2–20). It was included in elementary coursebooks for grades 2–4 of multiple publishers more-or-less continuously since 1965,3 and it has become a favourite amongst educators.

The Red Ogre Who Cried Deep in the mountains, there lived a red ogre. The red ogre wanted nothing more than to be friends with the human children in the village in the valley. There was always a big sign outside his house saying, “Home of the gentle red ogre. Please come anytime for snacks. Let’s play together”. However, no children ever came to the ogre’s house. They were afraid and did not believe the sign. The ogre was sad that the children had never come to visit, and so he tore down the sign. One day, he received a visit from his friend, the blue ogre. Seeing that the red ogre was sad, the blue ogre listened carefully about the reasons why. He saw that the big sign had been taken down. The blue ogre wanted to help his friend. After some thought, the blue ogre had an idea. And his idea was this: The blue ogre would run down into the village and smash the houses, and he would shout and cause a riot, carrying a stick which he set on fre, shouting, ‘I will eat all the humans!’. Then, when all the humans were afraid, the red ogre would come to rescue the village. That way, the blue ogre said, everybody would know that the red ogre was kind and brave. The red ogre did not want to fght with his friend and did not want to go. But the blue ogre was convinced and dragged him down to the trees just outside of the village. ‘Hide here’, he said. The red ogre did everything as the blue ogre had said, and when the red ogre needed to defend the village, he punched the blue ogre in the face and cut his lip. The blue ogre ran away, as planned. After this, everybody in the village trusted the red ogre. Day after day, children came to his home to play. They ran together in the forest and into the village of the valley. They smiled and laughed together. The red ogre had become friends with the human children of the village, and he was very happy.

90

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject However, as the days passed by, he started to wonder about the blue ogre. The blue ogre had not visited him since that day in the village. So one day, he went to visit the blue ogre. The red ogre arrived at the blue ogre’s home to fnd the door bolted shut. He was just about to turn away when he noticed a note pinned beside the door, and what was written in the note was this: “My dear red ogre, please enjoy your friendships and time playing with the human children. If the humans see you with me, they will only think that you are a monstrous ogre like me. So, I will travel far from here. But no matter where we are, I will never forget you. Please take care of yourself. Your best friend, Blue ogre”. The red ogre read the letter without a word. The red ogre cried.

As highly respected children’s literature in its own right (Hamada 1935), The Red Ogre Who Cried allows identifcation with characters in a condensed and relatively complex dynamic of friendship. There is no simple ‘moral of the story’ in terms of an imperative. To the contrary, all characters emerge as fallible because of dispositions all too recognizable in the human condition, whilst there remains scope for discussion about improvement, which implicates the benefts of thinking carefully about consequences without detracting from the importance of friendship. It is open-ended, providing a particularly writerly text. Children have space to imagine further details and what might happen next. Barthes also found potential for dialogue with the self in writerly texts. In later works, Barthes (1973) proposes defning writerly texts as those with the potential to challenge the reader’s position whilst sharing its authorship. The Red Ogre Who Cried refutes a possible expectation that stories are more closed for younger age ranges. Nonetheless, closed stories remain in both elementary and junior high textbooks. Progressive education

Categorizing textbook stories as progressive is problematic because a parallel line of progressive argument against government control of moral education is that content should emerge naturally through the lived experience of children. Masataro Sawayanagi (1865–1927) is known, though not unanimously revered, for scholarship toward progressive education. As a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Education and later as its administrative vice-minister, he argued for reduced exam pressures and spoke of regional and class-based educational equality. He was instrumental in Yoichi Ueno’s 1901 translation

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 91 of John Dewey’s School and Society, which described the development and analyses of the professor’s laboratory school, and aimed to have it disseminated to every elementary school under MOE auspices in 1905 (Tsujimoto and Yamasaki 2017: 62). Sawayanagi, after stepping down as president of Kyoto University in 1914, advocated for progressive education as president of the Imperial Education Association, which was largely independent during these years sometimes referred to as ‘the Taisho Democracy’. It was the largest professional body of educationalists at the time. Through it, he called for the abolition of nationalistic moral education. Famously, he published an impassioned open letter against the 1924 ‘Kawai Incident’ dismissal of a teacher in Nagano for substituting the national textbook materials with other materials, covering the same topics, which the teacher saw as ‘closer to the lives of students’. Sawayanagi lamented that, ‘in Japan, the textbook carries more weight than the teacher. Is it sorrowful, and simultaneously erroneous’ (quoted by Tanida 2014: 36). He was of the mind that the teacher knows the children in their charge and can, as an education professional, select appropriate materials. Between these events, Sawayanagi helped to establish a laboratory school, headed by the progressive Kuniyoshi Obara (Sakuma 2017). The school sought moral education that responded to the lives of children. The following example was used by Sawayanagi to illustrate the kinds of materials used in his laboratory school: ‘In the 3rd-grade class at one elementary school, one of the classmates was ill and had to be hospitalized. When talking with the class about how lonely and sad the child was feeling, the teacher asked what the others could do to make his stay in hospital happier. The children decided that the best plan would be to draw pictures and write essays for him. The teacher used the moral education class time to let the children put their idea into efect, and a class representative took the resulting works to their friend in the hospital. The boy was tremendously pleased and his parents were grateful. When the boy was better, he went to the school with his mother and father and thanked his classmates from the bottom of his heart. The classmates were delighted’. (Sawayanagi, quoted by Nakano 1989) Whilst emphasizing that part of Sawayanagi’s point is that the teacher planned this lesson in response to the immediate situation, in which children were encouraged to originate the idea of writing letters and drawing for their classmate, the account has inspired popular textbook stories. Exemplar moral education lessons such as these, originating in the lived experience of a child, began to be shared between schools through professional societies. This provided easier access to good materials which did not require expertise in identifying issues in the contemporaneous lived experiences of children’s lives. Derivatives of Sawayanagi’s moral education lesson have been incorporated into textbooks. One such story is The Class Garden’s

92

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

Sweet Potatoes (Tokyo Shoseki, 2G, 1983–current) discussed in Chapter Two. Needless to say, critics may argue from the progressive standpoint that the story, in being removed from its original context, is a congealed version of child-centred classroom practice. Nonetheless, progressive teacher groups continued to share such stories into the 1970s and 1980s, and to publish anthologies of children’s writing as material for moral education lessons. The authorships of many current textbook materials are credited as ‘children’s composition’, possibly inspired by conventions of the ‘life writing’ movement (Kowaji 2017) originating in pre-War years. Peace education

Pacifst values present a challenge to state-oriented perspectives. They grew from the grassroots after the US Occupation and were partially institutionalized as one strand of a Japanese national identity (Kolmaš 2018). Teachers’ calls to ‘never again send our children to war’ were a major contributor to this movement and an expression of it. Materials promoting peace have been adopted into moral education coursebooks. The Girl with the White Flag (Tokyo Shoseki, 6G, 1992-current) is based on the experience of Tomiko Shiga, who stepped forward in the 1980s to detail her struggle for survival as a young child alone during the ferocious Battle of Okinawa in the closing months of the Pacifc War. The textbook material is framed by her search for an American army photographer who took a nowfamous photograph of her turning herself over to the Americans. Nonetheless, it includes some gruelling details of her exhaustion and starvation, her loss of family members, and the physical condition of an old couple who provided her with safety, one of whom had lost both his arms and legs and the other of whom was blind, who gave her a white fag and told her not to be afraid of the Americans calling for survivors. In comparison to Higa’s (1989) homonymous book, the more gory details of the horrors she observed are left out, and the events are simplifed. The book was released in 1989 and gained high ratings as a television drama the following year (Fuji Television 1990). Whilst the value of international cooperation has at times resulted in materials that represent banal symbols of other ‘cultures’ or nations, it is here used as the category for inclusion of a complex text partly intended as a contribution to peace education, which works against the eforts of culturally conservative forces that seek to forget the ‘dark moment’ of the Battle of Okinawa. The material was adopted under the editorial directorship of Itsuo Ishikawa, professor of Tokyo Gakugei University and sometime principal of Koganei Junior High School, attached to the same university. Though the horrors of war are toned down for the 6th-grade material, it seems to provoke unsettling questions, which work to prompt further exploration by children, potentially outside of school. It depicts a ‘Japanese’ girl who surrenders and help from US soldiers. Both of these images are prickly from the revisionist perspective. Following the tone of the book, the textbook material does

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 93 not apportion blame for the War but wholeheartedly condemns the folly of war. If the coursebook episode were discussed with parents, many would have accessible knowledge of a more complete account on the basis of news reporting and the popular television adaptation. The message seems to be that ‘war makes people crazy’ (Higa 2013). As the publisher Kodansha puts it, some years later on the inside jacket of the English translation of the book (ibid), the ‘gripping narrative achieved popular and critical acclaim in her native country, and the now-famous photo of the author has become a symbol calling for world peace’. In addition to a material on peace education, this is also a material which entered the dōtoku circuit on the back of news coverage and a popular drama. The material During the Great Tokyo Air Raid (Tokyo Shoseki, 6G, 1983-current) appeared in the same textbook under its preceding editors, Takeo Miyata and Mitake Katsube. Though hidden behind a relatively typically dōtoku story exemplifying the ‘great work’ of a medical doctor, its depiction of an air raid may be interpreted as an act of progressive autonomy because of the eforts made by the history textbook screening committees of the 1960s to remove ‘dark’ depictions of air raids through the 1970s (Ienaga 1994). The work is credited to Katsumoto Saotome, who built a dual career as an awardwinning children’s author known for themes of peace and as a local historian who documented air raid damage and life in the Tokyo air raids and voiced critique of the Vietnam War (and against war in general). It is also a material that extolls the work of doctors. The preceding paragraphs suggest that biographies of editorial committees and authors of coursebooks can be fruitful in considering the intentions of stories. However, textbook materials are almost necessarily abridged or adjusted for age appropriateness. Caution is also required to consider both the historic context and the actual material, as adapted. The Pumpkin Vine (various textbooks, 1G, 1966–current) tells the story of a pumpkin in a feld. The pumpkin extends its vines into a neighbouring watermelon feld, despite being asked not to by a watermelon. The pumpkin extends its vines into a road, despite being warned not to by a bee and other characters. Eventually, the pumpkin’s vine is run over by a passing lorry. Shimamura (2021) used similar bibliographic methods to establish that this widely used story was originally intended as an allegory against Japanese military assertiveness during the post-War anti-nuclear movement. In the contemporary context, however, it is read as a moralizing story against freedom and self-expression (Science Council of Japan Philosophy Committee 2020) and frequently appears in journalistic critique of moral education (e.g. Japan Times 2017). Shimamura’s main point is that the story, originally situated in the peace movement, has been modifed to serve moralizing ends in the service of the state. In the case of The Pumpkin Vine this seems plausible, whereas The Girl with the White Flag and During the Great Tokyo Air Raid appear more open and continue to raise unsettling questions on war and Japanese history.

94

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

The character is like me

The analysis of great persons featured in moral education coursebooks (Han et al. 2018) found a large number of great persons depicted in their student days. Beyond this, stories and materials frequently centre on children and students, and specifcally those who seem the same age as the learners. Jumping forward to the current textbooks, a full 60.9% of the 631 materials included in the elementary and junior high textbooks published by Tokyo Shoseki and Mitsumura centre on characters who are clearly of a similar age as the grade for which they provide study materials and who live in a largely familiar contemporary society. The distribution of these materials is summarized in Table 4.6. The proportion is highest in 3rd–4th grades and reduces through the grades, replaced by more biographies and stories set in the adult world. Grades 1–2 also include many characters of the same age as their intended readers. However, they additionally contain many stories (19.6%) featuring anthropomorphized characters, counted in square brackets in the table. The bulk of these are animated animals, though they also include fairytale creatures and objects such as talking crockery. Many stories through all grades are designed to foster identifcation with the characters and events of the story, sharing characteristics of the intended readers, making them relatable and attainable (Han and Dawson 2023). The characters in moral education textbook stories often speak in the frst person. Many of the characters of this age play a relatively passive role. This is not specifcally a feature of dōtoku but of young characters in stories in Japanese schools (Gerbert 1993). The story The Broken Ruler (Tokyo Shoseki, 2G, 1992–current) provides a typical example. In it, Haruto breaks a ruler which belongs to the class. He then calls over Taiyo and passes him the ruler, shouting out that Taiyo has broken the ruler. The main character, who remains an unnamed observer of the events, remembers that Haruto had previously broken something of his and blamed somebody else. Haruto’s friends are watching and supporting him. In this story, the main character (‘boku’) is depicted doing nothing but watching and thinking. The Angels’ Descent (Akatsuki, 8/9G, 2013–current) provides a more complex example of a moving story in which the main character is relatively passive. Table 4.6 Percentage of dōtoku textbooks materials centring on a character of the same age as students living in contemporary society, for Tokyo Shoseki and Mitsumura  

1–2G

3–4G

5–6G

7–9G

(Sub) total

Percentage

Tokyo Shoseki

49 [15]

60 [3]

33 [1]

51

61.5

Mitsumura

46 [12]

56 [3]

36

53 [3]

(Sub) total

95 [27] (out of 138) 68.8 [19.6]

116 [6] (out of 140) 82.9

69 (out of 140) 49.3

104 (out of 213) 48.8

193 (out of 314) 191 (out of 317) 384 (out of 631)

Percentage

60.3

60.9

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 95 The Angels’ Descent The story is inspired by song lyrics by Yasuyuki Oono. It merges the story of a teenage Oono, who has just received news of his mother’s death, with his recollections of their fnal years together. His mother brought him security and warmth, and she tried to emphasize the shortness of their time as a family after her diagnosis with a terminal recurrence of cancer. Amongst the events in the story: Yasuyuki ignores his schoolwork and stays out late playing with friends; his mother shows him the scar on her chest from the previous attempt to surgically remove the cancer; and his mother gives him brochures for a high school that specializes in music. In the main timeline, he is running to the hospital and arrives shortly after his mother’s death. The writing captures the innocent self-absorption of a teenager at a critical juncture in life – the impossibility of realizing the signifcance of events and the fragility of life as a schoolboy, alongside the impossibility of going back after growing through deep refection on what was lost.

The occurrence of death and stories that prompt refection on the importance of life are also frequent in moral education materials. Confuence and popularity

The popularity of The Red Ogre Who Cried has been discussed. Its popularity can be explained by its complex and open-ended nature, child-like sensibilities, and its theme of friendship. The most popular ‘great-person’ story in current textbooks is that of Yukina Miyakoshi (Until the Batteries Run Out, various textbooks, 3–5G, 2002–current). Miyakoshi was a young girl diagnosed as an infant with a terminal illness. She wrote and illustrated a poem on the importance of life shortly before dying at 11 years old. This story combines many features popular in moral education materials. It could be considered a great-person story. It is a story about life and death, and it is centred on a work composed spontaneously by a child. Unsurprisingly, fve of the six publishers included this material at 4th or 5th grade, when the children would be the same age as Miyakoshi when she died. New trends

NHK has long created alternative materials to those of coursebooks, broadcasting moral educational ‘e-tere’ programmes since at least as far back as 1962 for elementary school. The programme Akarui Nakama ran from 1962

96

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

until 1985, largely following the tradition of using fctional stories. The e-tere programme Dōtoku Dokyumento later attempted to establish a new tradition of elementary moral education lessons by examining touching events from the news with studies of people’s lives along with a companion coursebook (Morotomi et al. 2008; also see Nagata and Yamada 2012), which expanded to a junior high edition in 2012. Though the impact of any given supplementary material is debatable, copyright and licensing to the materials have changed hands, and some materials continue to feature in the current Tokyo Shoseki, Mitsumura, and other junior high school textbooks.4 This rather recondite lineage is recounted to illustrate that commercial publishers are innovating and exchanging information continuously as they respond to competition and new demands. News reports have become established as a strand of materials in dōtoku textbooks, and factual information is increasing. As a separate source of material, other non-story materials are rooted in the arts and humanities. There are poems (e.g. When the Sun Rises, various, 4G, 2011–current) and song lyrics (The Angels’ Descent). Others use powerful imagery and essay-style prose. The Moment of Birth (Mitsumura, 8G, 2018– current) provides an emotional account of childbirth alongside intimate photographs of mothers and children in the moments after birth. The adoption of ‘viral’ stories and materials further diversifed the already eclectic range of materials included in moral education coursebooks and textbooks. Other examples of dōtoku textbook materials riding the waves of popular culture include an invitation to think about the environmental messages in the popular animated flm Princess Mononoke (Studio Ghibli 1997) in the textbook edition following its release (Watch Princess Mononoke, Tokyo Shoseki, 7G, 2002) and exhortations of independence and courage presented by the technology and business magnate Steve Jobs (Courage to Change the Future, Akatsuki, 6G, 2017–current). Princess Mononoke is widely considered a masterpiece of moral ambiguity (Napier 2018) which continues to stimulate discussion on big social questions (Kelly 2022). Steve Jobs’ legacy likewise draws attention to contradictions in the notion of virtue. Alongside their intended messages, these materials draw on popular culture. Eclecticism

Stories with magical charm are abundant at elementary level, such as Raina the Snow Leopard (Tokyo Shoseki, 2G, 2004–current), a story of a snow leopard’s frst day after birth. The character is shocked to see animals eating other animals and tries to protect them but fnds herself on course for a reckoning because she needs to eat meat to live. Another (more moralizing) story combines reverence for doctors with care for animals. In Everybody’s Life Is Equally as Important (Tokyo Shoseki, 6G, 2011–current), a veterinarian refuses to give up on a neglected dog after euthanasia5 is recommended. Eventually the dog survives and is adopted by an ideal family. Other stories are replete with bashful humour, such as Potatoes Song (Tokyo Shoseki, 3G, 2011–current),

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 97 about a daydreaming boy who imagines the character traits of various people in his life whilst gazing at a supermarket shelf of potatoes – all diferent with diferent features. He chooses which potatoes are like his classmates and thinks about their characters in detail. Some stories are sentimental, addressing serious moments in life and death. The Happy Prince (various textbooks, 3–4G, 1965–current) is a sentimental story adapted from Oscar Wilde’s (1888) eponymous work. Stripped of the social commentary and Byronic satire of Wilde’s original and necessarily abridged, it retains sufering of the poor, sacrifcial generosity of the prince, the acts of the swallow, and the ending scene in which an Abrahamic angel takes the protagonists’ ‘hearts’ up to heaven at the request of ‘God’. At junior high level, magical wonder is replaced with the wonder of the scientifc universe, from childbirth to stargazing, encouraging continued reverence of subjects that also exist in the realm of science (for example, The Moment Life Is Born and Contemplating the Beginning of the Universe, both Mitsumura, 8G, 2018–current). In contrast to other subjects for which textbooks are screened, former coursebooks and current textbooks for moral education are characterized by eclecticism. The reason for eclecticism is both the struggle for content and its sensitivity. Numerous lobby and interest groups have pushed overlapping threads of materials in pursuit of particular perspectives on morality, inspired by pedagogy, sentimentalism, psychology, and politics. For observers with a prescriptive view on what moral education ‘should’ or ‘should not’ contain, these threads are mutually contradictory. Those who see pedagogic potential in presenting multiple perspectives may welcome all threads insofar as more questionable themes (however defned) do not dominate others. Simultaneously, coursebook and textbook publishers with any signifcant market share are commercial entities. Publishers can gain a commercial edge by incorporating new issues and contexts, events, or athletes and entertainers known to children (or, all too commonly, those who are known to teachers). Following the junior high textbook screening process, Asahi (2018), known for its position of critique against moral education, published a short editorial reporting the inclusion of materials on the Great East Japan Earthquake, bullying, SNS usage, and elections including the change in voting age, which was framed in surprisingly neutral terms. Nonetheless, the Ministry of Education has determined a series of values that provide editors and screening panels with a framework by which content in moral education can be categorized. This raises the question of governmental power exerted over textbook content. Current textbooks (2018/19–current) All eight textbook series submitted for screening for elementary level for 2018 and all eight textbook series submitted for screening for junior high level for 2019 were approved with minor recommended changes. All current textbooks are published by companies which have produced moral education coursebooks for multiple decades.6

98

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

Dōtoku textbooks expanded in page count by 10–20% against the coursebook versions in 2010. ES textbooks from all major publishers escalated from 120 pages in 1st grade to almost 200 by 6th grade in 2020; and JHS textbooks had settled at approximately 200 pages by 2021. This increase in volume is slightly less but commensurate with the average increase across all subjects through a comparable time period. Textbooks across all subjects increased in volume by an average of 134% and 130% in ES and JHS respectively between 2005/06 and 2015/16 (Kyokasho Kyokai 2018: 7). In terms of content, Hirata (2019) provided summaries of the categories of materials in textbooks. This study utilized a close framework that follows the curriculum categories determined by MEXT. Unsurprisingly, the results afrm that the textbooks show an even distribution across categories. Such categories aggregate values that have been received diferently by researchers and journalists. For example, the MEXT categories aggregate love of country, love of the hometown, and international cooperation and understanding (in various combinations, depending on grade). Nonetheless, the study also illustrates that most publishers continue to emphasize the improvement of oneself, moderation, pursuing one’s dream, and hard work in moral values related to the self; kindness and friendship in moral values related to others; the importance of life in relation to nature; and a balance in moral values related to society, with some emphasis on following rules. These results seem largely in line with Anzai’s more rigorous study of the preceding coursebooks (Tables 4.2–4.4). The only exception is a possible prominence of materials relating to ‘tradition, culture and love of the country and hometown’ in textbooks published by Kyōshu and Kōbun, each of which include four materials categorized as such at elementary level, compared to only two in other textbooks. Some English language analyses mistakenly assumed that the newly screened textbooks were necessarily composed of new materials. However, the extent of change between the preceding coursebooks and approved textbooks remains an open question. Whilst it is not implausible that an entirely new textbook would appear alongside a curriculum revision, the textbook revision process is usually far more economical. Authors of science textbooks interviewed by Lewis et al. (2002) reported that they begin with the previous edition and make changes on the basis of publisher requirements, ministerial requirements, pedagogic considerations and interest. Changes to textbooks are normally made only after deliberation and with clear reasoning, and in consideration of cost. This approach is also taken in the US (ibid) and probably in most contexts with or without ofcial screening. The preceding sections of this chapter have discussed only materials that remain current in at least one 2018/19 series. The rate of turnover in materials is examined quantitatively in the following section. The rate of content change in coursebooks and textbooks

Data on change through time is available (Bamkin 2022) for the three textbook series that are currently the most popular: Tokyo Shoseki, Mitsumura,

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 99 and Nichibun. In 2018/19, these three publishers together held a 59.7% market share of elementary moral education textbooks and a 76.1% share of junior high textbooks (Tables 4.7(a) and 4.7(b)). The most popular elementary textbook during the feldwork period (Tokyo Shoseki, 2018 edition) contained ten materials at 6th grade that have been included in this publisher’s coursebooks since 1992 or earlier; one since 1996; six since 2000; four since 2004; and four since 2010. Only ten materials newly appeared in the frst7 edition screened by the Ministry (of these, fve were newly selected for inclusion from amongst recently published children’s stories) and fve were apparently newly commissioned by the editorial committee. This pattern holds for other grades in this series. The contents did not necessarily change much due to the requirement for textbook approval, and the rate of turnover in materials has remained stable at least since the late1980s. Continuity is probably also the trend for Nichibun (though see Bamkin 2023). The 2018/19 Mitsumura series was compiled almost from scratch, retaining only one or two materials from earlier coursebooks. However, it remains unclear whether or not this was due to the screening process or not because Mitsumura’s coursebooks were heavily revised multiple times over the past three decades. This seems to continue its pre-existing pattern of revision. Though some textbooks are basically revisions of the prior coursebook, not enough data is available to estimate the extent to which this is indicative of all textbook series. In particular, analyses of multiple coursebook/textbook series through time are scarce. At the very least, this analysis throws doubt on the idea of a simple step-change between coursebooks used before 2018/19 and the textbooks required from 2018/19 onward. In the absence of more detailed research, there appears to be little reason to discard analyses of recent coursebooks, since these coursebooks formed the basis of many newly approved textbooks. Neither a shift in the rate of change nor in direction of change has been observed using an open framework for analysis. Bamkin’s (2022) quantitative data treats only the numbered units in each coursebook or textbook. It excludes ancillary materials such as poems on the fy-pages, letters contributed by celebrities and people with great achievements, and supplementary ‘columns’ and pictures. Features in the organization of materials and peripheral materials which were new to the 2018/19 editions are discussed in the following two sections. Contemporary issues

The required ‘curriculum values’ changed little from previous years. However, the curriculum guidance places greater demands on moral education, listing contemporary issues which might be addressed in dōtoku: ‘current issues, information morality, nutrition and eating habits, health, consumer education, disaster preparedness, education relating to social services, law, civic education, traditional culture, international understanding, and career education’ (MEXT 2015).

100

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

Their treatment in textbooks is not evenly balanced. The 2019 Mitsumura 8th-grade textbook lists all 35 materials as additionally addressing one or more contemporary issue(s): 22 on ‘living well together’; 10 on bullying; 9 on health and eating habits; 9 on career education; 5 on traditional culture; 6 on citizenship; and 6 on law. The 2019 Tokyo Shoseki 8th-grade textbook takes a more subdued approach. It lists 21 materials as additionally addressing a single ‘theme’: 5 on human rights and bullying; 4 on career education; 4 on social welfare and volunteering; 3 on nature and the environment8; 3 on international understanding; and 2 on health, safety, and disaster prevention. The following revision of the Mitsumura textbook (2021) lists each resource, including resources that appear in both versions, under more contemporary issues than the previous revision. This listing was not a feature of the earlier 2019 Akatsuki textbooks, but it was adopted for the revised editions in 2021. Though there was no change to the substantive content at 8th grade, it lists 27 materials as additionally addressing one or more contemporary issues: 11 on the importance of life; 5 on career education; 4 on bullying; 4 on the environment; 3 on information morality; 3 on social welfare; 2 on law; 2 on disaster prevention; 1 on traditional culture; 1 on international understanding; 1 on food education; 1 on health; 1 on consumerism. Many materials in the Tokyo Shoseki and Nichibun textbooks had long been included in their predecessor coursebooks without mention of these contemporary issues. Therefore, though the materials may be relevant to these issues, their inclusion in the structuring of the content appears to be an afterthought. Though the organization of the materials by contemporary issues is not a major feature of the Tokyo Shoseki textbooks, a balance is created by combining the issues to ensure a handful of each. The contemporary issues taken up by the 8th-grade Akatsuki and Mitsumura textbooks, however, are imbalanced and focus more on longstanding issues such as the importance of life and career education. Mitsumura and other textbooks additionally align some, but not all, units to variations on the ‘contemporary issues’ provided in the curriculum guidance: information morality, nutrition and eating habits, health, consumerism [consciousness], disaster preparedness, education relating to social services, law, civic education, traditional culture, international understanding, and career education. The Mitsumura 8th-grade textbook provides a chart for teachers which additionally lists seven units as a resource on career education. Unsurprisingly, this includes materials on dreams, future plans, and athletes. However, it also includes The Moment of Birth (Mitsumura, 8G, 2018–current), an account of a photographer who captures the fragility of life through her photography of mothers immediately before and after childbirth. The material is primarily listed for the curriculum value ‘respect for life’, which is amongst the most obvious candidates, but is additionally listed as a resource on the contemporary issue of ‘career education’. That is, the photographer and the work of photographers, or dedication to one’s dream, how life events shape career choices, or any number of other angles, could

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 101 be taken as the theme of the lesson. Similarly Contemplating the Beginning of the Universe (Mitsumura, 8G, 2018–current), designed to prompt awe in response to a scientific exposition of the physical universe, is primarily listed for ‘reverence for nature’ and ‘sense of wonder’. It is then additionally listed as a resource on the contemporary issue of ‘career education’ since it could be utilized to consider the work of natural scientists. This illustrates the pragmatism of textbook publishers, who seem to be forging additional connections to the contemporary issues referred to in the curriculum guidance by attaching them to pre-existing materials. The textbook thus seems more multidimensional and aligned with the curriculum guidance without the investment of further revisions to the materials. Textbooks are not shy of inviting, with MEXT approval, alternative interpretations of contents, thus providing an additional path for teachers to re-interpret content. Despite the prominence of recent debate on information morality, the textbooks do not seem to respond to this need. In the Japanese education system more broadly, Aizawa and Ogawa (2020) see this as symptomatic of a lack of expertise rather than a lack of interest. Local issues

Coursebooks in the early 2000s attempted to appeal to educators by compiling local editions, which contained supplementary materials set in local places or touching on local history (Tokyo Shoseki in 2002; Nichibun in 2004; Akatsuki in 2006). Because publishers’ decision-making is responsive to demand, these editions were confned largely to the metropoles. This movement began, however, in response to boards of education publishing their own locally oriented resources from the late 1980s onward (for example, Miyagi Prefectural Board of Education 1986). The tradition has been continued outside dōtoku by projects such as Kyoto’s Children of the Old Capital (Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education 2007), probably for use in integrated studies, but demonstrating the appeal of local resources. Though there is now an assumption that each publisher should produce one national series, there is continued efort to demonstrate local relevance. Media critique of nationally uniform textbooks has been more acute in relation to Okinawa and Hokkaido, which have variously been peripheralized in modern history. Tokyo Shoseki and Mitsumura attempt to demonstrate a concern for local issues by mapping the places represented in the stories. The 8th-grade Mitsumura textbook contains one for every other prefecture (totalling 22) with a wide distribution, including Okinawa and Hokkaido. Tokyo Shoseki at 8th grade contains two or three in each of the larger regions of Japan (totalling 16), but none in either Okinawa or Hokkaido. The textbook for Kōbun is more thorough. Through the elementary series, it maps between two and four resources that touch on places or perspectives from each prefecture.

102

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

Characterizing moral education textbooks

The requirement to use ministerially approved textbooks for moral education was newly introduced for 2018/19. However, the materials on the textbook circuit range from old to new. Some materials can be described as presumptive of a prior social order perhaps favoured by cultural conservatives. These are included alongside materials intended to promote peace education, nonfction related to current events, popular culture, and concerns for environmentalism and human rights. Great persons feature a range of moral icons mainly from the post-War period. In fctional, non-fctional, and greatperson stories, many characters featured are the same age as the intended grade of students. The main themes of moral education coursebooks tended to centre on appreciation of life, modesty and self-restraint, faithfulness and friendship, sympathy and kindness, politeness and manners, and love for family. Newer materials follow ‘viral’ stories and include more open stories and non-fction. Overall, the range of materials can be characterized as eclectic. Innovation in structuring textbook materials has attempted to bring contemporary issues to the fore. These include living well together, bullying, health and eating habits, career education, human rights, traditional culture, citizenship, volunteering, international understanding, and so on. Nonetheless, many questions remain unanswered. Textbook screening, textbook adoption, and other stakeholders The locus of control in determining textbook contents has been a matter of debate. Whilst the ministerial screening process has been discussed the most, it is additionally important to consider the relative contributions of the textbook adoption process, the textbook editorial process, and the infuence of other stakeholders. Current understandings of textbook screening and adoption have developed in reference to history textbooks, which have also served as a key battleground on the traditional Left-Right ideological continuum. Textbooks are newly introduced to moral education, so no historic cases exist, whereas textbook content for history has been debated at length amongst textbook writers, teachers, scholars, and in the courts. The textbook screening process

In studies of history textbooks, Nozaki (2008) and others (see Cave 2013 for a review) have argued that the ministerial textbook screening system is opaque and allows for undue infuence by politically partisan actors, if not by politicians. Over an extended period, this is thought to promote ‘guided selfcensorship’ (Nozaki 2008), whereby textbook publishers acquiesce into a more state-centred worldview promoted by the Ministry of Education. Evidence has accumulated of censorship by the Ministry of Education through the second half of the twentieth century. However, this position may overestimate the contemporary power, priorities, and internal consensus of MEXT.

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 103 Quantitatively, the main content of dōtoku textbooks seems to have followed similar rates of revision to those of the preceding 30 years, with no stepchange due to the application of textbook screening. Nonetheless, it remains possible that, rather than the rate of change, the direction of change has shifted since screening was applied to moral education textbooks. Unsurprisingly, all textbooks cover each of the curriculum items stipulated in the curriculum. MEXT guidelines restrict publishers to respond to the range of ‘value items’ and other guidelines. However, these are fexible. The general picture of how the themes are addressed, and how content has changed across the range of textbook series, remains indicative at best. Unfortunately, no research has methodically examined the direction of change in moral education coursebook or textbook content through successive editions. More research is needed that examines changes in textbook content through time using an open framework for analysis, and preferably based on data from all textbook publishers. Further research may also consider the particular materials which have been discarded or introduced in each cycle or focus on materials that have endured through many revision cycles (Bamkin 2023). Such research will increase confdence in understanding shifts, if any, in the direction of change. On the basis of current data, textbooks seem largely consistent with preceding editions which were published without infuence from the textbook screening process, with some new trends, which add to their eclecticism. The results of the elementary dōtoku textbook screening for 2018 were made public. Media reports focused on two particular requirements made by the screening committee (Asahi 2017; Mainichi 2017; President 2017; cf Sankei 2017). One required an additional item for ‘love of country, tradition, and hometown’ and suggested that it might be achieved by changing the store visited by a grandfather and grandchild from a bakery to a Japanese sweet shop (in A Sunday Walk, Tokyo Shoseki, 1G, 2000–current). The other requirement was an example of gratitude toward elderly persons at 4th grade,9 and it suggested changing a middle-aged freman to an elderly freman (The Fireman, Tokyo Shoseki, 4G, 2011–current). Both requirements were binding on the textbook but could have been made in places other than that suggested in the screening committee opinion. Both were followed by the publisher as suggested. Some news articles derided the pedantry of the particularities of these cases, though the underlying message of many media reports (Asahi 2017; Mainichi 2017; President 2017) suggested that MEXT was interfering in civic matters, attempting to impose the teaching of patriotism. It is valuable to note recent changes and the role of both social and digital technologies in the textbook screening process. The secrecy enjoyed by screening committees was a tool that strengthened its potential for guided self-censorship (Nozaki 2008: 20), and it was criticized as statist on this ground (Tanaka 2010: 47–48). Since 2016, however, all requirements and opinions by the screening committee that contribute to possible non-approval are classifed and published in a standardized form, allowing for media debate and for both informal and legal challenge by publishers. Though this does not

104

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

eliminate the potential for guided self-censorship, it is this modifed system that allowed media ridicule of the minutiae of the dōtoku screening for 2018. It opens a new route for contestation. Again, turning to the case of history textbooks, the release of all opinions also provided an additional avenue for the screening committee to express oblique discontent with history textbooks led by a revisionist group. When a revisionist textbook was rejected in 2019, its publisher began legal proceedings against the Ministry of Education based on what it saw as double standards, points fagged for revision which were accepted for other companies’ textbooks (Sankei 2021). The technicization of the screening process is likely to bring textbooks in line with each point of the curriculum, which could reduce diversity between textbooks. At the same time, its increased transparency could reduce the scope for political interference through guided self-censorship. Simultaneously, insofar as the stakeholders and their interests in textbook contents are diverse, moral education textbook contents are likely to remain eclectic. The following section considers possible changes in adoption through the years leading up to 2018. The textbook adoption process

Peter Cave’s (2013) innovative research on the compilation of history textbooks is based on both meticulous document analysis and on interviews with textbook authors and publishers. Despite critique of the opacity of the textbook screening system in the past, publishers and authors of more ‘progressive’ textbooks did not see ministerial textbook screening as the greatest factor determining content change. More infuential in the compilation of textbooks was the textbook adoption process – that is, the selection of textbooks made by municipal boards of education.10 If there is strong infuence from government bodies, it is from local government rather than from the Ministry. However, it is important to note that textbook publishers can capitalize on reputations for leaning either toward the conservative or toward the progressive, but that the perception of extremity either way would likely damage adoption rates. For example, the Ministry approved an overtly revisionist history textbook series compiled by the nationalistic Association for Making New History Textbooks (Atarashii Rekishi Kyōkasho wo Tsukuru Kai) in 2001 and in three subsequent rounds of screening. Each occasion prompted severe critique of MEXT. The approval of this textbook has symbolic meaning, and its analysis has important political signifcance. However, its educational signifcance is minimal. The adoption of this history textbook peaked at 1.7% in 2009, twothirds of which was in Yokohama (Cave 2013: 544), where an activist mayor invested great political capital in pushing its adoption, which was short-lived. Its adoption dwindled well below 1% before its revised edition was, unrelatedly, rejected in the 2019 round of screening. Though re-approved in 2021, it is currently not adopted by any public school (Shuppan Rōren 2021: 74–75). Cave explains this as pressure created by local preferences during the adoption process for partially market-driven textbook publishers, whilst elucidating how

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 105 the decision-making process of local adoption has shifted since the turn of the millennium. Over the previous two decades, the selection process has evolved from one with an extensive involvement of teachers to one led by the boards of education proper. This re-interpretation of responsibilities (within the pre-existing laws) was largely led by Right-leaning activists, including the Association for Making New History Textbooks. Although advisors continued to appraise textbooks, about one-third of prefectures, including the Tokyo Metropolis, were advising against receiving recommendations of specifc textbooks by 2009. Boards of education proper are appointed by the local mayor, with agreement of the local assembly. Cave suggests that: since local mayors and assemblies have shown a strong tendency to be politically conservative in Japan, textbook selection by local boards of education themselves would be likely to result in more conservative textbook selection choices. (2013: 564) Two points can be drawn from this discussion. Firstly, the system of following advice from education practitioners is now eroded. This reduces the infuence of education practitioners in textbook appraisals. Secondly, the greater consideration for textbook publishers in determining content seems to be the local adoption process rather than the national screening process. Changes in adoption rates in 2018/19

Anzai’s study presents evidence that the contents of the fve recent coursebooks studies did not realize the intentions of conservative politicians. Analysis of Bamkin’s dataset fnds little evidence of a step-change in contents between the previous coursebooks and the newly approved textbooks of two out of three publishers. Unfortunately, neither of these studies examine all coursebooks series which became textbooks, and they include diferent series. Anzai selected textbook publishers on the basis of an informant’s judgement regarding which fve were the most popular in the years around 2013. Bamkin selected the three textbooks that are known to have been the most popular in 2018/19, on the basis of data that was simply unavailable at the time of Anzai’s study (and that remains unavailable for that period). Though one textbook (Nichibun) was included in both analyses, there is signifcant discrepancy between these selections. One possibility is that Anzai’s informant provided a regional, rather than a national, picture of coursebook popularity. Another possibility is that ‘adoption’ rates shifted signifcantly in 2018/19. Confdence in utilizing analyses of a limited sample of prior coursebooks would be higher if it were known whether BoEs and schools stuck with the same publisher through this transition or whether there were systematic shifts in ‘adoption’.

106

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

Table 4.7(a, b) shows the market share of textbook publishers in the 2018/19 and 2020/21 textbook adoption cycles. Textbook series studied by Anzai are marked with a triangle.11 At both elementary and junior high levels in both cycles, the same top four publishers held market shares over 10%. In 2018/19, the top three appeared in the same order with Tokyo Shoseki leading Nichibun, Mitsumura, and Gakken. For the following cycle, the market shares of elementary and junior high rankings diverged. At elementary level, Mitsumura took market share from the smaller publishers to overtake the top two, whose market shares remained steady. At junior high level, Mitsumura gained ground, along with the smaller publishers. These gains came at the expense of Tokyo Shoseki, which still tops the table but with a smaller lead. Ordinarily, it is fair to assume that changes in textbook adoption occur only very slowly. The Shuppan Rōren Textbook Report has collated data on textbooks (but not coursebooks) for every subject in every cycle since 1965. Looking at textbook adoption rates across all subjects, two patterns emerge. One pattern is a reduction in the range of textbooks available for any given subject between the 1960s and 1990s.12 The second is an overall stability of the textbook publishers with the largest shares for each subject over the whole period. Seven out of eleven13 elementary subjects have seen practically no change to the most-adopted textbook publisher over more than half a century since 1965 (Shuppan Rōren 2020: 66–69).14 A further two have seen no change since 1974.15 Similar fndings could be iterated for the second- and third-most adopted textbook publishers for most subjects. However, prior to 2018, coursebooks were not adopted through any process formalized at the national level. They were ‘adopted’ variously by individual boards of education or schools, according to local conditions. Responses to MEXT surveys on moral education coursebook usage by municipal boards of education collated in Table 4.8(a) show that an average of 76.2% Table 4.7 Dōtoku textbook market share since 2018/19 (data collated from Shuppan Rōren 2020, 2021) Table 4.7a. Elementary school 2018 Tokyo Shoseki Nichibun (△) Mitsumura Gakken Kyōshu (△) Kōbun (△) Gakuto (△) Akatsuki (new) TOTAL

Table 4.7b. Junior high school 2020

21.3

↓↓22.1

21.3 17.1 14.8 8.6 8.4 5.7 2.9

21.6 ↑↑24.2 12.6 ↓7.1 ↑8.9 2.3 1.3

100

100

2019 Tokyo Shoseki Nichibun Mitsumura Kyōshu Gakken Akatsuki Gakuto Nihon Kyōkasho TOTAL

34.8 25.3 16.0 10.1 5.7 5.4 2.4 0.3 100

2021 28.0 24.1 21.2 11.2 9.4 5.4 (withdrew) ↑0.7 100

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 107 Table 4.8 Reported historical expectations, distribution, and funding of commercially published coursebooks for moral education classtime. All units, %. Based on MOE 2000; MEXT 2005, 2009, 2013.  

1993

1998

2003

2008

2012

(a) Municipal board of education responses (in respect to both ES and JHS) BoE creates and distributes materials BoE purchases and distributes commercial coursebooks BoE covers the total cost of commercial coursebooks BoE partially covers the cost of commercial coursebooks The BoE expects schools to use coursebooks but does not provide funding BoE has no policy Other

3.9

4.7

3.8

2.1

13.7

11.2

11.0

13.1

29.2

29.8

29.0

22.7

6.4

4.4

5.4

4.1

33.4

30.3

31.8

29.4

18.3 1.9

25.3 2.5

23.5 1.7

30.0 1.4

(b) Elementary school responses on coursebook usage Children are expected to have a coursebook [purchased by the family] Part of the cost of coursebooks is borne by the individual [student or family] The school furnishes children with a coursebook Both of the above Coursebooks are not used

42.4

39.3

38.4

59.4a 2.1

46.4

51.6

53.0

8.2 3.0

6.6 2.5

6.7 1.8

38.5b

(c) Junior high school responses on coursebook usage Children are expected to have a coursebook [bought by the family] Part of the cost of coursebooks is borne by the individual [student or family] The school furnishes children with a coursebook Both of the above Coursebooks are not used a

b

47.3

44.7

41.5

64.1a 2.2

39.2

39.2

43.8

8.8 9.8

6.9 9.2

7.2 7.5

33.7b

Responses were phrased slightly diferently in 2012: ‘The full cost of coursebooks is borne by the individual [student or family]’. Sum of the responses ‘Coursebooks are purchased by public funds’ and ‘Provided freely by a MEXT programme’.

108

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

of municipal boards of education expected students to have a coursebook for moral education between 1993 and 2008.16 An average of 39.9% (of all municipal BoEs) either covered the cost or furnished students with coursebooks. However, particularly where the cost was only partial, this does not mean that the coursebooks were selected by the BoE. Selection is only confrmed for those 12.3% (on average) of BoEs that also distributed coursebooks. However, it is likely that the selections were made by BoEs in far more cases. There was little change in the funding provided by boards of education between 1993 and 2012 despite the introduction of an ofcial coursebook in 2003, which was distributed freely to all schools. This factor might explain the very slight decline in BoEs providing funding and the commensurate increase in BoEs with no policies. Tables 4.8(b) and 4.8(c) collate responses to a similar survey, this time directed toward schools. The number of schools that expected students to buy coursebooks remained steady around 40% between 1993 and 2003 at elementary level and fell from 47.3% to 41.5% at junior high level. However, the number of schools furnishing children with a commercially published coursebook at public expense increased through this period at both ES and JHS levels. The high similarity between the BoE data and school data shows that schools hardly utilized discretionary funds on moral education resources. This is not surprising as expenditure has historically been determined above the school-level in Japan. The number of schools reporting to not use coursebooks steadily declined. Looking at data from both schools and boards of education, fewer schools provided families with the commercially published coursebook between 2003 and 2008. This trend continued in 2012. This small decline (by about 20%) can be explained by partial reliance on the ofcial coursebook Kokoro no Nōto, which was introduced in 2003. However, this is not a simple reversal in trends. The dip in free provision of commercially published coursebooks occurred alongside an increase (by 50%) in schools that expected children to have a commercially published coursebook. Whilst boards of education reduced funding, schools continued to use commercially published coursebooks, even introducing new costs to families. Textbook adoption committees tend to change the textbook adopted only at very slow rates. Many schools would indeed need to change suppliers prior to the implementation of the new curriculum because some publishers withdrew from the production of dōtoku materials in the years leading up to the frst screening cycle for 2018. However, there is no reason to infer that this would beneft any remaining publisher or publishers proportionally more than the others. Nonetheless, if there is any extent to which municipalities systematically adopt diferent textbooks to schools, then the observation of a stepchange in adoption might be expected. Anecdotal evidence during interviews with publisher staf seems to suggest a signifcant change in the textbooks used, and this could be explained by boards of education proper selecting diferent publishers than previously used in schools. Though this remains plausible and fts the evidence, the change has not been observed empirically. A through-line from pre-2018 analyses, such as Anzai’s, to textbooks known to be currently popular can only be found in the case of one textbook publisher: Nichibun is

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 109 included in both Anzai’s (2015) and Bamkin’s (2022) data. Even basic data on the market shares of coursebooks before 2018 would increase the depth of analysis. Unfortunately, this data cannot be found in the public domain. Textbook editorship

The internal processes of textbook publishers are important to understanding their compilation and editing. In contrast to other school subjects, the established moral education textbooks with a large market share, and even more so in the twenty-frst century, are institutionalized in a structure centred on the editorial committee. The committee selects historic, popular, and published materials, whilst creating or commissioning additional materials to match the demands of the curriculum and (their perceptions of) preferences of expert practitioners and decision-makers in the adoption process. Again taking history as a point of comparison, the work of the author in moral education material is typically confned to each single-lesson unit. Authors are not necessarily experts in the subject of moral education. Materials authored many years prior and for other purposes are regularly used. Compared with history, materials are more often selected and commissioned by the editorial committee rather than by an overall author-editor. The process of screening has become more transparent due to information technology. If not civil servants, practitioners brought into the Ministry as textbook examiners are likely to operate as professionals with interests in openness and information-sharing. As such, scrutiny is higher. One symbolic victory for the culturally conservative wing not discussed in previous chapters was to avoid the requirement that textbooks publish the names of editors and authors. Famously, the ofcial coursebook Kokoro no Nōto was published without naming its editors. Only ‘The Ministry of Education’ was written as the editorial authority. The commissioning committee was chaired by Hayao Kawai. Kawai began his career as a psychologist, was a prolifc scholar and public intellectual in numerous felds (including psychology), and served variously as the director of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies and of the Cultural Afairs Agency. The editorial committee, which is largely known to the education community, was chaired by Yoshio Oshitani. Other editors of the ofcial coursebook would move into key positions on editorial committees of the commercially published coursebooks in the following years.17 Moral education textbook editors generally fall into one of four groups: scholars of education practice, scholars of philosophy, psychologists, and expert practitioners. Historically, the majority of editorial chairpersons/directors were university professors, along with some former or current practitioners. Katsuo Kaigo, Takeo Miyata, Itsuo Ishikawa, and Michiru Watanabe fall into this category, one amongst whom has served as chair of the Tokyo Shoseki editorial committee continuously since 1958.18 Also historically, numerous scholars of philosophy have chaired editorial committees in moral education. Mitake Katsube (at Tokyo Shoseki c.1958–c.1983) and Tomonobu Imamichi (at

110

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

Mitsumura c.1989–2012) provide prominent examples. Finally, professors of psychology and related disciplines have entered these positions in more recent history. Hayao Kawai (at Mitsumura c.1981–c.1992) perhaps blazed a trail for psychologists in this respect, long before his work commissioning the ofcial coursebook for MEXT. More recently psychologists Yoshio Oshitani (c.2011– present) and Takashi Muto (c.2017–present) have served as editorial chairs at Tokyo Shoseki, some years after their service on the editorial committee of Kokoro no Nōto. Yoshio Oshitani, mentioned in his role as a policy entrepreneur in the previous chapter, joined the editorial board of the elementary Tokyo Shoseki coursebook/textbook prior to the 2011, edition and joined the board for the junior high Tokyo Shoseki textbook prior to the 2018 edition, alongside long-standing member Michiru Watanabe. Takashi Muto also joined the Tokyo Shoseki editorial committees for both elementary and junior high prior to the publication of the 2018 and 2019 textbooks, respectively (ibid). Former education practitioners are difcult to diferentiate from scholars of education practice. Rather than attempting such a diferentiation, overlap is recognized as practitioner-scholars move between positions. Amongst those discussed in Chapters Two and Three, Shigeo Nagata serves as an editorial chair and Tetsuhiko Sakamoto as an editor (both at Gakken), whilst numerous members of the Tokyo Gakugei University Attached Schools Research Group for Moral Education sit on the editorial board at another publisher (Gakuto ES). Other editors are drawn from the ranks of teachers and popular children’s authors. Familiarity with stories through exchange with colleagues and development of supplementary resources and lesson plans keep resources in circulation. Practitioners also author new materials. Mayuko Ishikuro, for example, served as an editor of both ofcial coursebooks Kokoro no Nōto and Watashi-tachi no Dōtoku. She is a former elementary teacher and principal interested in the synergy between moral education and music. She wrote The Angels’ Descent for inclusion in in the Akatsuki JHS textbook, presented alongside the lyrics of Yasuyuki Oono, ‘the singing moral education instructor’ (Oono 2016, 2021) whose ‘major debut’ (ibid) came in Kokoro no Nōto and who continues to treat themes of life, family, love, and dreams through his music. More research is needed on how such leadership is efectuated or restrained by editors and by the roles of regular staf at the publishing behemoths. Cave’s analysis of history textbooks suggests that, whilst the political reputation of materials can sway adoption, the centre-ground is the key to market capitalization, with textbooks leaning far in any direction losing out. Any conclusions drawn on the basis of data presented here would be premature, but the editorial committees (and particularly their chairship or directorship) may be important brokers in the direction of change in moral education content. However, at present there is no convincing research on the existence of change or direction of change in moral education coursebooks or textbooks due to the reforms. Further research using more sophisticated methods is sorely needed on moral education textbooks.

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 111 Remaining questions It is easy to assume that the designation of moral education as a subject shifted the locus of control over content toward the Ministry of Education. However, there are serious caveats on any such strong assertion. Rather than an overly powerful screening system, recent research on history textbooks suggests a more nuanced situation, in which commercial textbook publishers are more responsive to demand from local boards of education. Textbook publishers are commercial entities that respond not only to ofcial guidelines but also to multiple lobby groups, to the preferences of teachers and school administrators and, presumably, to the need to conserve resources. The diversity of themes in moral education coursebook and textbook content is suggestive of a range of lobby groups and interests at work through publishers’ editorial processes, which themselves are little understood. A further locus of power is that of textbook editorial committees, which are structured slightly diferently to those of other subject textbooks. Moral education textbook editorial committees are chaired by scholars of education practice, scholars of philosophy, psychologists, and former teachers; and the committees are usually served by current or former teachers. Questions of textbook selection and content change are important but are understudied in reference to moral education. For the present study on practice, however, the partial understanding of textbook contents presented in this chapter serves as background. The preceding chapters have discussed high-level written policy, the curriculum, its guidance, and textbook content. Chapter Two highlighted the limitations of document-based study and made the case for research on practice. Chapter Three discussed the national curriculum and its guidance, and Chapter Four has provided an overview of knowledge on moral education textbooks. These chapters have variously discussed the roles of civil servants, civic lobbyists and practitioners in the processes of making written policy. Against this background, the following chapters turn to practice, discussing teacher perceptions, syllabus and lesson planning, and the policymaking processes in and around the school. They examine the enactment of moral education under reform. Notes 1 Though coursebooks and textbooks sound similar, the distinction is important. As opposed to textbooks (kyōkasho), coursebooks (fukudokuhon) are collections of materials, usually developed in reference to the curriculum, which hold no legal status. They are non-mandatory supplementary readers available for purchase on the open market. Coursebooks produced by the Ministry of Education between 2003 and 2018/19 are referred to as ‘ofcial coursebooks’ because, though they were produced and distributed by the government and their use was politically and fnancially encouraged, they remained legally non-mandatory. 2 The authors selected 1453 as an attempt to diferentiate ancient from pre-modern times. Whilst recognizing the impossibility of setting bookend dates in history, far more useful would have been a (perhaps imperfect) attempt to demarcate the period of modernization in the Japanese/Korean context.

112

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

3 Continuously between 1965 and 1985 in the coursebooks of Kōbun, Mitsumura, Gakkō Zusho and Bunkeidō (Ito 2014), and later in Gakken, Kyōshu, and again in Mitsumura. It returned to most coursebooks in 2018/19. Historically, it has also appeared in kokugo textbooks. 4 Examples include The Sound of a Piano Is . . . (Tokyo Shoseki, 6G, 2011-current) and Cooperative Apartment Block (Nichibun, 5G, 2017–current). 5 Japanese uses the same word for human euthanasia and for putting down animals. 6 The only exception is Akatsuki, which frst published elementary materials for 2018. Prior to this it had published junior high coursebooks for multiple decades. 7 This fgure includes all new materials included in the 2018 textbook but not in the 2011 edition. Of these, many were frst published in an intervening edition in 2015. However, study of the 2015 edition is complicated by questions surrounding the amount of information the editorial committee would have had about the imminent curriculum revision. Ohagi (2022) demonstrates through meticulous content analysis of kokugo textbooks that, in that subject, publishers pre-empt the curriculum by at least a small number of years. This is especially pertinent in the case of Tokyo Shoseki for dōtoku, because its editorial ‘representatives’ and de facto chairs of the editorial committee, since the 2011 edition has included Yoshio Oshitani, who was involved with the high-level policymaking process for moral education in the years leading up to 2015. Including the 2015 edition yields a maximum number of new materials infuenced by the curriculum revision. 8 The contemporary issue of ‘the environment’ is not found in the curriculum but is added by textbook publishers Tokyo Shoseki and Akatsuki. 9 The curriculum appears to make specifc reference to gratitude toward elderly people at grades 3 and 4, in contrast to the lists in other grades. 10 Technically, the decision is made by (currently) 583 sub-prefectural blocks. Each block comprises either a single municipality or a handful of adjacent small municipalities. The adoption committees are appointed by the relevant municipal board(s) of education. 11 Bunkei, also examined by Anzai, withdrew from the market prior to 2018. Akatsuki entered the textbook market without a prior coursebook at elementary level. 12 This efect is actually two unrelated processes. Many smaller companies folded or merged. And separately, some smaller companies came to dominate one subject and withdrew from other subjects. 13 Some subjects have more than one textbook. The two new subjects of dōtoku and English (introduced in 2020 at elementary level) are not counted for this analysis of pre-2018 textbook adoption. 14 Japanese, handwriting, maps, science, technology, home economics, and arguably life studies, which has seen no change since its introduction in 1992. 15 Social studies and music. 16 The average of the sums of each shaded column in Table 4.8(a). 17 No fewer than seven editors of Kokoro no Nōto would have variously become chief editors or representatives of dōtoku junior high coursebooks (published variously by Akatsuki, Kyōshu, Nichibun and Tokyo Shoseki) by 2012. 18 Katsuo Kaigo (in post by 1958, until c.1983), Takeo Miyata (c.1958–c.1983), Itsuo Ishikawa (c.1983–c.2000), Michiru Watanabe (c.2000–present). No chair was named in print before 1971.

References

Aizawa, Shu & Chikako Ogawa. 2020. 中学校道徳科の検定済教科書における情報モ ラル教材の特徴分析 [Analysis of the features of information morality resources in approved junior high school textbooks]. Kyōzaigaku Kenkyū, 31, 57–65. https:// doi.org/10.18972/kyozai.31.0_57.

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 113 Anzai, Shinobu. 2015. Re-examining patriotism in Japanese education: analysis of Japanese elementary school moral readers. Educational Review, 67(4), 436–458. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2014.975783. Asahi. 2017. パン屋「郷土愛不足」 で和菓子屋に　道徳の教科書検定 [Dōtoku textbook screening: Wagashi because bakery has insufcient love of the homeland] (Reps. 前田育穂、菅野雄介 木村司、沢木香織). Asahi, 2017-03-24. www.asahi. com/articles/ASK3P7KX3K3PULZU00T.html. Asahi. 2018. 道徳教科書にＳＮＳやスマホ　初の検定、 ８社合格 [SNS and smartphones in dōtoku textbooks/frst screening/all eight publishers] (Rep. 根岸拓朗). Asahi, 2018-03-27. www.asahi.com/articles/ASL3T5TX3L3TUTIL01G.html. Bamkin, Sam. 2022. 道徳副読本と教科書に掲載された小・中学校の教材に関する書 誌情報 [Dataset of bibliographic information on teaching materials published in elementary and junior high dōtoku textbooks and coursebooks]. Harvard Dataverse. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/TPLOWR. Bamkin, Sam. 2023. 道徳副読本と教科書に掲載された小・中学校の教材に関する書 誌情報のデータセット　―1992～2023年― [Dataset of bibliographic information on teaching materials published in elementary and junior high dōtoku textbooks and coursebooks, 1992–2023]. 東京大学大学院教育学研究科紀要 [University of Tokyo Departmental Bulletin], 63, 25–35. https://doi.org/10.15083/0002007371. Barthes, Roland. 1970. S/Z. Éditions du Seuil. Barthes, Roland. 1973. Le Plaisir du Texte. Éditions du Seuil. Cave, Peter. 2013. Japanese colonialism and the Asia-Pacifc war in Japan’s history textbooks. Modern Asia Studies, 47(2), 542–580. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S0026749X11000485. Fuji Television. 1990. 白旗の少女 [The Girl with the White Flag] (dir. Shunya Ito). Fuji Terebi. Gerbert, Elaine. 1993. Lessons from the ‘Kokugo’ (National Language) readers. Comparative Education Review, 37(2), 152–180. www.jstor.org/stable/1188682. Hall, Robert King. 1949. Shūshin: The Ethics of a Defeated Nation. Columbia University Teachers’ College Bureau of Publications. Han, Hyemin & Kelsie J. Dawson. 2023. Relatable and attainable moral exemplars as sources for moral elevation and pleasantness. Journal of Moral Education. https:// doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2023.2173158. Han, Hyemin, Sung Choon Park, Jongsung Kim, Changwoo Jeong, Yutaka Kunii & Sora Kim. 2018. A quantitative analysis of moral exemplars presented in moral education textbooks in Korea and Japan. Asia Pacifc Journal of Education, 38(1), 62–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2018.1423950. Higa, Tomiko. 1989. 白旗の少女 [The Girl with the White Flag]. Kodansha. Higa, Tomiko. 2013. The Girl with the White Flag (trans. Dorethy Britton). Kodansha. Hirata, Shigeru. 2019. 小学校道徳科教科書における指導内容取扱い数 [Contents organization of textbooks on morality for elementary school students]. 中村学園 大学発達支援センター研究紀要 [Nakamura Gakuen University Departmental Bulletin], 10, 93–101. http://id.nii.ac.jp/1094/00002536/. Ienaga, Saburo. 1994. The glorifcation of war in Japanese education. International Security, 18(3), 113–133. https://doi.org/10.2307/2539207. Ito, Keiichi. 2014. 研究資料・資料分析 「泣いた赤おに」[Research reports & material analysis section: the Red Ogre Who Cried]. 道徳教育 [Dōtoku Kyōiku], 675, 57–59. Japan Times. 2017. The role of rules in a ‘moral education’ (cont. Michael Hofman). Japan Times. www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/08/12/national/media-national/ role-rules-moral-education/

114

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject

Kelly, Stephen. 2022. Princess Mononoke: The masterpiece that fummoxed the US. BBC Culture, 22-07-22. www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220713-princess-mononokethe-masterpiece-that-fummoxed-the-us. Kolmaš, Michal. 2018. National Identity and Japanese Revisionism: Abe Shinzō’s Vision of a Beautiful Japan and Its Limits. Routledge. Kowaji, Ayako. 2017. Daily life writing: Creating alternative etextbooks and culture. In Yoko Yamasaki & Hiroyuki Kuno (eds) Educational Progressivism, Cultural Encounters and Reform in Japan, 109–123. Routledge. Kyokasho Kyokai. 2018. 教科書発行の現状と課題 [2018 Current State of Textbook Publication]. Kyokasho Kyokai. www.textbook.or.jp/publications/data/18tb_ issue.pdf. Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education. 2007. 都のこども [Children of the Old Capital]. Kyoto-fu Kyōiku-iinkai. https://web.archive.org/web/20220616105632/ https://doutoku.mext.go.jp/pdf/areadocument_48.pdf (archived 22-06-16). Lewis, Catherine, Ineko Tsuchida & Samuel Coleman. 2002. The creation of Japanese and US elementary science textbooks: Diferent processes, diferent outcomes. In Gary DeCoker (ed) National Standards and School Reform in Japan and the United States, 46–66. Teachers’ College Press. Mainichi. 2017.「パン屋」怒り収まらず [‘Bakery’ anger continues]. Mainichi News, 2017-04-04. https://mainichi.jp/articles/20170405/k00/00m/040/078000c. MEXT. 2005. 小・中学校教育課程実施状況調査 [2002–3 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MEXT. https://warp.da.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/287175/www.mext. go.jp/b_menu/houdou/16/11/04110503/001.htm. MEXT. 2009. 道徳教育推進状況調査結果 [2008 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MEXT. MEXT. 2013. 道徳教育実施状況調査 [2012 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MEXT. MEXT. 2015. 中学校学習指導要領解説：特別教科道徳編 [Guidance on the Course of Study: Junior High School Dōtoku Special Subject, for 2019]. MEXT. www. mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/micro_detail/__icsFiles/afieldfle/2016/01/08/1356257_5.pdf. Miyagi Prefectural Board of Education. 1986. どうとく：小学校道徳郷土資料指導書 [Materials and Guidebook for Education on the Locality for Elementary School]. Miyagi-ken Kyōikuiinkai. MOE. 1966. 小学校道徳の指導資料集 [Collection of Materials for Moral Education at Elementary School] (3 volume combined ed.). MOE. MOE. 2000 道徳教育推進状況調査結果 [1998 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MEXT. https://warp.da.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/287175/www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/ houdou/12/05/gaiyo.pdf. Morotomi, Yoshihiko, Shigeo Nagata, Yuichi Tsuchida, Makoto Yamada & Yasunari Hayashi. 2008. NHK 道徳ドキュメント： モデル授業 [Dōtoku Documents: Model Lessons]. Toshobunka. Nagata, Shigeo & Makoto Yamada. 2012. 道徳ノンフィクション資料 [Non-fction for Dōtoku]. Toshobunka. Nakano, Akira. 1989. Moral Education in Modern Japan (trans. Ruth McCreery), Understanding Japan, 55. International Society for Educational Information. Napier, Susan. 2018. Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art. Yale University Press. Nishiguchi, Keita & Takanobu Watanabe. 2020. 小学校における 「特別の教科 道徳」の 教科書分析:「内容項目」 との関連を中心に [Analysis of elementary moral education textbooks: the relationship between teaching materials and ‘content items’ in eight publishers]. 教育科学論集 [Kobe University Departmental Bulletin], 23, 1–9. www. lib.kobe-u.ac.jp/handle_kernel/81012008.

Making textbooks for a ‘new’ subject 115 Nozaki, Yoshiko. 2008. War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan, 1945–2007: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo’s Court Challenges. Routledge. Ohagi, Asuka. 2022. Japanese-language education at junior high school: Post-yutori, the PISA shock, and the Abe administrations. In Akito Okada & Sam Bamkin (eds) Japan’s School Curriculum for the 2020s: Politics, Policy, and Pedagogy. Springer. Oono, Yasuyuki. 2016. 大切なものほどそばにある [The Important Things Are Already Close: Messages for the Future Self]. Kizuna Press. Oono, Yasuyuki. 2021. 歌う道徳講師: 大野靖之の学校ライブ [The Singing Moral Education Instructor: Live Performances in Schools]. https://bigfeldmusic.wixsite.com/ yasuyukioono/gakkoulive. Passin, Herbert. 1965. Society and Education in Japan. Teachers College Press. President. 2017. “パン屋より和菓子屋”道徳教科書の安易さ (Rep. Terawaki, Ken). President, 2018-10-11. https://president.jp/articles/-/26376. Roesgaard, Marie Højlund. 2014. Globalization in Japan: The case of moral education. In J. Liu & M. Sano (eds) Rethinking “Japanese Studies” from Practices in the Nordic Region: Overseas Symposium in Copenhagen 2012, 175–192. International Research Center for Japanese Studies. http://id.nii.ac.jp/1368/00006419/. Roesgaard, Marie Højlund. 2016. Moral Education in Japan: Values in a Global Context. Routledge. Sakuma, Hiroyuki. 2017. Kuniyoshi Obara’s zenjin education at Tamagawa Gakuen. In Yoko Yamasaki & Hiroyuki Kuno (eds) Educational Progressivism, Cultural Encounters and Reform in Japan, 93–108. Routledge. Sankei News. 2017「パン屋→和菓子屋」などと文科省が書き換え指示？　誤解が広が った理由とは (Rep. Takuro Negishi). Sankei News, 2017-04-01. www.sankei.com/ article/20170401-RS67P2WLMJLRVJHVZUU4IJDTKU/. Sankei News. 2021. 教科書検定「違法」 と提訴　自由社. Sankei News, 2021-09-21. www.sankei.com/article/20210921-6YOAUSDE2FJERH7HZXPEGXK23Q/. Science Council of Japan Philosophy Committee. 2020. 道徳科において 「考え、議論す る」 教育を推進するために [Promoting Thinking and Discussion in Education in Relation to Dōtoku]. www.scj.go.jp/ja/info/kohyo/pdf/kohyo-24-h200609.pdf. Shimamura, Teru. 2021. 「道徳教材」にされた或る戦後児童文学 [A postwar children’ s literature that was made into a moral teaching material]. Language, Information, Text, 28, 37–46. https://doi.org/10.15083/0002002992. Shuppan Rōren. 2020. 教科書レポート [Textbook Report 63]. Shuppan Rōren. Shuppan Rōren. 2021. 教科書レポート [Textbook Report 64]. Shuppan Rōren. Studio Ghibli. 1997. Mononoke Hime (dir. Hayao Miyazaki). Studio Ghibli. Tanaka, Maria. 2010. 日本の道徳の変成 [The transformation of moral education]. In Takeo Yoshida, Maria Tanaka & Kazuyoshi Hosoda (eds) 道徳教育の変成と課題： 「 心」から 「つながり」へ [The Transformation and Problems of Moral Education], 1–51. Gakumonsha. Tanida, Shin’ichi. 2014. 日本の教育制度史における道徳の教育課程: 「道徳の教科 化」の問題をめぐって [Morality education curriculum in the history of the Japanese education system: considering the issue of making ‘morality’ a school subject]. 大阪 産業大学論集 人文・社会科学編 [Osaka Sangyo University Departmental Journal], 22, 31–50. Tsujimoto, Masashi & Yoko Yamasaki (eds). 2017. The History of Education in Japan (1600–2000). Routledge. Wilde, Oscar. 1888. The Happy Prince and Other Stories. David Nutt. Available via Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/902/pg902-images.html.

5

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

The study of moral education reform holds great potential to shed light on the processes of education policymaking and the enactment of reform initiated at cabinet level in Japan. However, its study remains hampered by a dearth of research on how it is planned and taught in the classroom. This chapter draws upon national survey data published over the past 30 years and preliminary interview and observational feldwork to construct a baseline on moral education practice. The binding curriculum revision was promulgated in March 2015, and its supplementary curriculum guidance was published a few months later in July 2015. As word entered local schools, the preliminary feldwork on which this chapter is based was undertaken between May and August 2015. After an overview of national survey data, the chapter questions teacher perspectives on the purposes of moral education, discusses how moral education lessons were implemented in practice, and explores teachers’ expectations for the incoming reforms. The analysis provides a snapshot of practice just before the reforms arrived at the local context and allows anticipatory discussions on reform with teachers and school administrators. Objectives of moral education The majority of teachers, asked about the objectives of moral education, placed omoiyari, or ‘consideration for others’, distinctly as the most important value to be learned through moral education (Bamkin 2016). This was followed by perseverance (ganbaru), which did not feature as a category of values in Anzai’s (2015) study of coursebooks discussed in Chapter Four. Finally, a signifcant minority of participants identifed ‘comportment and manners’ as important, which unfortunately does not diferentiate between categories of ‘manners and politeness’ and ‘public manners and civility’. Observations revealed practices developing ‘fundamental life habits’ as a further objective of moral education. Omoiyari has been the subject of numerous studies and ethnographies (Lewis 1995; Cave 2007) as a concept of interpersonal consideration for others’ desires. Omoiyari suggests an empathetic response to the desires or needs of others (Hayashi et al. 2009). It can be glossed as ‘consideration for others’. However, the concept also suggests action in response to sympathy gained through active DOI: 10.4324/9781003125471-6

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

117

consideration (Lebra 1976). For that reason, it requires both compassion as a feeling and an intelligent understanding of the other’s wants, either by understanding human desire generally or knowing personal preferences of that particular person. Expressions of omoiyari could involve giving, concession, or attention to detail to suit another person’s preferences. Likewise, forgiveness or forbearance, even when one is justifed in being ‘right’, is an expression of omoiyari. Persistence has also been the subject of study in both education and cultural studies. Ganbaru means persistence and seeing a commitment or aspiration through until the end without giving up (Befu 1986). Numerous researchers see the concept as an aspirational ‘theory of learning’, perceived as key to educational and life success (Shigaki 1983; Hendry 1986; Singleton 1989). A signifcant minority of responses framed objectives in terms of comportment or manners. This was most often expressed whilst unpacking the term reigi, which includes manners and etiquette, following conventions, occasionally with a ceremonial feel, and duty, as well as school discipline. Other informants referred to conventional manners (manā) or following societal conventions or rules. Despite overlap, the objectives of moral education identifed by teachers difer from those provided by the curriculum and, to a slightly lesser extent, from those provided by coursebooks. These stated objectives resonate with prior surveys. Table 5.1 summarizes the fndings of Buckley on the importance teachers placed on ‘themes’ of moral education. Confdence of participants in their ranking of the higherranked themes is greater. This demonstrates that opinion reaches a common centre around the higher-ranked items, whilst there is slightly less agreement regarding the lower-ranked items. Teachers reported a greater probability of ‘teaching’ those themes that are more highly ranked on average. These two points are illustrated in the shaded cells in Table 5.1, which indicate correspondence between the rankings of a given theme between columns. In addition to providing insight on the ‘themes’ valued, the correspondence between mean ranking selected and probability of undertaking teaching in that area suggests that teachers enjoyed a degree of (self-perceived) autonomy in determining and preparing moral education lessons, and that participants could estimate the responses of the overall sample with some degree of accuracy. Teachers also discussed the perceived dangers of moral education, both in political and in pedagogic terms. Teachers and school administrators were concerned to avoid imposing (oshitsukeru) values on children and students: ‘Moral education is not about teaching morality but encouraging children to think about morality’. (principal, Ward-1 ES) ‘We can’t force values on children. That used to happen before, but we are trying to encourage children to think more deeply. That is what dōtoku lessons are trying to do’. (4th-grade HRT, Ward-2 ES)

118

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

Table 5.1 Importance placed on themes of moral education (adapted from Buckley 2009) Ranking Theme

Mean rank selected by teachers (1 being the highest)

Selfconfdence in ranking (1–10 scale)

Probability of undertaking teaching in this area (%)

1

Emphasis on omoiyari

1.83

8.41

86.8

2

Enhancement of a loving relationship with life and nature

2.67

7.35

78.7

3

Emphasis on human relationships and communication

4.06

7.29

64.1

4

Enhancement of the consciousness of responsibility by adults, teachers, and parents

4.83

7.29

59.1

5

Re-examination of social 5.17 basic rules

7.18

55.0

6

Link of school with home and community

5.44

6.88

48.2

7

Demonstrating wellbalanced human character by adult members of society

6.11

6.47

54.9

8

Emphasis on the heart of traditional Japanese culture

6.17

6.29

52.9

9

Enhancement of peace education

6.72

5.65

53.5

Formation of a loving relationship with the community and country

7.83

4.76

39.7

10

Ito (2013) made a similar distinction in a short practitioner article. He suggests that there are two types of dōtoku. One makes children learn rules to promote the aims of current or past society. The other encourages children to think about issues, learning why, and considering the efects of rules and of breaking them. The use of materials can be approached in various ways. In the former approach, materials are followed to provide exemplars on how to live. In the latter approach, materials are used to promote values, virtues, or conventions based on the wisdom of senior members of society. When discussed in the abstract, teachers consistently criticized the latter approach. More frequently,

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

119

educators expressed their intentions to encourage children’s interest, investment, emotion, and thinking. These conceptions of moral education partially resonate with practitioner literature reviewed in Chapter Two, which is written largely by current and former educators. Diverse material usage Tables 5.2 and 5.3 combine data on material usage for dōtoku lessons reported by schools in MEXT surveys between 1993 and 2014, and in one survey undertaken by Tokyo Gakugei University in 2010 for elementary school and junior high school respectively. The most striking feature of the results is the diversity of materials used. In 2012, the following materials categories were reportedly used by more than 30% of schools: (1) self-made materials, (2) newspaper articles, (3) other books, (4) video contents, (5) photos, (6) information from the internet, (7) wallcharts or big pictures (at elementary level only), (8) the ofcial coursebook; and readings published by: (9) private companies, (10) BoEs, and (11) MEXT (at elementary level only). In the 1990s, television broadcasts were widely used in elementary schools. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the staple of this diet would have been NHK e-tere (educational) programmes produced specifcally for dōtoku lessons. The radio-wave television broadcasting of the NHK e-tere programme Jump for Tomorrow (Ashita e Janpu) occurred on Mondays at 14:00 from 1986 to 1990, with a single repeat broadcasting later in the week. Shimahara (1998: 219) published a typical 6th-grade timetable from the late-1980s or early-1990s, in which dōtoku class was scheduled for Mondays at 13:40– 14:20. Likewise, participants in a survey of university students who had mostly undergone compulsory education between 2000 and 2009 (Tsukamoto and Nagata 2014) also reported watching NHK programmes in their dōtoku lessons. Despite the steady decline in the general category of video content, NHK e-tere programmes were still utilized by 21.9% of elementary teachers responding to a 2010 survey, which disaggregated NHK content from the more general category of projected media or video content. This pattern is similar for video content at junior high school, though the decline in video content was not so steep. On the other hand, only 15% of respondents reported using NHK materials. This fts with anecdotal evidence that junior high schools likely draw more on privately produced fctional or historical dramas. With the decline of television and video usage, coursebooks (the majority of ‘privately published readings’) were the main material used by teachers.1 The use of photographs, material from the internet, and self-made materials increased, as did the use of newspaper articles at junior high school. Almost all schools in the MEXT surveys reported using the ofcial coursebooks since their introduction in 2003. Following this, coursebooks were reportedly the second most-used category of materials used for dōtoku lessons. Numerous commentators voiced severe concern over government control of moral education content when an ofcial coursebook was frst published

 

2012

Gakugei 2010

2008

2003

1998

1993

41.9 64.2 16.1 85.3 8.4

34.8 62.7

31.1

43.1 55.2

67.4 58.8

70.3 45.5 20.6 72.7

By prefectural BoE By municipal BoE

99.5 39.7

5.9

a. The Gakugei category is ‘coursebooks’ (fukudokuhon). b. The Gakugei category could be read to exclude television. c. The 2010 Gakugei survey also included ‘microfilm’ at 0.1%

 

86.3 20.9

97a

84.3 17.4

81.5 18.9

72.7 45.2 20.2 82 19.4

90.6 34.4 49.4 52.6 15.7 31.6

82.4 24 23 16.8 3.8 19.4b

99.3 27.4 52.6 49.3 17.0 68.5

97.1 25.5 46.4 34.3 16.7 66.8

85.7 55.7 21.3

78.9 45.7 30.9

Television broadcast Video media (VHS, etc) Transparencies

53.5 9.8 38.5 16.7

39.5 1.6 11.2 3.2

54.3 7.0 34.1 17.8

47 3.9 19 15.8

7.8 4.5

18.2 5.6

Slides Microfilmc

21.3 12.3

26.7 13.4

44.8

22 21.9 2.7

45.8

42.1

8.2 0

6.8 0.2

17.6 0.1

68.9*

5.6 0

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

Readings published by MEXT Readings published by BoE Other public institutions Privately published readings (company) Privately published readings (NPO or research group) Current official coursebook Self- or school-made Newspaper articles Photos other than teaching materials Doll theatre Projected video media inc. television Video contents (2012–) Books other than teaching materials Computer software Information from the internet Audio playback Wall/hanging charts Wall chart, paper slide theatre, big pictures NHK dōtoku programme Other None

2014

120

Table 5.2 Teaching materials reported to be used in dōtoku classes by MEXT surveys 1993–2014 at elementary school (data collated from MOE 2000; MEXT 2005, 2009; Nagata and Fujisawa 2012; MEXT 2013, 2014b)

Table 5.3 Teaching materials reported to be used in dōtoku classes by MEXT surveys 1993–2014 at junior high school (data collated from MOE 2000; MEXT 2005, 2009; Nagata and Fujisawa 2012; MEXT 2013, 2014b)  

2012

Gakugei 2010

2008

2003

1998

1993

32.2 57.9 18.8 78.8 15.1

26.2 54.2

20.4

29.8 46.8

49.9 48.8

55.3 42.6 21.3 77.0

By prefectural BoE By municipal BoE

Television broadcast Video media (VHS, etc) Transparencies

98.4 65.7

6.4

a. The Gakugei category is ‘coursebooks’ (fukudokuhon). b. The Gakugei category could be read to exclude television. c. The 2010 Gakugei survey also included microfilm at 0.1%

89.9a

74.4 22.4

70.8 21.7

84.9 56.3 70.1 50.8 1.5 48

55.8 44.4 47 18 0.3 53.5b

95.8 39.2 73.1 41.3 1.1 72.7

90.4 34.9 69.6 23.6 0.8 66.3

33.1 73 10.4

34.3 66.1 13.7

67.1 9 58.7 28

36.5 2.5 32.5 8.9

64.2 6.2 52.5 24.4

56.6 2.8 32.3 16.8

4.7 5.1

8.9 8.7

21.9 2.9

32.4 3.5

8.5

1.4 15.0

5.9

4.2

7.2

5.8

22.0

10.3

0.0

0.3

0.2

Slides Microfilmc

(Other seems to include self-made in 1993)

121

None

81.3 29.4

58.7 39.9 19.1 71.0 22.6

 

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

Readings published by MEXT Readings published by local BoE Other public institutions Privately published readings (company) Privately published readings (NPO or research group) Official coursebook Self- or school-made Newspaper articles Photos other than teaching materials Doll theatre Projected video media inc. television Video contents. (2012–) Books other than teaching materials Computer software Information from the internet Audio playback Wall/hanging charts Wall chart, paper slide theatre, big pictures NHK dōtoku programme Other

2014

122

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

and distributed freely. The ofcial coursebook, however, provided an additional resource but not the only resource for teachers. It is likewise important that the use of materials created by MEXT did not suddenly begin in 2003 with the publication of the ofcial coursebook. Over 70% of schools reported using materials published by the Ministry of Education in the surveys preceding 2003, without prescription or heavy promotion by MEXT. This usage has declined steadily since 2003, likely replaced by the ofcial coursebook. That is to say both that schools reduced the amount of other MEXT materials used in favour of the ofcial coursebook, and relatedly that MEXT had transferred its material production eforts away from other materials and into oversight of the ofcial coursebooks. Moreover, during the same period for which data is available, the introduction of ofcial coursebooks did not coincide with a decrease in school- and self-made materials. To the contrary, the share of school- and self-made supplementary materials has also steadily increased, especially at junior high school. Being careful not to infer a causal relationship without evidence for one, it is observed that a desire or an imperative arose for bespoke materials during the same years that the ofcial coursebook was introduced. It is possible that schools were compensating for a perceived defciency in the ofcial coursebook materials, which nonetheless saved time by designating a starting point from which lessons might be devised. Either way, there is little evidence of schools or teachers in the contemporary context being overly opposed to coursebook usage in practice. Shimahara (2002: 95; also Azuma 2002: 10) suggested some dependence on textbooks for most subjects, and on coursebooks in moral education. At the chalkface, such pragmatism is reported to have increased across the curriculum (Cave 2014: 275–6). Longitudinal large-scale survey data from Benesse (2016: 11, 13) found that the proportion of lessons following the textbook increased between 1998 (when the survey began) and 2007 before reducing marginally in the following decade. Reliance on textbooks increases along with increased pressures on time. The same survey demonstrates a steady long-term increase in teacher working hours between 1998 and 2016 (Benesse 2016). The fgures provided by the MEXT (2017) survey in the same year show remarkably similar results.2 The MEXT surveys on dōtoku material usage between 1993 and 2012 took a broad and relatively neutral approach, seeking to gather data. Though the ofcial status of government-administered surveys may skew results, it was not for defciencies in the design of the survey in the case of MEXT surveys through this period. On the other hand, the latest survey in 2014, entitled Survey on the Usage of ‘Watashi-tachi no Dōtoku’, reduced the exercise to a political confrmation that schools were utilizing the ofcial coursebook. It abolished options to report most of the categories of materials that might be utilized in moral education lessons, including categories that were reportedly utilized by over 50% of schools in a survey only two years earlier. Despite its narrow scope and the near inevitability of over 98% of schools reporting use of the ofcial coursebook, the survey remains useful at least to confrm that, alongside this, schools continued to utilize privately published

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

123

coursebooks and materials created by boards of education and to observe the continued upward trend in the reported use of self-made materials. At the time of the latest survey in 2014, 98.5% of junior high schools reported utilizing the ofcial coursebook; 78.8% used privately published readings, such as coursebooks; 65.7% used self- or school-made materials; 57.9% used materials published by a board of education; 32% used materials published by MEXT; and a smaller proportion reported using other materials produced by public or civic organizations. These surveys are invaluable sources to understand historic patterns of change to moral education in practice. However, they have severely limited capacity to indicate the absolute or relative usages of materials categories. The MEXT surveys take the school as the unit of analysis. It remains unclear how many teachers or yeargroups in each school use any given category of material, and how frequently. For example, if all teachers in any given school use coursebooks for a majority of lessons and only one teacher in the school uses computer software for one lesson, the MEXT survey guidelines suggest that the school should report using both categories of material. More concretely, though 86.3% of elementary schools used privately published coursebooks and 34.4% used self-made materials in 2012, it cannot be known what proportion of teachers used either type of material. The Gakugei survey uses the teacher as the unit of analysis. However, it cannot be known how those seven teachers were selected amongst the staf at any given school. Anatomy of a dōtoku lesson Most moral education lessons observed followed variations on a small range of structures. Rather than describing a standard moral education lesson in the abstract, a standard structure is discussed in reference to two lessons based on the same material. The following lessons are based on The Angels’ Descent (Akatsuki, 8/9G, 2013–current, see page 95), the story of Yasuyuki, and the death of his mother during his fnal years of junior high school.

The Angels’ Descent (I) (9th grade, Ward-3 JHS) As students enter, a song is playing in the background at low volume. Students show little curiosity, chatting until the bell chimes, at which time the class monitor calls attention to begin the lesson. Each student has a pie-chart device simply constructed from two circles (cut from pink and yellow paper and slit along the radii so that they can interconnect and rotate to display more of one colour or the other). The teacher opens with a question, ‘What is it like to live with your family? Just think for a moment’.

124

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

The students make some suggestions: • Important. • Cooking dinner. The teacher encourages elaboration ‘OK, I understand, so . . .’ • We eat dinner together. • It feels comfortable. The teacher asks for clarifcation: ‘Your family makes you feel comfortable, or you make your family feel comfortable?’. The student squirms and says, ‘Both’. ‘OK, are your family noisy?’. The question is directed initially to one student, who nods. ‘Can you show me how noisy?’ This is directed to everybody, as the teacher holds up her pie-chart device as a prompt, ‘Pink is very noisy; yellow is not noisy’. The students hold up their pie charts in response, showing a range of proportions. ‘Are your family tiresome or annoying (mendokusai)? Think about living with your family’. Students adjust their pie charts accordingly and hold them up. Again there is a range of responses. The teacher opens the coursebook slowly, which prompts students to follow. She begins to read, completing the story at a slow pace. Students are asked to consider the two questions on the worksheet. As students begin, the teacher writes the questions to head two sections on the board: 1 What kind of thoughts/feelings does the mother have [toward her son]? 2 How did Yasuyuki (boku3) feel when his mother says she wants to hear him sing? Students look mainly at their worksheets. Some speak with surrounding students to check what they are about to write. Responses included: • Wants him to do well. • Wants to encourage him. These are debriefed quickly, with the frst three responses written on the board. Students are asked to move into small groups to discuss their responses to question 2. Students consider the mother’s memories, wondering whether she sent him to music lessons or bought CDs for him. They speak about the

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

125

mother being proud of his ability. They found it strange for him to sing outside the train station and implied that this might be embarrassing or unseemly: ‘Maybe his mother didn’t mean for him to sing outside the station’. These connections to motherhood were made spontaneously. Though not strictly within the bounds of the question, ‘How did the mother feel?’, they seem to be appropriate responses. Students did not update the notes made on their worksheets through these discussions. The following activity, on another worksheet, is to write a letter from the protagonist ‘Yasuyuki’ to his deceased mother. Students have time to write the letter, which takes ten minutes or more. Moving on slowly, the teacher invites any student to read their letter. Two students volunteer to stand and read their letters in turn. The teacher closes the textbook, setting it down on the desk, and presses ‘play’ on the CD player. Rather than calling the class monitor as usual, she nods to the students, indicating that the lesson is over. Students leave as the song plays again at a higher volume. This time the words are meaningful, and the emotion is palpable in the air, and uncomfortable for some. Students remain quiet as they leave the classroom and disappear down the staircase.

Opening

In 2015, many moral education lessons began with a ‘hook question’ designed to draw students into a topic, but potentially to support refection on learning objectives. This is more the case for moral education because most lessons stand alone rather than continuing as part of a longer unit, as happens in many academic subjects. Examples ranged from the mundane (‘Look at this photo. Where do you think it is?’), to children’s experience (‘Has anybody heard a friend telling a lie and known that that friend was lying?’), to questions specifcally on values (‘What is a friend?’). In addition to interest, the hook question may alternatively provide knowledge required to support refections later in the lesson (‘What do you want to do [as a job or vocation] when you grow up?’). The opening question in The Angels’ Descent (I) (‘Are your family noisy?’, ‘Are your family tiresome?’) seemed both accessible and reasonably interesting for the students. This could later serve as a juxtaposition with students’ emotional responses to the story. Ostensibly this remained unexploited during the lesson observed. The teacher had apparently not planned for students to relate the story and their responses to it back to their own family situation during the lesson. Reading the story

The lesson observed was representative in that story-based materials were read by the teacher. This fnding accords with recent accounts of practice in private

126

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

and laboratory schools (Bolton 2015; Roesgaard 2016) but not with historical accounts in public schools. The stories were generally read by the teacher slowly, whilst children and students choose to read along or not from a coursebook or printout. Many schools kept copies of both the ofcial coursebook and a selected commercial coursebook in each classroom. Others kept copies of commercial coursebooks in the staf or resource room for use when needed. Some used handouts photocopied from coursebooks or other supplementary materials. Reading was occasionally substituted by a recording from the coursebook’s companion CD. Checking for understanding

Key moments in the story were selected by the teacher for examination. Questions pool knowledge about the event in the story and solicit suggestions about characters’ feelings and motivations for their actions. Japanese teenagers are more likely to focus on characters’ feelings when making stories and making moral judgement about characters in stories (Azuma 2001; Iwasa 2001). Such narrative orientations are partly learned in school, and indeed in moral education lessons, and partly enter the moral education classroom from outside. Many lessons encouraged students to suspend their judgement and think carefully about the full range of circumstances and characters involved. Students are encouraged to understand characters’ reasons for their actions. Two substantive questions

Students ofer responses to targeted questions from the teacher. These often work to uncover the thinking of characters, challenging quick judgement of deviant behaviour in search of deeper understanding. The questions may be those suggested in the teachers’ companion to the coursebook or not. Another lesson at the same school some days later followed a diferent plan for The Angels’ Descent. In the latter lesson, the teacher completed the reading, selecting the moments when the mother had communicated indirectly with her son Yasuyuki – showing her scar and giving him brochures for high schools that specialize in music. The lesson did not use worksheets and did not write a letter. Instead, the teacher played a YouTube video created by the adult Yasuyuki Oono, who (in real life) has now become a successful musician, playing partly in memory of his mother and to support children in relation to issues of life, family, love, and dreams, alongside a career as a mainstream musician. This was followed by a third activity. Students read the lyrics of the song whilst thinking about what Oono had said in the video clip, then they consider what Yasuyuki has learned between high school and the time when the video clip was recorded. The responses to the two substantive questions are summarized in Figure 5.1.

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

127

Figure 5.1 The Angels’ Descent (II) (9th grade, Ward-3 JHS)

The Angels’ Descent (II) (9th grade, Ward-3 JHS) [1. What was the mother thinking when she] showed her scar [to Yasuyuki]? • • • •

Your mother is still here though my life is short. I want to tell you what I think. I don’t want you to forget. I want to enjoy time together as mother and son without rebelliousness, etc. • Honestly, I want to live. [2. What was the mother thinking when she gave Yasuyuki specialist music] high school brochures? • I want you to give your all to what you are able to do. • I want to support your dream. • I want you to find your own way in the world. [Activity. What has Yasuyuki learned?] • • • •

She wants me to do the things I want to do Thoughts of his mother’s desire to live [for longer] She will support me until the end. To not give up (to continue to persevere)

Closing discussion

Though it should not be assumed that children attend most strongly to the teacher’s summary, end-of-lesson summaries hold the potential to reveal the teacher’s intentions and perspective on the materials or discussion. At times, stories are ‘readerly’ in attempting to impose a moral. For example, the story The Plum Tree Blossoms After Enduring Snow (Mitsumura, 8G,

128

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

2018–current) is about the baseball player Hiroki Kuroda, who does not make it into his college team but yet continues training in baseball until he becomes one of the most lauded players in Japan, eventually reaching the US top-fight Major League before returning to the team of his hometown, where he had started his career. Despite a wide range of original ideas on Kuroda’s choices from students, the teacher closes the lesson by revealing the title of the story (which, though not written on the board, was surely already known to students because it was written in the textbook, open on their desks): ‘So just like in kokugo class, the title is a metaphor “the plum tree blossoms [only] after enduring snow”, after a harsh winter. OK, let’s write our refections: “What have I learned today?”’ (Tamura-sensei in 2019, kokugo teacher, 8th-grade deputy HRT, Nishimachi First JHS) Though an indirect means of communication is adopted, a single substantive moral is all but declared. In practice this may or may not detract from previous discussions, which were not directly about perseverance. However, declaring the intended moral so near the end of the lesson cannot be seen as supportive of diverse viewpoints. For example, students had debated Kuroda’s possible reasons for returning to the less successful ‘hometown team’. It was the group discussion in both iterations of The Angels’ Descent that created room for complexity. Students spontaneously connected the mother’s actions with their own experience of being mothered, and by extension with their own family and lives. In The Angels’ Descent (II), the letter writing activity furthers this progression as the content of the letter is fltered through students’ own experiences, which may lead to deeper understanding of love for family, which is the objective of this lesson. Ending the lesson without a summary in The Angels’ Descent (I) communicates trust in students’ ability to construct the meaning through refection. More frequently, teachers summarized the points made as a list and recapped (their perception of) the consensus of the class. Bolton (2015) and Roesgaard (2016) note the frequent practice of teachers connecting the consensus to their own experience, revealing a story from their personal life or suggesting a relationship they perceive to students’ lives. This was supported by observations. The way that Taniguchi-sensei connects the lesson, in this in The Wolf on the Bridge (I) (see page 184), with her personal experience through an anecdote was typical: ‘When I was in kindergarten, there was also a child who was just like the wolf. He was always bouncing around happily, but he was making others sad. But when he entered elementary school, other children wouldn’t play with him. His way of playing made other children unhappy. And he became sad. And he needed to fnd the courage to approach other children and say, “Let’s play together”. And then we could all be kind and play together. Let’s repeat together, “Let’s all be kind”, “Let’s all play together happily”.’ (Taniguchi-sensei, 1st-grade HRT, Umimachi Sugami ES, 2015)

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

129

Multiple models of dōtoku lessons Most lessons observed in 2015 used materials from a coursebook, repurposed coursebook materials, or no materials. Works selected by teachers from outside the coursebook were all works of fction, including a story from the popular picture book series Bam and Kero (Shimada 1994; see Bamkin 2020: 230– 231), both at 1st grade in Ward-1, and the television drama Yae no Sakura (NHK 2013; see Bamkin 2018: 87–88) for 4th graders in City-2. Numerous variations on the standard model described have been developed. Some features observed less frequently are outlined in the following sub-sections. Good points about myself

Numerous elementary lessons encouraged children to recognize or defne good points about themselves. The following example re-purposed coursebook material.

Chiaki Mukai (I) (6th Grade, City-2 ES) The class read together the story of Chiaki Mukai’s career (Chiaki Mukai, 2001–2011, 6G, Gakken). Mukai trained hard, devoting many hours to study, and eventually qualifed as a medical doctor. She realized her dream and practised heart surgery whilst teaching surgery at a famous university hospital. At age 35, she ‘decided’ to re-train as an astronaut and was selected for two space missions. The teacher encourages a small-group discussion based on various questions: ‘Why did she dream of becoming an astronaut?’, ‘What is difcult about becoming an astronaut?’, ‘How could she make it?’, etc. Student contributions are listed on the board. The teacher selects and circles keywords relating to dreams, drive, and perseverance. The teacher explains that we can recognize our own strengths and work to extend them and that realizing our dreams requires perseverance, looking only at the goal on which we choose to focus. Students each complete a refective worksheet to identify ‘who I am now’ and ‘who I wish to become’ then create a certifcate that celebrates ‘something that I’m good at’.

Similar lessons in City-3 identifying ‘good things about myself’ were undertaken with no reading, only a blank certifcate to celebrate ‘something I am good at’. This could be an interest, skill, or disposition identifed by the child. Similar lessons might begin with a recent sporting achievement, leading to a discussion of children’s particular achievements or qualities. At junior high school, the focus seemed to shift, at least by 8th grade, toward identifying weaknesses for improvement.

130

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

Role-play

Role-play was observed infrequently in elementary lessons. A lesson using The Red Ogre Who Cried (see page 89) observed in Ward-1 provides an efective example.

The Red Ogre Who Cried (I) (4th grade, Ward-1 ES) The teacher reads the story, except for the signpost and the letter, which are read by children. Children have the story in front of them in large print so they can read along. The teacher stops at key moments in the story: when the ogres are watching the children playing; when the blue ogre proposes his plan; when the plan is successfully executed; when the red ogre reads the note from his friend and cries. At each stoppage, children are asked to summarize what has happened and refect on why the characters act as they do and what each character is thinking or feeling. The teacher closes the book and reveals a red ogre mask. She asks for volunteers to share ‘what the red ogre wants to say’ and places a large cardboard door in at the front of the classroom. After the frst volunteer has role-played the red ogre, the teacher interjects gently, ‘But wait’. She scratches on the other side of the cardboard door and says, ‘The red ogre hears a noise inside the blue ogre’s house. The blue ogre’s not left yet!’. She asks another volunteer to role-play the blue ogre. Children take turns in front of the class to role-play a short dialogue between the red ogre and the blue ogre. Finally, the teacher fnds copies of letters written by upper-grade elementary children about falling out and making up with friends and reads them out for the class. Children are prompted to share experiences about moments when they had made up with friends. The teacher asks children to think about what true friendship really is, and nods to the class monitors to close the lesson. Role-play is a natural mode of learning for young children. It is important to note that the story of The Red Ogre Who Cried was modifed for this purpose. The story ends when the red ogre cries. However, it was re-opened for the lesson with the revelation that the blue ogre has not yet departed. At the post-observation interview, the teacher explained that she had re-constructed this lesson plan on the basis of a lesson she had observed some years earlier. She had also carefully reconstructed the mask and door along the lines of those she had observed. The modifcation of the story was also adapted from a model lesson she had observed. In a lesson in Umimachi based on The Wolf on the Bridge (various textbooks, 1G, 1992–current; see Chapter 7), there was no role-play during the

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

131

classtime. However, props used by teacher Taniguchi-sensei in class were left out at break time, when children replayed and experimented with the story of the moral education lesson (Figure 5.2). Similarly to the Red Ogre Who Cried interviewee, Taniguchi-sensei had adopted the props and blackboard design from a lesson she had observed some years earlier by a teacher recognized for expertise in moral education. In both of these examples, role-play engaged with moral issues from the perspective of characters in the story. At other times, role-play was more forced. In one lesson in Ward-2, 5th-grade children were made to role-play asking classmates to be quiet during assembly. Writing letters in character

Having students write letters as a character from the story was adopted in numerous lessons, addressed to characters who were either living or deceased in the story. The Angels’ Descent provides an example of the latter. At other times, rather than in character, children wrote letters to their future selves or to their parents. Connection to the broader moral curriculum Interviewee teachers listed specific activities that contribute to the broader moral curriculum, and the majority referred to cleaning, ‘kakari’ class responsibilities, or serving and enjoying school lunch together. These

Figure 5.2 Children play with props during break time (The Wolf on the Bridge (I), Umimachi Sugami ES, 2015)

132

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

activities, regarded as the primary contribution of school education to socio-moral learning, are included in the curriculum under the domain of ‘special activities’. In Japanese schools, students are assigned responsibilities such as changing wall displays, school beautifcation, improving student health, recycling, and so on (see Tsuneyoshi 2001; Bamkin 2020, 2022). The planning of these activities is supported by pedagogic networks, societies, and magazines, similarly to other subjects and domains of school education (Tsuneyoshi et al. 2020). Generally, kakari responsibilities are undertaken by a group of two to four children for a period spanning anywhere between three months and the whole academic year. Although not discussed here, responsibilities are also expanded from class activities to regular schoolwide committee activities, such as managing lunchtime music and making whole-school announcements, and temporary committees to manage school events. New responsibilities are established from 1st grade. Responsibility is expanded to include as many children as possible. Special activities provide an example of how practice within a democratic classroom can be pedagogically planned without prescription in the curriculum. Duties, on the other hand, rotate on a daily or weekly basis, assigned to all children in equal quantity. Less frequently, participants cited practices of agreeing on content for the class newsletter and agreeing on decisions such as class rules or the negotiation of new kakari responsibilities. Sports and clubs (bukatsudō) at junior high level were also prominent in interview data. Pedagogies involving groupwork were also discussed. Bukatsudō clubs occupy most junior high school students for signifcantly more than ten hours per week4 but are not prescribed in the written curriculum. Given that special activities are seen as more prototypical of moral education in the broad sense, the value and purpose of moral education classtime can be questioned. Many participants considering moral education classtime hesitated to afrm its infuence on ‘everyday life’ actions. A common refrain was: ‘Moral education is about the heart [kokoro]’. As a defecting response, this suggests a reluctance to endorse a direct infuence on behaviour. A distinction emerged between notions of education with infuence on behaviour and education of the ‘heart’. Moral education classtime educates the heart but does not necessarily directly afect behaviour in everyday life, yet the latter is recognized as the ultimate goal of moral education. Nonetheless, some value is implicit in educating the ‘heart’ through moral education classtime. The concept of the heart (kokoro) in the educational context has been described as an openness to being connected to others (Shimahara 2002), and is in Sato’s (1998: 123) terms, ‘the centrepiece for self-development that places empathy and consideration for others as integral to self-identity’. Indeed, teachers identifed omoiyari as the most important objective for moral education. One principal in Ward-1 explained during a presentation to parents that moral education classtime aims to develop: ‘thinking about the context of

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

133

interactions, thinking about the perspective of others’. An elementary HRT at a neighbouring school said: ‘Moral education is not about teaching morality but encouraging children to think about morality’. (6th-grade HRT, Ward-1 ES) There was some consensus that: ‘“Education of the heart” may approach the will(ingness) to act but does not necessarily cross the threshold into practice or behaviour’. (6th-grade HRT, City-2 ES) A clearer divide was made by a junior high science teacher in City-2: ‘Dōtoku does not go so far as to infuence behaviour. Maybe special activities do’. Education of the heart is limited, it seems, in its uncertain capacity to infuence behaviour outside of school. This is not surprising to scholars of moral psychology. Blasi’s (1980) critical review of literature found that the rational understanding of moral dilemma scenarios is only a poor predictor of moral behaviour. It is possible to declare a preferable course of action, and yet act diferently in the moment. This limitation was recognized by teachers and school administrators in the primacy of special activities for socio-moral learning in the broad sense. Teacher participants, who overwhelmingly focused on special activities, were additionally invited to discuss moral education classtime. Classtime was framed as an opportunity to develop the will(ingness) to act or refect on life, extending at least as far as school life. As one classroom teacher in Ward-1 remarked: ‘Developing the heart [studies in moral education classtime] does not necessarily lead to action. But as we are more active, moral education classtime can help us to understand these activities. Moral education is the base’. This suggests that children’s understanding of why they are cleaning up, practising kindness, or persevering is important. Moral education classtime was sometimes used by enthusiastic teachers to refect on special activities, on school life or events in class, or on life habits such as tidying (see Bamkin 2020). Stories such as that of Chiaki Mukai can be related to perseverance in sports clubs and to support refection on the connection between sports, and possibly study, and future attainment. Standardization as survival or as expertise The extent of standardization of dōtoku lessons can be illustrated from an observation in Umimachi in 2017. Choir rehearsal took longer than expected

134

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

Figure 5.3 For This Meal (I) (5th grade, Umimachi Konami ES)

at Umimachi Konami ES, so the vice-principal Takano-sensei volunteered to cover the lesson so that the homeroom teacher could supervise clean-up of the hall with some children. Takano-sensei sat in the empty classroom with the textbook for fifteen minutes. This would also have been his only opportunity for planning before beginning the lesson.

For This Meal (I) (5th grade, Umimachi Konami ES) The children arrive from choir rehearsal almost 25 minutes late, leaving little over 20 minutes for the lesson. The title on the blackboard is the same as that of the textbook, but the textbook materials are not used. Takano-sensei draws a circle on the board labelled ‘rice’. He begins, ‘School lunch is so good, right?’. This is halfway through the fourth period, so lunch probably sounds viscerally good. ‘So what do we think about school lunch? Is this enough? Rice?’ The children do not hesitate to object. ‘Impossible!’, one shouts. Others agree with noises or similar statements. ‘Ah, so what goes with rice?’ One child suggests miso soup. ‘Ah, I see. So if we add miso soup, it is OK?’ He draws another circle labelled ‘miso soup’. This cycle of questioning continued until they had added a meat-vegetable mix with potatoes and negotiated the vegetables that might be included and (separately) milk, each drawn with a rough sketch by the teacher. The children sense that time is short from the teacher’s pace. He encourages involvement, accepting each response and calling for the next whilst writing the previous one on the board. ‘Asada-kun said he doesn’t like potatoes. What kind of things do some people say when they see something they don’t like?’

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

135

Children respond with some examples in quick succession: ‘I hate it’; ‘This isn’t tasty’; ‘Is that it?’. These responses are written further across the board, leaving space in the middle for the following discussion. ‘And who makes our food?’ The frst response is ‘mother’. The teacher prompts for more with gestures whilst writing the list on the board under ‘People concerned [with making the school lunch/food]’ and a blank space under ‘Their thoughts’. The list expands. ‘So why don’t we leave anything on the plate? What are these people thinking? The people who make it, who sell it [etc.]?’ Children’s responses are recorded: • • • • •

Producers [of ingredients] – grow lots of produce; make it tasty. Sellers – I hope lots of people buy [ingredients]; it needs to be fresh. Transporters – do it safely; do it fast. Manufacturers – make it easy to eat. Cooks – make it tasty; so that [we] will be happy to receive it.

Takano-sensei then jumps to the end of the board, posing the study question ‘Why can’t we leave any food on the plate? Let’s write and share with the person next to you in two minutes. And we fnish in three minutes’. Children write quietly. Very few share. The teacher calls for responses, which are written on the board. 1 So many people have put in so much efort for us, and they worked so hard, and so it would be rude. 2 The producers will be sad. 3 For health and growing up. 4 The leftover [food] will feel sad. Next, the teacher presents a challenge: ‘Is it the producers who tried so hard?’ He points back to the table of people and their thoughts. ‘Is it only the producers?’ Some children shout out, ‘Everybody’. ‘Producers’ is crossed out. ‘Right, there are all these people supporting our lives’. The lesson time is up after only twenty minutes. The last question is asked but not recorded as students are ready for their lunch. ‘Why do we say itadakimasu before eating?’ • [We are] happy about eating. • [We are] receiving from all those people. • [We are] thankful for life. The teacher stands straight, facing forward for a short moment, and nods to the class monitor, who calls an end to the lesson.

136

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

Though recorded at a later date, many features of a standard moral education lesson are condensed in this very short lesson. It includes a hook to capture interest in the content, a potential issue, a connection between the interest and the issue at hand, encourages children to stand in the shoes of a range of characters (see Chapter 7), and ends with something to think about related to the value of gratitude, though the answer to the fnal question is all but imposed. This experienced educator could draw on existing pedagogic knowledge of the structure of a dōtoku lesson to produce a quality, typical lesson, with little time for preparation, despite having few classroom teaching responsibilities in recent years. The textbook material (For This Meal, Akatsuki, 5G, 2017–current) is skipped for this lesson. Rather than beginning with children’s preferences, the textbook material consists of a very short essay of six sentences about the work that goes into the preparation of each meal and the life of plants and animals given for each meal. The discussion is likewise stimulated by pictures, but the textbook contains six photographs of the journey of food: agricultural harvesting of crops, the sorting of a fshing catch, a factory conveyor belt packing food, a forklift retrieving crates from a lorry, a butcher’s meat counter, and a home kitchen scene of chopping vegetables. The textbook suggested the following questions: ‘1. What kind of people do what kind of work for each of our meals? 2. Why should we not waste food? 3. When we say itadakimasu, what kind of feeling does it express?’. The textbook extra activity considers the life of plants and animals that are given for each meal. The lesson is far from perfect. There remains a leap of logic injected by the teacher. The children list the people who contributed toward the food, but nothing about eating everything: ‘So why don’t we leave anything on the plate? What are these people thinking?’ The teacher turns the lesson toward its objective in the guise of the child’s voice. It cannot be known whether the approach would have been diferent had there been more time. Yet, what remains is a clear illustration of a standard dōtoku lesson format undertaken by an experienced teacher. Reliance on the coursebook can allow for the survival of beginner and struggling teachers. To the contrary, the implementation of a standard lesson by Takano-sensei requires a certain kind of professional skill or familiarity, leveraging a familiar format to realize an efective lesson. Standardization is often seen as a defciency or expediency in educational literature. It can be framed as the antithesis of creativity. This perspective is leveraged by the construction of ‘dōtoku by reading’, discussed in previous chapters. It has also fuelled the critique of textbooks in Japanese schools in general and in moral education in particular. Critique of the introduction of textbooks is concerned with a standardization (kakuitsuka) of moral education (Irie 2004; Sugihara 2017). Standardization creates uniformities across time and space, through the generation of agreed-upon rules, and tends to span more than one community of practice (Bowker and Star 1999). Standards often overlap and cluster and are distributed unevenly (Lampland and Star

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

137

2009). More contentiously, they are a process bound to modernization, less visible the more the world is conceived as functioning through mass systems, and as time is seen as discrete and allocatable (ibid). Standardization may be seen as something dictated by managerial power, or as something done by policymakers to practitioners. On the other hand, some comparative studies have explored the role of expertise, creativity, and practice-sharing in the gradual processes of standardization from below. Lipsky’s (1980) notion of the ‘street level bureaucrat’ describes the ways in which public sector workers create triages and interpretive categories to more efectively attain complex goals on the ground, partly by standardizing categories of client interactions and responses (see McLaughlin 1987). DeCoker (2002: xiv) suggests that ‘national standards do not by defnition result in a lack of teacher involvement’. Because of a strong curriculum and textbook system without strong professional accountability, contributors to DeCoker’s edited volume argue that ‘Japanese teachers in many ways have more freedom and are more involved precisely because of the national system’. More important to the notion of standardization, paraphrasing Timmermans and Epstein (2010), are questions such as: Who makes standards? Whose benefts are served by standards? What knowledge(s) form the basis of standards? When standards confict, which ones should prevail? The following sections and chapters consider these questions alongside the micro-processes of their proliferation. The perceived rationale for reform The period of preliminary feldwork in 2015 fell some months after the reform of moral education had been announced in March, though few teachers had read the new curriculum text, and the curriculum guidance would be published only toward the end of the feldwork period. Initially, out of 21 interview responses detailing purposes or values in moral education, not one participant provided ‘love of nation’ as a value important for moral education in Japan. Only one participant included ‘feeling good things about Japan’ seventh in a list of eight objectives. This fnding is notable for what is absent. Late in July and in August, guest speakers were invited into schools to introduce the incoming reforms to teachers, which often comprised an evening lecture. Some schools invited parents for a subsequent presentation on changes to moral education, often led by the principal. Observations included a teacher supervisor in each of three regions (Ward-2, City-3, Ward-1) presenting on the revisions to the curriculum. One supervisor in Ward-1 explained that ‘the list of values is organized under four headings, and there is little change’. These educators who conduct in-service teacher education did not draw attention to patriotism, which had been a key intention of the curriculum reform for senior politicians in central government. The same interviews invited comments on the curriculum changes in moral education, which was a current topic at the time. Half of participants opened

138

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

with direct or oblique reference to nationalism as a purpose of the revisions. One art teacher summarized his perspective: ‘They are going to suggest assessment to make certain content more important, so teachers can’t ignore it. The reason is to promote nationalism (aikokushin), like if we are going to teach about the Senkaku islands’. (Umimachi Sugami JHS) Teaching staf in all locations outside Tokyo, and to a lesser extent in Tokyo, expressed opposition to teaching patriotic values. Discussions on nationalism were also initiated by principals in both one-to-one interviews and in the presence of teachers in group discussions. The vice-principal of Sugami JHS suggested early in a group discussion: ‘Most teachers are against the amendments. . . . Changing the content is not necessarily a bad thing, but there are problems’. The mention of nationalism (aikokushin) by the principal may have legitimized a discussion which could otherwise prompt caution in the presence of senior staf. However, principals have progressed in their careers from classroom teaching and (at least partially) share knowledge, beliefs, and practices. One participant considered how content on territories could be taught: ‘I hold my opinions on the [Senkaku] island problem, Korea, China, etc., but moral education (dōtoku-no jikan) is not the place to discuss it. Perhaps social studies. But we cannot return to Fascism’. (social studies teacher, Umimachi Takanami JHS) Nationalism was seen as the political driver for reform, which was seen to risk a move towards, or a ‘return to’, militant ethnocentric nationalism. Many teachers attributed reforms to the nationalist agenda of the current government, which did not accord with their beliefs on the purpose of (moral) education. Teachers were entirely cognizant of the debates surrounding moral education reform and often generally sceptical toward government control. The Senkaku/Diaoyu territorial dispute was receiving media coverage at the time of the interviews and was utilized as an example to illustrate the view that education should be protected from patriotism to avoid the ethnocentric nationalism that might lead to (further) militarization. At frst sight, this may seem overly cautious. However, there was also overlap in publications closely associated with politicians in central government. The 2014 LDP election manifesto commits to reform moral education and to promote more patriotic history textbooks under the same bullet point: Make Japanese history compulsory at senior high school, establish moral education as a special subject . . . apply the new criteria for [ministerial] textbook approval, enhancing the content relating to Japanese territories. (LDP 2014: 21)

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

139

This wording is adopted from the more verbose 2012 manifesto which provided further explanation in reference to domestic politics: The Fundamental Law of Education was revised and the curriculum was revised accordingly. However, there are many history textbooks which provide biased and self-torturing views of Japanese history. Children should learn using textbooks that develop pride in Japanese culture and history. (LDP 2012: 19) In this way, the assertion of sovereignty over the Senkaku islands, textbook screening, history, and moral education had been associated by the Abe election campaigns. Moreover, the Senkaku islands were mentioned in a military context in Abe’s second-term inaugural speech (Kantei 2012). Presented by the LDP as learning content on Japanese sovereignty over disputed territory, many educators saw the potential to legitimize state aggression. The opposition to nationalism expressed concern about militarization. Though few teachers spoke in direct reference to the Pacifc War, these expressions of antimilitarism are vestiges of ideological pacifsm or progressivism built during the intellectual fervent of the immediate post-War period. Comportment and manners were identifed by a signifcant minority of teachers as one of the most important values learned in moral education. The reproduction of traditions, such as crafts, ritual, stories, and symbols, may facilitate ethnocentric nationalism if presented as timeless (reifed) or necessarily superior to alternatives and as characterizing a particular group (essentialist mythologizing). Strong association of tradition with the (geographical, ethnic, or political) nation may be a means of promoting a love of nation, or producing ‘children susceptible to the state’ (Sugihara 2017). However, searching the observation data for discussions of tradition found very few signs of ethnocentric nationalism. In Umimachi, a lesson using coursebook materials on kendō (MEXT 2014a: 170–173) was led with the assistance of a class member who practised the martial art. He had changed into his kendō costume during the lunch break and entered after the beginning of the lesson. Students had time to ask questions before beginning to read the coursebook story, written in the voice of a 5th-grade student. The narrator describes beginning kendō aged three, learning how to bow with precision as part of its etiquette, anxiously facing an opponent for the frst time, and developing through years of kendō training. Students discussed questions posed by the teacher: ‘What customs have you seen?’, ‘Why are there customs in kendō?’, ‘Why are these important in our lives?’, ‘How would you feel facing an adult opponent?’ Whilst discussing manners and development, the reading twice described the etiquette as beautiful (utsukushii), and the teacher reiterated that the practice of etiquette, respect, and kendō in general are ‘important’. This was once phrased as ‘It is very important to Japanese people’. The reading concludes with the kendō teacher in the story explaining that it is important to respect and honour (uyamai, sonchō-suru) one’s opponent. The teacher reframed this as kind consideration

140

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

(omoiyari) but focused the conclusion on perseverance, exemplifying the years athletes need to train for the Olympics, also a current topic at the time of observation. This intention was communicated during a prior interview and confrmed at the post-lesson interview. Although kendō and associated etiquette were framed as important, the teacher alluded to the Japaneseness of kendō only once and guided the discussion toward the value of perseverance. I observed only one lesson (City-2) which framed values as particularly Japanese, refecting on a scene from the period drama Yae no Sakura (NHK 2013), which had concluded the previous year. The scene, set in the Bakumatsu period (1850s), framed a moral dilemma in which a group of children are disturbed from playing and are questioned by a high-ranking retainer. They need to decide whether to expose the misbehaviour of a friend or cover up the truth, whilst the culprit is observing from a hiding place. Following a standard model of dōtoku lesson, the flm was stopped at intervals to discuss how all characters might be feeling. In the end, the hidden culprit needs to explain herself to the ofcer whilst her brother is present as a member of the retinue, creating a further social complexity. The senior ofcer then declares his thinking on the matter. The teacher emphasized that aspects of the ofcer’s speech in the flm were taken from a ‘real samurai code’, which ‘is still relevant today and that all Japanese people should carry in their hearts’. Overall, teachers rarely presented traditions as reifed, though importance placed on traditions ‘to Japanese people’ could be seen as moving toward essentialism, as in the example of the ‘samurai code’. Manners and comportment were also often presented as necessary or healthy. For example, a teacher might explain that it ‘naturally feels uneasy’ harbouring a lie or supervise the expression of gratitude without explanation. One vice-principal in City-2 who had emphasized to students the ‘important tradition’ of saying ‘itadakimasu’ (bon appétit) before eating clearly valued the practice. Nonetheless, he later explained amongst staf that, although an important tradition, it has been adopted only during the process of modernization. Pedagogically, tradition can serve as a trope of convenience. Assessment

A further prominent discussion point in 2015 was the new requirement of assessment. At this time, MEXT had announced the introduction of assessment but not its details. (They would eventually be published in 2017). Participants discussed the extent to which assessing moral education might produce a backwash efect, not only undermining the purpose of assessment as in other subjects, but potentially encouraging deception. For example, the intention or will to act may be the subject of learning but may be undermined by the external motivation of assessment. Students may perform in accordance with their perception of what is tested. ‘It is a feeling in the heart, so writing is OK. But testing . . .’. (2nd-grade HRT, City-2 ES)

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

141

‘If it were graded, they will not write what is really in their hearts’. (instructional advisor, City-3) This concern suggests that assessment is not appropriate for moral education because values cannot be expressed through declarative knowledge or ‘getting the right answer’. The critique raised in interviews appears particularly levelled towards quantitative assessment, giving a grade in the form of a letter or number, rather than its summative nature, as teachers articulated possible means of conducting summative assessment in moral education, even whilst explaining that it is not ideal: ‘Well, if numeric grading were not introduced into assessment . . .’. (fne arts teacher and 7th-grade HRT, Ward-1 JHS) Formative qualitative feedback was already widespread in teaching practice. Teachers assessed refective sentences written by students at the end of many moral education lessons on ‘what I didn’t know before’ and ‘how I will change what I do’. Teachers also marked worksheets, providing written comments in response to inclass work, discussions, activities, etc. that were decided upon by the class teacher. Some participants speculated that teacher comments in response to refections on lessons could be re-worked into a summative form, for example by copying them onto the report card in reference to learning outcomes. ‘We can revisit the comments for report cards’. (special needs HRT, Umimachi Konami ES) The concern was about creating more work or separating feedback from student work. However, teachers would accommodate the requirements and did not perceive any great loss in doing so. The moral education lead teacher at Konami elementary school suggested ways in which current practices may be leveraged or ‘relabelled’ to fulfl the requirements of assessment: ‘All children [at this school] keep a diary over the weekends. They choose a theme, and teachers occasionally comment, so they can understand how the child acts or are thinking outside of class. Teachers can encourage or ofer advice – they mostly focus on positive things and say, “Wonderful”, “Keep it up!”’ (3rd-grade HRT, Umimachi Konami ES) Another teacher provided the same example at a diferent school, focusing on the perception that comments may need to be re-read by the teacher and repeated or condensed on a report card: ‘This [means of] assessment is similar to what teachers already do. But it will be written down, so it will take more time’. (5th-grade HRT, City-2 ES)

142

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

These were presented as ways to fulfl the anticipated requirement of assessment by continuing existing practices in a modifed form. Many teachers questioned what aspects of children’s lives teachers can monitor. ‘We can assess role-plays, but not actual behaviour’. (4th-grade HRT, Ward-2 ES) ‘Teachers see playing, volunteering, sports, but not really everything’. (7th-grade HRT, City-2 JHS) ‘Assessment is difcult because behaviour is outside of school’. (4th-grade HRT, Umimachi Konami ES) Though moral education aims to inform student choices inside and outside the school, its classtime serves mainly as a site for pre-learning and refection. The extent to which behaviour can be seen was a more immediate concern for teaching professionals at junior high school. Localism

The FLE revision added ‘love of the region (kyōdo)’5 to the aims of state education alongside ‘love of nation’. Both were given greater prominence in subsequent curriculum revisions. However, the ‘love of the region’ has received less scholarly attention. During the period of research, prefectural and municipal boards of education were discussing the relationship between schools and their surrounding communities. This held currency at the time because many prefectures were allocating additional funding to schools which relabelled themselves as ‘community schools’.6 Education ofcers and educators outside the Tokyo metropolitan commuting area (City-2, City-3, Umimachi) utilized the community school programmes to respond to the declining population of children. Low birth rates were regularly mentioned. However, the stronger concern of educators was that of urbanization, that young adults were emigrating to urban areas. Fostering a love of the locality was regularly espoused to encourage school-age children to return later in life. As a former principal cooperating with the BoE in Umimachi said: ‘We want to raise children who love their hometown (furusato). Perhaps they will move away to the cities, but maybe they will wish to return. Or they might [come to] think this is a good place to raise a family’. An education ofcer in Umimachi similarly emphasized the importance of encouraging children to return to the community later in life: ‘They will have happy memories here, and want to pass those on [to their children]’.

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

143

One school in City-3 changed its motto to ‘children who love the local area’. Recent publications from MEXT have adopted the argument that community schools make children – presumably those from rural regions – ‘want to return home’ later in life whilst promoting community schools (e.g. MEXT 2015). Similarly the junior high integrated studies curriculum in Umimachi was entitled ‘Home community (furusato)’, ‘Finding our home community’, and ‘Living in our home community’ through each grade. One moral education lesson in Umimachi followed a common coursebook story about a girl who receives a postcard from a friend who had moved away (Postcard Stampage, 4th grade, 1983–current). The teacher had modifed the worksheets to replace the postcard on the handout and on the projection with an image of a local beauty spot in a neighbouring municipality. Localism was presented as a logical strategy in response to municipal issues through the community school programmes. However, these practices predate the creation of community schools and exist as an institutionalized educational aspiration. Previous ethnographic research has found that ‘localism’ and even patriotic-like attitudes towards the locality have long been practised in elementary education (Cave 2007). Materials produced by boards of education since the 1980s and by coursebook publishers since the early 2000s have sought to foster familiarity with the local region. Education promoting love of the region does not present the people as separate from other localities. In this sense, it is not ethnocentric. It tends to promote a focus on the locality within a framework of interdependence with surrounding regions, much like materials on local produce and prefectural trade in social science textbooks. Identifcation with the local area has been seen as important for children’s objective safety and subjective security. It is moreover plausible that this strong localism in both elementary and junior high schools may provide an avenue for teachers to pre-empt the nationalistic by refocusing materials fulflling the value item of ‘respect and love for the nation and its culture and traditions’ toward local topics and issues. A baseline on practice This chapter provides an overview of moral education in practice in 2015 as a baseline to consider change between this period immediately before reforms to strengthen education and its frst years of implementation. Various models of lesson had reached a level of standardization, using a range of materials, centred on readings from coursebooks but drawing on self-made materials, newspaper articles, photos, and other resources. Coursebooks and standard models provided support for less-experienced and less-confdent teachers. They also allowed for experienced educators to realize efective lessons. Teachers perceived the (then) forthcoming reforms as motivated by the patriotic sentiments of prominent politicians, toward which many educators were sceptical. However, many exhibited confdence in their scope to use content ‘creatively’ to refocus or leave out disagreeable content.

144

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

The examples discussed in this chapter were drawn from short periods of observation. Comments on their representativeness are informed by the range of schools and regions visited for short periods of preliminary feldwork in 2015, and through discussions with participants ‘looking back’ during the longer two-year period of feldwork between 2018 and 2020. The latter period of feldwork was sustained amongst whole yeargroups in schools accessed by various means. This provides the foundation for the following chapters on practice during reform. The following chapters ‘move with the change’ to examine how policy enters the school in local settings and how the new moral education was enacted through the frst years of implementation. Notes 1 Figures in almost all categories at both elementary and junior high levels are lower in the Gakugei survey than in the MEXT surveys. This could be explained because the free distribution of the ofcial coursebook Kokoro no nōto was suspended from the academic year beginning 2010, when the LDP was out of power. The simultaneous increase in usage of privately published coursebooks would then compensate for the reduced usage of the ofcial coursebook. It is alternatively or additionally possible that schools infated their reporting of the ofcial coursebook usage in response to MEXT surveys even before MEXT communicated an expectation that all schools would report using it. However, the diferences in methodologies of data collection is likely to be the more decisive factor. Regarding dōtoku lessons in ‘the past academic year’, both surveys ask which types of material are used – presumably at least once and without limit. The MEXT survey requested one survey to be returned by each school, representing the entire teacher body at that school. On the other hand, the Gakugei survey asks for seven surveys to be completed at each school, each by one teacher. 2 The 2016 MEXT survey is used because it is more extensive than the subsequent survey in 2019, which seems to show a marginal reduction in hours. Surveys subsequent to this are similarly less extensive and are moreover disrupted by school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is possible that this trend hit a peak in 2016. 3 The story is written in the frst person, and as such the (male) author refers to himself as boku (I/me). It is a regular convention for discussion in dōtoku to refer to the character as ‘boku’, even though the author-protagonist’s name is known. The convention may encourage slippage between discussion of the protagonist’s thinking and thinking as the protagonist. 4 According to ofcial data (NIER 2019), 66.9% of junior high school students participated in sport bukatsudō in 2019; 21.5% in culture clubs. Accurate data on the time spent on bukatsudō activities are not available for junior high school because the MEXT surveys do not ask about weekend activities, nor do they account for variation in holiday schedules. The survey (ibid) reports that 52.1% of students spend more than two hours per weekday, and 83.5% spend more than one hour per weekday doing club activities. In respect to senior high school bukatsudō clubs, Blackwood (2016) fnds that 49.8% of students participate in sport bukatsudō, which meet for an average of 1000 hours per year (over 16 hours per week, and more during school holidays); and a further 19.9% participate in non-sports bukatsudō, which meet for an average of 500 hours per year. 5 Though the translation ‘land’ or ‘country’ is more common, my observations suggest that kyōdo is represented in the classroom as places, images, and customs of

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

145

the local region. Likewise, the curriculum provides separately for learning national culture and regional (kyōdo) culture, for which a countrywide land would not ft. 6 The meaning of ‘community school’ varied between regions. The technically defning characteristic seemed to be the installation of a board of governors or/and a tripartite governing council comprising (at least) staf, parents, and community representatives.

References Anzai, Shinobu. 2015. Re-examining patriotism in Japanese education: analysis of Japanese elementary school moral readers. Educational Review, 67(4), 436–458. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2014.975783. Azuma, Hiroshi. 2001. Moral scripts: A U.S. – Japan comparison. In Hidetaka Shimizu & Robert LeVine (eds) Japanese Frames of Mind, 29–50. Cambridge University Press. Azuma, Hiroshi. 2002. The development of the course of study and the structure of educational reform in Japan. In Gary DeCoker (ed) National Standards and School Reform in Japan and the United States, 5–18. Teachers College Press. Bamkin, Sam. 2016. Moral Education at Elementary School in Japan. WCMT. Bamkin, Sam. 2018. Reforms to strengthen moral education in Japan: a preliminary analysis of implementation in schools. Contemporary Japan, 30(1), 78–96. https:// doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2018.1422914. Bamkin, Sam. 2020. The taught curriculum of moral education at Japanese elementary school: the role of classtime in the broad curriculum. Contemporary Japan, 32(2), 218–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2020.1747780. Bamkin, Sam. 2022. Moral education in Japan: Four strands of research on policy and practice. In Wing On Lee, Phillip Brown, A. Lin Goodwin & Andy Green (eds) Springer International Handbook of Education Development in Asia Pacifc. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2327-1_99-1. Befu, Harumi. 1986. The social and cultural background of child development in Japan and the United States. In Harold Stevenson, Hiroshi Azuma & Kenji Hakuta (eds) Child Development and Education in Japan, 13–27. W. H. Freeman. Benesse. 2016. 第６回学習指導基本調査 Data Book: 小学校・中学校版 [Basic Survey of Instruction Databook: Elementary and Junior High Schools]. https://berd.benesse. jp/shotouchutou/research/detail1.php?id=5080. Blackwood, Thomas. 2016. Homo athleticus: The educational roles of extracurricular clubs in Japanese schools. In Kaori Okano (ed) Nonformal Education and Civil Society in Japan, 71–91. Routledge. Blasi, Augusto. 1980. Bridging moral cognition and moral action: a critical review of the literature. Psychological Bulletin, 88(1), 1–45. https://psycnet.apa.org/ doi/10.1037/0033-2909.88.1.1. Bolton, Kristofer. 2015. Moral Education in Japan: The Coming of a New Dawn. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Oslo. www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/49714. Bowker, Geofrey & Susan L. Star. 1999. Sorting Things Out. MIT Press. Buckley, Setsuko. 2009. Teacher perceptions on teaching moral values in Japan. アジ ア文化 [International Christian University Departmental Bulletin], 35, 265–282. http://doi.org/10.34577/00002801. Cave, Peter. 2007. Primary School in Japan: Self, Individuality and Learning in Elementary Education. Routledge.

146

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

Cave, Peter. 2014. Education after the ‘lost decade’: Stability or stagnation. In Satsuki Kawano, Glenda Roberts & Susan Long (eds) Capturing Contemporary Japan, 271–299. University Press of Hawaii. DeCoker, Gary (ed). 2002. National Standards and School Reform in Japan and the United States. Teachers’ College Press. Hayashi, Akiko, Mayumi Karasawa & Joseph Tobin. 2009. The Japanese preschool’s pedagogy of feeling: cultural strategies for supporting young children’s emotional development. Ethos, 37, 32–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1352.2009.01030.x. Hendry, Joy. 1986. Becoming Japanese. University of Hawaii Press. Irie, Yoko. 2004. 教科書が危ない― 『心のノート』 と公民・歴史 [Textbooks Are Dangerous: Kokoro No Nōto, Civic Society and History]. Iwanami. Ito, Keiichi. 2013. 道徳授業における共感的アプローチと批判的アプローチ [Empathic and critical approaches in moral education classes]. 道徳教育, 665(special issue on dōtoku classes to enhance self-determination), 4–6. Iwasa, Nobumichi. 2001. Moral reasoning among adults: Japan – U.S. comparison. In Hidetada Shimizu & Robert A. LeVine (eds) Japanese Frames of Mind, 51–81. Cambridge University Press. Kantei. 2012. 安倍内閣総理大臣就任記者会見 [Prime Minster Abe’s Inaugural Press Conference]. https://web.archive.org/web/20121231214801/www.kantei.go.jp/ jp/96_abe/statement/2012/1226kaiken.html (Archived 12-12-31). Lampland, Martha & Susan L. Star (eds). 2009. Standards and Their Stories: How Quantifying, Classifying, and Formalizing Practices Shape Everyday Life. Cornell University Press. LDP. 2012. Jūten Seisaku [LDP Election Manifesto]. Jimintō. https://web.archive. org/web/20130226091156/http://jimin.ncss.nifty.com/pdf/seisaku_ichiban24. pdf (Archived 13-02-26). LDP. 2014. Jūten Seisaku-shū [LDP Election Manifesto]. Jimintō. https://web. archive.org/web/20150719073049/http://jimin.ncss.nifty.com/pdf/news/policy/126585_1.pdf (Archived 15-07-19). Lebra, Takie. 1976. Japanese Patterns of Behaviour. University of Hawai’i Press. Lewis, Catherine. 1995. Educating Hearts and Minds. Cambridge University Press. Lipsky, Michael. 1980. Street Level Bureaucracy. Russell Sage. McLaughlin, Milbrey W. 1987. Learning from experience: lessons from policy implementation. Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 9(2), 171–178. https://doi. org/10.3102/01623737009002171. MEXT. 2005. 小・中学校教育課程実施状況調査 [2002–3 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MEXT. https://warp.da.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/287175/www.mext. go.jp/b_menu/houdou/16/11/04110503/001.htm. MEXT. 2009. 道徳教育推進状況調査結果 [2008 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MEXT. MEXT. 2013. 道徳教育実施状況調査 [2012 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MEXT. MEXT. 2014a. 私たちの道徳 [ES Dōtoku: Watashi-tachi no Dōtoku]. MEXT. https:// doutoku.mext.go.jp/pdf/elementary_school_moral5_6.pdf. MEXT. 2014b.「私たちの道徳」活用状況等調査結 [2014 Survey on the Utilisation of Watashi-Tachi No Dōtoku]. MEXT. MEXT. 2015. コミュニティ・スクールって何？！[What Is a Community School?!]. MEXT. https://web.archive.org/web/20151218163825/www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/community/school/detail/1361007.htm (archived 15-12-18).

Constructing a baseline on classroom practice

147

MEXT. 2017. 教員勤務実態調査（平成28年度）の集計（速報値）について （概要） [2016 Survey of Work Time in Schools: Summary]. www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/uneishien/1297093.htm. MOE. 2000 道徳教育推進状況調査結果 [1998 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MEXT. https://warp.da.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/287175/www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/ houdou/12/05/gaiyo.pdf. Nagata, Shigeo & A. Fujisawa. 2012. 道徳教育に関する小・中学校教員を対象とした 調査 [Survey of Teachers on Moral Education]. Tokyo Gakugei University. https:// web.archive.org/web/20220204081138/www.u-gakugei.ac.jp/~kokoro/databank/data/report_2012houkokuALL.pdf (archived 22-02-04). NHK. 2013. Yae-No Sakura (dir. Taku Kato and others). NHK. NIER. 2019. 平成31年度(令和元年度)　全国学力・学習状況調査　質問紙調査　報 告書 [2019 National Achievement Test and Study Circumstances: Report on ‘Questions’]. www.nier.go.jp/19chousakekkahoukoku/report/question/ Roesgaard, Marie Højlund. 2016. Moral Education in Japan: Values in a Global Context. Routledge. Sato, Manabu. 1998. Classroom management in Japan: A social history of teaching and learning. In Nobuo Shimahara (ed) Politics of Classroom Life: Classroom Management in International Perspective, 189–214. Garland. Shigaki, Irene. 1983. Childcare practices in Japan and the United States: how do they refect cultural values in young children? Young Children, 38(4), 13–24. www.jstor. org/stable/42643686. Shimada, Yuka 1994. バムとケロのにちようび [Bam and Kero’s Sunday]. Bunkeido. Shimahara, Nobuo. 1998. Classroom management: Building a classroom community. In Nobuo Shimahara (ed) Politics of Classroom Life: Classroom Management in International Perspective, 215–238. Garland. Shimahara, Nobuo. 2002. Teaching in Japan: A Cultural Perspective. Psychology Press. Singleton, John. 1989. Ganbaru: A Japanese cultural theory of learning. In J. J. Shields (ed) Japanese Schooling: Patterns of Socialization, Equality, and Political Control, 8–15. Penn State University Press. Sugihara, Satomi. 2017. 国に都合のいい子、親、教師をつくる教育政策 [Education policies that produce children, parents, and teachers who are susceptible to the state]. In Hotaka Tsukada (ed) 日本の右傾化 [Japan’s Drift to the Right], 168–179. Chikuma Sensho. Timmermans, Stefan & Steven Epstein. 2010. A world of standards but not a standard world: toward a sociology of standards and standardization. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 69–89. Tsukamoto, K. & Shigeo Nagata. 2014. 過去の道徳授業の印象に関する調査 [Report on Impressions of Adults on Past Moral Education Lessons]. Gakugei University. https://web.archive.org/web/20220204081117/www.u-gakugei.ac.jp/~kokoro/ databank/data/report_2014impression.pdf (archived 22-02-04). Tsuneyoshi, Ryoko. 2001. The Japanese Model of Schooling: Comparisons with the United States. Routledge Falmer. Tsuneyoshi, Ryoko, Hiroshi Sugita, Kanako Kusanagi & Fumiko Takahashi (eds). 2020. Tokkatsu: The Japanese Educational Model of Holistic Education. World Scientifc.

6

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

The new moral education subject entails three new substantive requirements: the drawing up of an annual syllabus plan at each school, the use of an approved textbook for each lesson, and assessment for each student. Despite scepticism toward the rationale of the reform, education practitioners valued moral education, had accumulated expertise, and built standard moral education lessons. Moreover, many textbooks were developed from coursebooks already in use. Nonetheless, teachers at local sites needed to make sense of the new moral education policy to decide what course of action (if any) was necessary. To paraphrase Weick et al. (2005), they asked, ‘What does the reform mean?’ and ‘What should we do?’. This chapter begins to examine the complex enactment of reform prospectively as the policy trajectory reached the school in the years leading up to 2018/19 and through the frst years of its implementation. Drawing mainly on interviews, observations at teacher meetings, and internal school documents, it focuses on the negotiation of content in syllabus and lesson planning. In particular, it discusses how contents and broad lesson plans are determined, which content was adopted in the feldwork schools and why, the extent to which teachers follow the annual syllabus plan and texts, and the extent of creativity that teachers exercise over lesson planning. Responding to variation in participant responses, the analysis explores heterogeneity in the teachers’ orientations to moral education, revealing a range of approaches to policy work in the school organization. Questionnaire data is ancillary but provides a greater degree of confdence in the representativeness of the fndings. Syllabus planning before term As the main phase of feldwork began prior to April 2018, schools were adjusting syllabus documents to accommodate changes in moral education. Compared to previous curriculum revisions, such as the establishment of integrated studies within the wider ‘relaxed education’ reforms, the reallocation of moral education to become a subject was not at the forefront of most teachers’ minds. Changes to the syllabus were planned by faculty meetings and school curriculum committees, absorbed by most faculty largely as background processes DOI: 10.4324/9781003125471-7

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 149 amongst other planning, and integrated into other processes of document preparation before the commencement of the school year. Each school was required to create an annual syllabus plan to sit under the school’s moral education overall plan (dōtoku kyōiku zentai keikaku). Most textbooks from 2017 onward were bundled with guidance or examples for drawing up both the overall plan and the syllabus plan to integrate with the textbook contents. All feldwork schools reproduced ‘their’ class-by-class syllabus initially from the textbook version – downloadable in Word format from most publishers’ websites – and set it against the actual dates of the school term. This was converted into an annual plan by adding a top-level ‘vision’, following a template, by plugging in the school motto and educational aims specifc to the region or school. Planning documents provide an ofcial version of the aspirations of each school. Amendments to these documents occurred along with negotiations and discoveries through the year. All annual syllabus plans at the feldwork schools began with the foundational laws of educational administration, the school’s educational aims, and the social context of the school. These underpinned the broad educational aims for sociomoral development, which in turn informed a series of boxes. In varying combinations and hierarchies, annual syllabus plans at the feldwork schools included the following boxes: the aim of moral education for each grade, experiential educational experiences (e.g. volunteering, caring for local nursery children, observing frefies), special activities (feld trips, ceremonies, and student-led classroom management, etc.), student-led school management committees, the link between moral education classes and the broader aims of moral education, and links with families and communities. The stakeholders identifed at the top level ‘social context of the school’ included: the needs of society, the needs of the community, the needs of students, parents’ wishes, teachers’ wishes, and in some cases the ‘needs of the school’. Though the combinations of laws and administrative guidelines listed varied, every example I saw placed the Constitution of Japan in the uppermost position. Whilst the Fundamental Law of Education was revised along conservative (and neoliberal) lines in 2006, the constitution remains unchanged from its post-War text. Umimachi Sugami JHS expanded each item on the ‘the social context of the school’ with boxes to elaborate. Some schools, such as Nishimachi Third JHS, devoted most of the space to elaborate how other subjects would include content or activities for moral education. The fnal component is a chart appended to the lesson-by-lesson syllabus demonstrating connections between moral education lessons and those of other subjects. The feldwork schools each produced a spreadsheet or wordprocessed table of each moral education lesson listed vertically and the other subjects horizontally, with a short sentence inputted into boxes where crossover can be noted. A total of ten entries seemed sufcient, though some schools noted more. Textbook publishers also provide a chart of curriculum connections, either providing connections to practices found at most schools, such as school festivals and events such as work experience, or/and providing more

150

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

detailed connections to their textbook materials in other subjects. The textbook company Tokyo Shoseki provided a digital tool that dynamically generated this chart for each grade to map its dōtoku textbook content to relevant contents of all other publishers’ textbooks in each subject, as variously selected by the user (Tokyo Shoseki 2019). As such, schools in regions that adopted the Tokyo Shoseki textbook for moral education could have their connections chart automatically generated regardless of which of the many combinations of other textbooks their board of education had adopted. The resulting annual dōtoku syllabus plans were thus uniquely identical at each school, stating the desired ‘character of the locality and school’ but concretizing it in terms of relatively standard lesson-by-lesson syllabi. After this basic process, changes could be made by municipalities and schools, for example, to connect with local programmes, integrated studies syllabi, for which there is no textbook requirement, and local festivals and events. The role of the homeroom teacher and the yeargroup Instruction at elementary school tends to be relatively child-centred with potential for peer learning and ‘mastery’ (Lewis 1995; Cave 2007). At junior high school, there have been conficting reports between largely didactic instruction (Fukuzawa 1994; Sato and Sato 2003) and a capacity to switch between teacher-led instruction, periods of pairwork and groupwork, and opportunities to explain answers (LeTendre 2000: 82). Approaches to discipline have been softening at junior high school for at least the past two decades (Bjork 2016). One point of agreement in previous research has been that teachers specialize and identify with ‘their’ subject. This is probably the case in response to matters that ‘encroach’ on a teacher’s subject. However, junior high school faculty (like their elementary counterparts) have also long rotated responsibilities for leading school discipline, life guidance, parent-teacher liaison, and other pedagogic domains (Shimahara 1998: 455). In the classroom, too, teachers have long planned and taught moral education, special activities, class meetings, and, for the past two decades, integrated studies. These classroom duties fall within the remit of teachers’ pedagogic work. Teachers and school administrators tended to agree with the proposition that the homeroom teacher is best placed to plan and teach moral education. In both elementary and junior high school during their frst respective year of implementation, lesson planning was undertaken in teacher yeargroups. The yeargroup includes each homeroom teacher for the given grade. Especially at junior high schools, it may or may not also include one or more teachers who are not assigned a homeroom. The layout of the staf room and frequent informal meetings provide ample scope for the discussion of the circumstances of each class and individual student. Within this context, one teacher tended to take informal leadership of the planning of moral education, which was discussed with others before approval. Worksheets and materials were shared amongst homeroom teachers in the yeargroup.

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 151 Flexibility is also possible within this basic pattern. For example, at an 8thgrade yeargroup meeting at Nishimachi First JHS, Sawada-sensei had read the materials, which were new for that year, ahead of time. The textbook material was The Moment of Birth (Mitsumura, 8G, 2018–current), a photographer’s essay on capturing the moment of birth because, the author writes, ‘it is possible to feel life precisely because the event unfolds in the shadow of death’. This is supplemented with a short poem on becoming a mother. Sawada-sensei suggested that the main essay was too short to underpin a whole lesson. In her proposed lesson plan, she would read through the essay frst, but then do a poem composition activity rather than a worksheet, using the supplementary poem in the textbook as inspiration and a structure for students to follow. All members of the 8th-grade yeargroup meeting agreed to adopt Sawadasensei’s plan, except for one member, science teacher Tajima-sensei, whose frst child had been born the week before. He was confdent speaking about his personal experience on the theme. As it turned out, much of his lesson was a Q&A on his preparation for his wife’s entry into hospital, arrangements for her maternity leave, concerns about the future, and choosing a name for the baby. Sawada-sensei’s plan used poetry, a mode of study usually associated with kokugo. Yet, though the yeargroup members were variously qualifed as teachers of tech and science, they adopted this approach pragmatically, and the discussion moved on within a matter of minutes. This general pattern was typical at the feldwork schools. The largest junior high school in Nishimachi, Nishimachi Third JHS, had seven classes per grade. The school adopted a pragmatic rotation system for teaching moral education at the beginning of the frst year of implementation. Rather than teaching each lesson once, a rota was established within each yeargroup, such that each of the seven teachers in the yeargroup planned approximately fve diferent lessons through the year, each taught seven times (once to each homeroom class in the grade). The dōtoku planning committee at Nishimachi Third had made the argument to the faculty meeting that the proposal would provide more time for the planning of each lesson, and that the lessons ultimately delivered would be of higher quality. No mention was made in faculty meetings of the text of the national curriculum, which suggests that the homeroom teacher should teach moral education lessons.1 The moral education research committee at Nishimachi First JHS also made this point during the frst term of implementation. At the faculty meeting, the school’s dōtoku lead teacher Sawada-sensei referred directly to Nishimachi Third, and proposed that: ‘The rotation system is a good idea. It would allow more planning time for each lesson’. In addition, the rota system would better ensure a similar learning experience across the yeargroup. The resolution was adopted some weeks later, initially in the guise of a pilot, to begin at the start of the second term. The adoption of a more efcient system was an autonomous standardization made by teachers acting as street level bureaucrats (Lipsky 1980). Despite the ideal that moral education be planned and taught by the HRT, the rota

152

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

was adopted to increase efciency – or, otherwise stated, to reduce the burden on teachers on the pretext of planning better lessons. At Nishimachi Third JHS and Nishimachi First JHS, the basic planning for each moral education lesson was discussed at the yeargroup meeting, then prepared and taught by one of its members. Whilst the capacity to respond to the circumstances of the class was already reduced by adherence to textbook content, operating through the annual syllabus plan, the rota system increased the amount of time between planning and the later lessons of each cycle. Elementary schools in Umimachi were also planning to adopt a similar rotation system from 2020 onward. The literature suggests that elementary teachers value the specifc bond between teacher and children in the class more than junior high school teachers (Lewis 1995; Cave 2007). However, teachers appeared to support the introduction of a rotation system. Umimachi had previously installed two systems through which elementary school teachers rotate to other classes. The frst created a system of exchanges between elementary and junior high teachers to teach one to three days per year in the other’s position. This system was part of a wider project to fuse the management of junior high and elementary schools in each JHS catchment area, and in turn to realize a seamless ‘nine-year curriculum’ between them. About three teachers in each school were engaged with these exchanges and often discussed the outcomes with their counterparts. The second system was the establishment of ‘expert kokugo teachers’ and ‘expert maths teachers’ in each elementary school of the municipality. They cycled the other classes, providing ‘expert’ lessons in these subjects, co-taught by the HRT. However, these two innovations were voluntary programmes for professional development, and they importantly do not include the participation of many teachers. The rotation system planned for moral education in some Nishimachi junior high schools included all teachers and worked primarily in the interests of efciency. Repackaging contemporary issues The curriculum and its guidance promote moral education lessons which engage with contemporary issues. The syllabi provided by textbooks designate units variously to one or more curriculum values. This provided an avenue for creativity. Schools discussed these contemporary issues – particularly career education, bullying, cyber bullying and information morality, local tradition, and culture. Career education

Career education has long been a concern at junior high school, taking up signifcant amounts of teacher time. Much has been written on teachers advising on careers in the ‘guidance’ model whereby the teacher ‘tries to communicate with the child wholeheartedly based on teacher-student bonds established outside of the formal lesson structure’ ‘to make a value realized inside the

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 153 child’ (Shimizu 2001: 199; see Shimizu 1992; LeTendre 1996). Structured work experience weeks have been promoted by the Ministry since the early2000s (Fujita 2011), along with other interventions prompted by changes in the expectations and availability of traditional career paths (Mochizuki 2011). All feldwork schools in Nishimachi allocated Hide-san’s Kokoro (Mitsumura, 8G, 2009–current), a textbook material treating work experience, to be taught the week before or after students were scheduled to undertake their work experience days. This experiential point of reference facilitated greater involvement from students. It connects to other school activities as refection and perhaps as pre-learning (Bamkin 2020). Teachers appreciated having this material to draw upon. However, in previous years, too, 8th-grade teachers at Nishimachi First JHS reported having found suitable materials to complement work experience, particularly ‘materials on manners or the realities of human relationships in the workplace’ (Takeuchi-sensei, social studies teacher and 8th-grade HRT), which are also considered by Hide-san’s Kokoro. A second lesson related to the meaning of work was also scheduled by Nishimachi First JHS the week following that. Making Cardboard Beds (Mitsumura, 8G, 2018–current) begins with a fctional junior high student interviewing her uncle as a school project. The uncle is an entrepreneur who runs a cardboard factory. It is revealed that the uncle responded to the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake by designing a bed made from heat-insulating cardboard. The beds were cheap to produce, were lightweight, and could be transported fat, making them ideal for frst-response disaster relief. He provided the beds for free during the disaster.2 The story centres on the entrepreneur’s generosity but also notes the media coverage and ensuing profts after gifting the beds. As such, it could prompt discussion on service or volunteering, which are staples of dōtoku lessons, or on strategic philanthropy. Career education has long been a concern for teachers. It is mostly concentrated in special activities, where work experience is also housed, and in other subjects and domains such as integrated studies. It could be argued that little intervention in career education is required in the moral education subject, frstly because it is expressed elsewhere in the taught curriculum and in guidance, and secondly because career education content has long been included in moral education coursebooks. Cave found career education incorporated into integrated studies, in a form which ‘stress[es] learning related to social, emotional and moral development, focused on human relationships’ (2016: 152). Likewise, career education incorporated into classroom study in moral education is not oriented toward students’ paths to high school, but on students’ attitudes and expectations for work and preparation or refection on work experience. Moral education lessons tended to follow a pre-existing tradition for pre-learning and refection on experiential activities outside of moral education classtime. There is overlap in the opportunities aforded by guidance and by moral education lessons for the encouragement of students to refect on their aspirations, assumptions, and attitudes, and for teachers to come to understand their students.

154

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

Bullying

Bullying looms over junior high schools as a serious concern, frequently discussed in faculty meetings, bulletins, and ofcial documents. Anti-bullying activities are undertaken through class activities, student-led awareness campaigns, and the student council and committees. A weekly period of ‘class activities’ is scheduled at most schools to undertake community-building activities. These include class meetings, determining rules, the coordination of students’ classroom management responsibilities such as changing wall displays, and planning whole-school events or activities. One junior high school in Higashimachi followed a 7th-grade dōtoku lesson with a lesson during time allocated for class activities. The dōtoku lesson examined an animated picture of a classroom full of behaviours inappropriate for school (Which Do You Think Is Bullying?, Tokyo Shoseki, 7G, 2018–current). During class activities in the following period, students were tasked with making a class declaration on bullying.

Class activities on bullying (I) (7th grade, Higashimachi Kita JHS) Students revise the preceding dōtoku lesson in small groups to build a defnition of bullying, adding caveats such as, ‘It is bullying whether the person being bullied realizes or not’ and ‘It can be many times, and it can be just once’. Following this, students brainstorm what kinds of things might be included in a declaration (sengen) on bullying. Their responses were: • If something happens, alert those involved and others. • Everybody should be cheerful and play together. • If somebody sees something, they should initiate collaborative planning. • Everyone should maintain good communication. • Don’t judge the bully. • Be nice to people. • Consider other people’s feelings. Following an ideal of student responsibility for homeroom management, suggestions sought prevention through work as a class rather than through adult intervention. Over the course of the lessons, students worked together to create a class declaration. Other schools channelled declarations through student councils for display on corridor walls. In this case, however, nothing was done with the declaration after the lesson.

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 155 Cyber-bullying or information morality

Though it was not included in the curriculum guidance, cyber-bullying (nettoijime; or colloquially ‘LINE-ijime’, after the popular lifestyle app LINE) was under discussion by practitioners. Almost all teachers and school administrators who discussed bullying referred to cyber-bullying, either in general or in reference to LINE. The concept conjured by the term ‘ijime’ seemed to include netto-ijime even without the qualifer. In very recent history, Japanese children, on average, had their frst experience using a computer and using the internet on average later than those of other developed countries, catching up in percentage terms by about age twelve (OECD 2015: 37–38). However, these fgures may have changed dramatically even during the few years since this data was collected. Teachers reported cyber-bullying in ‘increasingly lower grades’ along with widening access to personal digital devices, emphasizing its occurrence ‘even at elementary school’. There have been various eforts to develop practices of jōhō-moraru. Literally translating to ‘information morality’, jōhō-moraru incorporates learning about various habits and dispositions for the online world. At times it treats cyber-bullying in the chat-app (‘LINE’) domain, in which bullies and victims are typically classmates or fellow students. It also encompasses ‘digital hygiene’, restraint, and risk awareness in relation to online health, posting personal data of the self and others, personal relationships, and exposure to nefarious actors whose identity is unknown. It also covers manners, such as appropriate times to use mobile devices and the dangers of using mobile devices whilst walking (sumaho aruki). However, the contents and structure of this emergent domain of education practice are not yet settled. Practice directly related to either cyber-bullying or jōhō-moraru was scarce. A model school for addressing jōhō-moraru3 in City-3 implemented a programme in 2015 which empowered the student council to disseminate preventative measures to students and parents. In the frst round of deliberations, the student committee was provided with evidence on the efects of blue light on sleep and medical recommendations, which guided them toward the adoption of a measure asking students to commit to turn of digital devices no later than 21:00. Instructional advisors at the prefectural board of education explained that students spend too much time playing computer games and using chat-apps. Whilst couched in the language of restraint and in alignment with the imaginary of pre-digital lifestyles, these health practices are concurrently supported by medical evidence (Stiglic and Viner 2018; Tähkämö et al. 2019). The board of education is hoping to expand this programme, which was ostensibly initiated by students, after encouraging similar activities at other schools. Both education about cyberbullying and ‘digital hygiene’ can be considered jōhō-moraru. This confusion may be exacerbated by voices on both sides of the global (Antoniadou and Kokkinos 2015) debate over whether cyber-bullying is within or distinct from (non-cyber) bullying or victimization.

156

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

The Mitsumura 8th-grade JHS textbook has only one resource touching on the contemporary issue of ‘information morality’. The material entitled Is It a Bad Thing to Become Engrossed? (Mitsumura, 8G, 2018–current) spans seven pages of materials on time management, computer game usage, and addiction. This is so long that sections need to be cut during lesson planning. As Tanaka-sensei commented: ‘This material contains facts not a story. We thought about which part was most relevant to their lives and looked at time management. A lot of them play video games’. (Tech teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi Second JHS) This is one such unit for which selectivity is not only an option but is necessary. Activity on information morality in the taught curriculum has emerged, though it remains far from widespread, and is practised as digital hygiene, akin to health practices such as early rising, exercising, and brushing teeth. Direct responses to cyber-bullying remain largely aspirational. Diversity, anti-discrimination, and human rights

Though not mentioned explicitly in the curriculum or curriculum guidance, teachers welcomed the steady increase in materials on diversity, anti-discrimination, and those which could broadly be considered as promoting an individual-centred notion of human rights. Whilst teachers openly avoided topics that they considered ‘political’, this did not preclude teaching about disability, migration, human rights, or the environment. On the other hand, as seen in Chapter 7, whilst the importance of the natural environment was imposed on children, human rights was seen by some teachers as one perspective amongst others that could be taken to consider moral issues. Constrained creativity Teachers adapted quickly to the use of textbooks, which, in the form of coursebooks, had already been the default starting point for planning moral education lessons. The new curriculum does not prevent teachers from searching for materials based on the needs of students, but doing so usually entails not only lesson planning but also discussion and a certain degree of collaboration or consensus-building in the yeargroup. Yet teachers did report changes to their teaching practices. The questionnaire asked teachers at the feldwork schools about the degree of impact the reforms had on their teaching and planning practices. Teachers perceived a change precipitated by the curriculum revisions to moral education. Very few reported no change; 31.3% slight change; 30.2% some change; 24.0% signifcant change; and 12.5% big change, with no signifcant diference between responses of JHS and ES respondents. The nature of the change is a more complex question.

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 157 Placing materials

Asked whether the school’s annual syllabus plan was useful for instructional planning, 69.8% of questionnaire respondents reported that it was useful or very useful. The mode response was ‘very useful’. This would be a surprising fnding if many teachers were driven by a strong desire for autonomy. The fnding likewise seems incompatible with any general hostility toward moral education. The annual syllabus plan is welcomed or at least useful. Overall 63.5% of respondents followed the curriculum plan as intended, whereas 46.5% made amendments mid-year, either individually or in the year group. However, whilst only 6.5% of JHS teachers reported amending the plan in their classroom practice, a full 50.8% of ES teachers reported doing so. The free text reveals a variety of reasons for diverging from the plan. Respondents provide the examples of feld trips, sports day, a city-wide ‘human rights festival’, and the recently popularized celebration amongst 4th-grade children ‘coming of half-age ceremony’ (nibun no ichi seijin shiki). Subjects mentioned were integrated studies and life studies. Insertions were made for the same reasons. Particularly in the case of events, most of these changes were likely to be shifts to accommodate timetabling requirements or activities to connect with other lessons. Asked to compare the overall outcomes of the previous and new curricula, more than two thirds reported the relative strength of the connection between dōtoku lessons and other subjects or educational activities to be similar before and after the revision. Another 26.3% found these connections to be slightly stronger after revision. There was little diference between the school levels. Likewise, about two thirds of participants reported little perceived change in the interest of children or students (64.5% at JHS, 70.2% at ES). However, a small diference can be observed between school levels. Regarding the interest of children or students, 29.0% of JHS teachers reported increased interest in the new curriculum, opposed to 22.4% at ES. All respondents reporting the previous curriculum as more interesting were elementary teachers, though this amounted to only 7.6% of them. In response to MEXT surveys, teachers have reported students (in any given grade) enjoying or benefting from moral education lessons more year-onyear between 1993 and 2002 (MOE 2000; MEXT 2005), when data collection on this question ceased. Returning to the survey of teachers undertaken for this study, 40.0% of teachers responded that the previous curriculum arrangement had been more responsive to the needs of children, whilst 47.4% reported little change. This may be explained by a diferentiation of classroom activities or pedagogy on the one hand, and its planning on the other. Although the new curriculum allows for intra-curricular connections, planning is undertaken far in advance and thus leaves little space for fexibility in response to the particular needs of children or students. It also requires more formal planning to overcome the newly strengthened default of using textbook materials.

158

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

Substituting materials

Few moral education lessons are cancelled at junior high school. As verifed by near-complete portfolios of 8th-grade students at all junior high feldwork schools, all due to (internally) record 31 lessons or more.4 Since the early1980s, schools have reported implementing 30 lessons or more per year (MOE 1983), though the categorization used in these questions makes the fgures difcult to compare over time. ‘Missing lessons’ and substitutions were infrequent during the main feldwork period. When they occurred, they were due to routine events such as national holidays, time scheduled for health checks, the prefectural implementation of the national achievement test, and ceremonies and special timetables for the start-of-year and end-of-year. In response to ministerial surveys, the feldwork schools5 reported having implemented 34 or 35 lessons. As such, recent survey results may be partly fabricated, but not to any large degree, and not with subversive intent. These alterations were made after the dōtoku timetable had been drafted and as such did not seem to target any particular materials. At elementary schools, too, cancellations did not change the overall structure of the curriculum. The yeargroup teams at Kita ES (3rd and 4th grades) and Noda ES (2nd and 5th grades) in Higashimachi decided to progress through the school syllabus sequentially, even when homeroom teachers who missed a class, for example due to a national holiday, continued to progress one week behind other yeargroup teachers. This did not occur at Minami ES because the weekly dōtoku class for each grade was timetabled for the same period on the same day. In either case, however, the missing contents were necessarily whichever two to four lessons were listed last in the syllabus plan. None of the materials omitted were clearly connected with concerns over teaching love of country. Likewise, there was no overrepresentation of materials designated as ‘relating to relations with groups and society’, where such material is more likely to appear. Rarely in the feldwork was a planned lesson jettisoned for an entirely different lesson. In one such case, Umimachi Sugami JHS used a dōtoku lesson to exhort students to run for the ofce of student council president. This was necessary because interest was perennially low. The substitution in 2019 was initiated by the student council liaison teacher, anticipating the annual struggle to cajole the handful of candidates needed to render the election meaningful. He easily secured the agreement of the fve 8th-grade homeroom teachers, including the 8th-grade lead teacher. The student council liaison teacher taught the same lesson to each 8th-grade class, utilizing an original dōtoku lesson, which was rolled over from previous years. Following a standard moral education lesson format, it began with a story about the school days of a successful athlete, whose name none of the students knew, utilizing a printout of a short extract from a book written by the athlete’s father and coach (Miyazato 2004). The student council liaison teacher saw this as a legitimate use of the dōtoku class, given the emphasis on ‘making the most of the moment, trying hard and engaging with leadership of the student council’. He spoke at length about the

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 159 importance of student leadership of school events, emphasizing the sense of pride that the 9th-grade students, now stepping down to focus on exam revision, had derived from successfully overseeing the planning of the sports day and cultural festival in the previous cycle. Modifying content was easier at elementary school for teachers with the motivation to do so. At Sugami ES in Umimachi, 5th-grade teacher Tabatasensei and 2nd-grade teacher Takizawa-sensei began every dōtoku lesson with the same fve-minute activity called ‘time to shine’. Though seemingly short, ‘time to shine’ (kirakira taimu) was a relatively elaborate system in which each student had a self-made presentation of themselves – birthday, interests, responsibilities in class – arranged across one wall of the classroom. Below each was space to write ‘nice things given or received’. Children could write on these cards anytime, but they were particularly encouraged to do so at the beginning of each moral education lesson. For ‘nice things given or received’ with classmates, children were encouraged to write a corresponding entry on the other’s card. Tabata-sensei observed this system implemented by a fellow teacher at his previous school. As he explains, it is so that: ‘Students can recognize the good parts of others and reduce arguments or disagreements. It also raises respect by praising each other. It creates a better class atmosphere’. This continues a variation on practice associated with gratitude and ‘good points about myself’, in which moral education classtime was used to recognize good things children received and to rehearse gratitude for them. The moral education lesson is then undertaken in the latter 35–40 minutes of each lesson. It provides an example where classtime remained connected to a wider notion of moral education across the curriculum. ‘Time to shine’ was routinized as part of moral education classes but was not confned to moral education classtime. Though some junior high schools in 2015 included time to record ‘good deeds done this week’, this practice seemed to have been sidelined in response to the new moral education. Tabata-sensei and Takizawa-sensei implicitly invited other teachers to join. Other teachers in their yeargroups (and school) were supportive of ‘time to shine’, and praised its implementation, whilst not implementing it in their classrooms. Such innovations implemented outside the textbook syllabus was uncommon. In response to the questionnaire, many participants from Higashimachi Minami ES reported omitting textbook content. The principal made a point of communicating that the number of moral education lessons would not be audited in-school. He would ‘assume that all teachers covered 35 lessons as expected’ and would ‘complete the [MEXT] survey as such’. Speaking at the beginning of a faculty meeting, he stated there would be no checks for compliance because: ‘I trust that everybody will try their best to make the adjustments’.

160

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

The extent of material substitutions reported at Minami ES make it a slight outlier amongst elementary schools, and even more so if junior high results are included. This may be because of pressure for academic performance. This school (along with Nishimachi Second JHS) perceived parents of the intake to be particularly concerned with academic attainment. The story as an obstacle

The potential to leapfrog the textbook material by reading through it quickly before beginning the ‘real’ lesson was explored by a small number of teachers. Saito-sensei’s lesson based on Democracy and Majority Rule (Mitsumura, 8G, 2009–current) incorporated a game. Because she wanted to spend time on the game, the textbook reading became an inconvenience. As explained in the post-lesson interview: ‘The plan comes from the teacher’s companion [to the textbook]. So we start of by reading the story – but that’s a bit boring – and then think about what is important in society, about how we chose what’s most important amongst the things we like’. (Saito-sensei, kokugo teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi Third JHS) Saito-sensei had worked through the story quickly to provide time for the game and other activities. She has long been a silent enthusiast for teaching dōtoku and keeps a record of the materials she had used in previous years, sources from various coursebooks, lesson studies, and websites. Her attachment to the materials can be seen as we look through the fles. There is a sadness in losing the freedom to utilize these materials. She misses games the most and describes one at length designed as an icebreaker to get to know students at the beginning of the year, created together with the children. Considering how it feels to know that such great materials are there but unusable, she refects: ‘Well, I will never teach the same class again, and we rotate between grades – I might not even be a home-room teacher next year, for example. So we need to search for materials for that class’. Openness to change and age-appropriacy are clearly strengths of her practice. These underpin her excuse to abandon her familiar practice of planning original lessons. However, the argument is not entirely convincing because each JHS teacher will be assigned a homeroom most years, and the textbook will still determine the contents for whichever grade she is assigned. Similarly to other teachers, she is quick to draw attention to her positive evaluation of the quality of textbook materials. The problem is the loss of fexibility, particularly the fexibility to plan games. Her doubt toward the argument that the

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 161 introduction of a textbook saves time confrms observations that she continues to extend the textbook material signifcantly. Compliance, pragmatism, complexity

Teachers agreed that the requirement for a predetermined syllabus restricted the potential to plan for specifc students or in response to specifc spontaneous events between children in the class. Some teachers missed the capacity to prepare lessons specifcally for their students: ‘Since it became a part of the curriculum [sic], it’s more restrictive. I need a little more fexibility’. (Tanabe-sensei, 3rd-grade HRT, Higashimachi Kita ES) Referring to each of the materials in the Mitsumura textbook materials in the order they were incorporated into the school’s syllabus: ‘Each lesson we do one reading from the textbook, so it’s Paralympics, then The Moment of Birth, then Hide-san’s Kokoro, and these make up the frst term’. (Takeda-sensei, maths teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi Second JHS) ‘The textbook is full of nice materials [ficking through, pointing in recognition at some pages]. These are nice, and some are well made. But these are lessons that can be used by any class. We can change them and add bits to suit our class. But I want to make lessons just for those students, and to match their lives and circumstances, and what is happening here in the school’. (Sawada-sensei, kokugo teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi First JHS) Some teachers missed the freedom to use alternative materials: ‘Sometimes, I want to use newspapers, talk about what is happening, learn social skills, and that kind of thing’. (Saito-sensei, kokugo teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi Third JHS) Takeuchi-sensei (social studies teacher and 8th-grade HRT), whilst avoiding criticising the textbook, expressed a desire to create materials in response to his students’ circumstances: ‘[The textbook] is easy to use for new teachers. But we can’t make original materials. It is difcult. For example, if there are materials that I don’t like so much. For example, [opens the textbook], this one is on ‘love for

162

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

family’. This is important, but maybe I don’t like the material so much, I might want to change it. [But] I do it. It’s easier’. Asked about what could be done diferently, he became more animated: ‘When I think about love for the family, I think about the students that are here, in this class. I know what they like, and I also know their situation so I can make materials for them’. This was not a cause for lament for most, who were preoccupied with other demands on their time, and could work around most, if not all, units of the textbook: ‘There is a possibility to change the teaching materials according to the circumstances of the children, but it is necessary to fnish the content because we have a textbook. Therefore, the textbook is the priority. There is no time to prepare new teaching materials due to daily workloads. It is easier for teachers to follow the textbook’. (Sakurai-sensei, 2nd-grade HRT, Higashimachi Noda ES) The questionnaire asked respondents to compare planning and teaching before and after the curriculum revision. The responses did not seem to demonstrate any broad or simple oppositional position toward textbooks. New materials required particular preparation by 22.5% of respondents. Both the requirement for textbooks and for assessment drove the need for new materials. However, the required adaptations were undertaken with ease. Little change in difculty was reported by 69.1% of respondents, whilst 22.7% found the use of textbooks slightly easier or easier. Only 5.1% of respondents reported there being topics or activities that they wanted to teach but could not teach under the new curriculum. However, it was these very same respondents who expressed a desire for freedom to consider and select materials in the free text. They attached value to the ability to adjust the materials selected to respond to particular children or events particular to the class. Textbooks were utilized on the basis of earlier practice with coursebooks, and as such new topics were hardly adopted. Though teachers and school administrators spoke out in favour of lessons on anti-bullying, cyber-bullying, jōhō moraru, human rights, and diversity, few steps were taken to expand these newly introduced contemporary issues in moral education. For the most part, routine and institutionalized practices took precedent over the ideal of innovation. Career education, which has always been a concern of junior high teachers, was ‘repackaged’ (Cave 2016) for use in moral education classes at junior high school. The mandatory requirements of the reform were connected almost exclusively to the moral education subject classes. In faculty meetings and interviews, discussion related to those parts of the policy understood as requirements became dominant, which precipitated a consequent shift in the vernacular

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 163 meaning of the term dōtoku. In the Japanese school, the term dōtoku could previously be understood as either the broad aims of moral learning or as the narrow classtime previously dedicated to moral study, depending on the context. Despite the links stated in the annual syllabus plan, use of the term dōtoku in the stafroom and classroom had by 2018 become near-synonymous with the subject lessons – that is, with the clear target of new curriculum requirements. Compared with interviews barely three years earlier, the broad debate on content in the faculty meetings and in yeargroup meetings was decisively pragmatic, ‘dominated by what is most pressing and most immediate; priorities are constructed on the basis of practical necessity’ (Woods 1979, quoted by Ball 1987: 20). Ideological considerations were ‘obscured or submerged under the welter of routine activities’ (Ball 1987: 14), and crises, for the most part, were pre-empted through the planning process. However, this pragmatism did not amount entirely to compliance but was part of more complex negotiations between educators with difering orientations to moral education practice. Difering orientations to policy: enthusiasts and receivers Policy-engaged research on the ground in the Japanese context has tended to theorize a relatively fat school organization, treating data collected from teachers as largely representative of a relatively homogenous teaching force. As Ball et al. (2012: 49) lament in a diferent context: Much of the policy interpretation genre tends to take all actors in the policy process to be equal, with the exception of [those designated as] school leaders who are given particular attention, and seen to be working with policy in similar ways. To the contrary, not all educators hold an equal stake in the interpretation and translation of any given policy, nor do they invest equally in its translation into practice. Even amongst classroom teachers, the approach to policy varies depending on professional interests, time constraints, and receptiveness to change. Discussing the loss of freedom to create original materials for moral education lessons, Sawada-sensei commented: ‘Having a textbook surely saves planning time. And surely there were very good people before [the requirement for a textbook] who could really plan a good lesson for students. But maybe that is not everybody! Using a textbook makes the work standardized, which makes things equal (byōdō) for students’. (Kokugo teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi First JHS) Sawada-sensei diferentiates between those teachers who can and are willing to use time to plan a ‘good lesson’ and those who have other priorities, less

164

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

experience, or both. Whilst lamenting the loss of freedom in her lesson planning, she tends to support a minimum standard for teachers. Implicitly, she suggests that limiting the autonomy of all teachers, including herself, may be justifed by an efort to reach this minimum standard. This reveals an awareness of diference in experience, competence, and orientation toward moral education. The need for standardization was also expressed in terms of disciplinary expertise: ‘The textbook is good . . . to make sure that we are all doing something similar for the students. . . . For example, if you imagine a new teacher, at secondary school, they are specialist teachers, like social studies, kokugo, or fne arts. Now, there are no specialist teachers in moral education yet. So in whatever subject a teacher qualifes, they are teaching moral education for the frst time without training’. (Takeuchi-sensei, social studies teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi First JHS) The dōtoku lead teacher at Noda ES Sakurai-sensei explains: ‘You know, dōtoku has not been a subject for very long. So there are teachers who cannot teach it. . . . They believe that they cannot teach it. But look at this stuf. Anybody can teach it. So we want to encourage a certain standard, that comes from the textbook. And then we change things. For example, today, the teacher’s book had the question “How did Raina feel when she saw the fox?”, but I asked, “Why did she hesitate and say, ‘I’m sorry, but . . .’?” . . . So, we can say to other teachers, “We changed this” and “The children reacted like this”. So it’s OK to change things. You can use our model. You can change it like I did . . . or not. Because what works for this class might not work for [the class called] Yon-gumi. They are different children and the feeling of the class is diferent’. (2nd-grade HRT, Higashimachi Noda ES) Sawada-sensei, Takeuchi-sensei, and Sakurai-sensei see some teachers as less qualifed, which implies that some teachers have developed a degree of expertise. The subtext of Sakurai-sensei’s position is that she can work in response to this leadership challenge. As already discussed, Sawada-sensei also assumes leadership of moral education planning in her yeargroup. Studies on Japanese education have, on occasion, briefy noted the possibility of such diferences. Roesgaard found that the four teachers she observed rarely used the ofcial coursebooks for moral education lessons. However, she rightly cautions that those four teachers may have been ‘those most engaged in teaching, and hence are prone to go the extra mile and produce their own material or make choices that are not the most obvious’ (Roesgaard 2016: 151). Nozaki (2008) refers to ‘conscientious teachers’ who look beyond their immediate school context for educational resources and purpose.

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 165 There have been various attempts to create typologies of policy actors in the school. Blecher and White (1979) used categories of believers, nonbelievers, and cynics; Baldridge (1971) divided teachers into ofcials, activists, attentives, and apathetics; and Smagorinsky et al. (2002) constructed a continuum of acquiescence, accommodation, and resistance. The more elaborate typology of Ball et al. (2012) has recently been well-received in anglophone and other contexts. This taxonomy considers not only disposition but also how teachers’ orientations relate to the types of policy work they do. Ball’s actors include narrators, entrepreneurs, outsiders, transactors, enthusiasts, translators, critics, and receivers. However, this theory is grounded in the context of schools in London. The category of ‘transactors’ is thus closely associated with the work necessitated by quantitative accounting measures in the context of ‘big data’ in English schools. Though there is lots of data in Japanese schools, the extent to which it is disaggregated, pooled, and queryable is (at least for now) insufcient to be properly considered big data. This is partly because tracking has not taken hold, and partly for structural reasons. Instructional advisors at the board of education are likely to plan any data collection to undertake a particular analysis (Takayama and Lingard 2019, 2021). The role of ‘outsiders’ is also diferent in the context of Japan, usually encompassing expert practitioners employed elsewhere in the education system or public sector. Ball’s (2008, 2012) and other work in the Anglo-American context are rightly studying the rise of for-proft CPD providers (e.g. Moschetti et al. 2020; Vincent 2020) alongside the near-disappearance of local education authorities. Though there is a gargantuan private education industry in Japan operating full-power in the evenings and through the weekends and holidays outside schools (Entrich 2018), corporate activities are (at least for now) almost non-existent in instructional matters in public schools (Takayama and Lingard 2019, 2021), with the signifcant exception of textbook and supplementary material production. Likewise, the anglophone concept of a ‘senior management team’ would become contorted if ftted to the Japanese education system. Strategic decisions made by a group of senior administrators are more likely to occur in Japan at the board of education than in the school, and by a larger circle of administrators. The principal has increasing access to directorial and ‘visionary’ capacity6 but also fulfls supportive roles (Bjork 2000; Sato and Sato 2003) whilst acting as a fgurehead and as a bridge to the board of education. Because of these diferences in context, only the broadest categories of enthusiasts and receivers are developed from existing theory. Critics and survivors are also briefy discussed. The roles of enthusiast and receiver may also be the least grounded specifcally in anglophone regions, both because of the congruence between this category and preceding typologies and because they are by far ‘the loosest and most diverse’ categories (Ball et al. 2012: 63n14). With the exception of critics, all actors not actively engaged in policy work necessarily fall into the receiver category, whether overwhelmed, oppressed, or confdent.

166

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

Enthusiasts

Enthusiasts are teachers and school administrators who are particularly interested in moral education and are active in its development. The category of enthusiast seems to overlap with all other policy actors proposed by Ball et al. (narrators, entrepreneurs, outsiders, transactors, and translators). It ranges from those overtly ‘representing’ policies in staf discussions, to nudging around the proverbial water-cooler, to in-school ‘infuentials’ (Cole and Weiss 2009) who model lessons and practice. The work of enthusiasts may also overlap with ‘leadership’ or any number of concepts related to engagement and agency. Though all educators are working to make sense of policy, enthusiasts are moreover sharing how they interpret and translate policy closer to the language of practice so that it makes sense to teachers and school administration receiving policy on moral education. However, their degree of assertiveness and authority in descriptions such as Ball et al.’s seems too strong to ft the organization of teachers at the feldwork schools in this study. Enthusiasts may formalize their interests by volunteering to act as the school’s moral education lead. Sakurai-sensei at Higashimachi Noda ES, for example, volunteered to undertake this position: ‘Firstly it meant preparing the annual syllabus plan and mapping the connections with other subjects. But really, I want to be here so that new teachers can ask questions. For example Tashiro-sensei is asking a lot about how to prepare and how to teach (shidō) moral education lessons’. Sakurai-sensei is enthusiastic about the importance of dōtoku and is studying the moral education lessons of a 6th-grade teacher at the same school, Sakaesensei, who she considers to have greater expertise than herself. Simultaneously, she ofers advice to other teachers in her yeargroup, both in person and by creating artefacts: ‘You know I have the green folder [in the teachers’ room], the one that I am always looking in. It contains all of this information and lesson plans, so anybody can come and look inside and take what they want from it’. (Sakurai-sensei) On the other hand, the data reveal ‘silent enthusiasts’ who model good practice without inviting an audience. In these cases, post-observation interviews revealed extensive planning and the development of activities for lessons on the basis of a frm belief in the value of moral education. Saito-sensei, kokugo teacher and 8th-grade HRT at Nishimachi Third JHS, for example, kept an archive of collected and self-made materials for the former moral education classtime on her desktop computer in the teacher’s room: ‘These are the materials that I used in 2013, the folder for 2014, 2015, 2016 . . . so I can go back and look’.

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 167 Saito-sensei had been transferred to Nishimachi Third in 2016, so the fles had been purposefully copied over from their previous location. She did not contribute to stafroom discussions on changes to moral education and avoided the role of moral education lead. Sawada-sensei was likewise active mainly in the yeargroup meeting rather than in formal faculty meetings, though she did speak out to support the adoption of teacher rotation at Nishimachi First JHS. Nonetheless, other teachers in their respective staf rooms indicated an awareness of Saito-sensei’s and Sawada-sensei’s enthusiasm for moral education. McCarthey and Woodard (2018) continued interviews and stafroom ethnography for some time before ‘discovering’ that some ‘more experienced’ teachers were paying lip service to innovation whilst continuing their own regimes back in ‘their’ classrooms. Coburn et al. (2010) has also written about teachers seeking out knowledgeable colleagues for support in the US context. Whilst speaking out mainly in the yeargroup during the moment of actual lesson planning, such enthusiasts may inadvertently extend infuence beyond the yeargroup and contribute to the development of practice through advice and by modelling practice. These teachers speak about their readings and innovations in the yeargroup meetings, but simultaneously do not advertise their policy work. It is important to note a potential diference between the defnition of enthusiasts here and in previous works. Ball et al. defne enthusiasts largely in relation to policy. Because of his materialistic outlook, this suggests a willingness to develop practice in response to whichever policy is most current for career progression. However, there was little in the data that suggested that specialism in a domain such as moral education can be attributed to career manoeuvring. To the contrary, though dōtoku came under reform in 2015, which increased the activities of school administrators to respond, the enthusiasts were characterized by their long-standing active interest in moral education practice. They did this through the curation of self-made materials, through lesson studies, engaging with coursebook writing or editing, advocacy in teacher meetings, ofering advice to colleagues, and promoting books and materials. That is to say that enthusiasm tended to be toward domains of practice rather than toward policy, to the extent that such a distinction can be made, and it was relatively stable over the longer-term. Though enthusiasts systematically yield more data and more varied data, policy receivers are far more abundant in any given policy area in ‘normal’ schools. It is difcult to estimate how many teachers might be described as moral education enthusiasts or how many invest time and energy to support colleagues in this domain. Counting the number of teachers who expressed enthusiasm in the feldwork data would likely be unreliable. About half of the yeargroups observed through whole units included one moral education enthusiast (and no more than one in any). However, self-selection and bureaucratic work drawing my attention to good practice (however perceived) are likely to artifcially infate the number of enthusiast participants. The questionnaire survey data has been used in this chapter mainly to raise

168

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

confdence in the representativeness of the observation data. However, it also reveals diferences in the orientation of teachers. In response to the questionnaire survey, 5.1% of teachers lamented their loss of autonomy in preparing materials for moral education lessons. Separately, in response to a large-scale survey on dōtoku (Nagata and Fujisawa 2012: 50), only 2.5% of elementary classroom teachers without formal responsibility for moral education reported moral education as the subject in which they are most interested, along with 13.6% of moral education lead teachers (of which there is one appointed at each school).7 These fgures might be considered suggestive at best. Receivers

The category of receivers is again broad. It includes those searching for ways to fulfl the policy requirements without great enthusiasm toward policy work. Previous studies have discussed receivers as a relatively general category. However, practitioners may difer greatly in their orientation toward diferent subjects or domains of education. A receiver in relation to moral education may well contribute actively to other domains of practice, such as kokugo or career guidance. Few educators have the interest and energy to work in more than a small handful of subjects or domains of education, out of dozens of established felds. However, this does not imply that such teachers are either critics or powerless in their role as receivers. Some receivers took this orientation purposefully and with confdent resignation. Tachibana-sensei explains his approach to moral education lessons: ‘The stories are the same as always. So we read it, and we can easily imagine what kind of discussion we should have. I do not push students too much. I speak about life and sometimes they ask [questions] about this or that. It is amazing that young teachers can keep up with everything. I always say to them, “You can do it (ganbare)!”’ (Maths teacher and 7th-grade HRT, Nishimachi First JHS) Tachibana-sensei sees little reason to change the basic structure of his lessons, which is often relatively teacher-centred, allowing students time to relax and listen to his opinions and anecdotes. He is aware of the call for change but decides to take a back seat. His reference to his age ostensibly provides a justifcation for his resignation, but it may also indicate greater confdence or job security. Pressed on the issue, he admitted that: ‘It will not make much diference whatever is done in moral education lessons’. He will follow policy because he sees little reason not to, and he supports teachers more actively involved. He cannot be seen as ‘just coping’ or ‘dependant’, which Ball et al. suggest characterizes receivers. He is a ‘receiver at ease’, similar to the veteran teachers discussed in Peter Woods’ early (1977) work who have developed aptitude in avoiding visibility.

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 169 Within this category are also teachers who, though largely receiving policy on moral education, occasionally put themselves out to dabble or to continue practices from previous schools. Tabata-sensei and Takizawa-sensei’s incorporation of ‘time to shine’ into their classes provides a vivid example. Tajimasensei likewise did not hesitate to discuss his plan to substitute the planned lesson for a discussion on his new-born baby, but he was not interested in developing moral education practice in any sustained way. Other teachers received policy uncritically. Discussing the introduction and usage of worksheets to create portfolios, Takahashi-sensei stepped back to recapitulate recent changes: ‘We [previously] had a similar textbook [sic] with an assortment of readings that might be OK. They didn’t need to match any particular theme, so we could think “OK, this seems to suit this theme”, or if we need to address a certain theme, we could search for a story. The readings in here are about the same, but the approach is diferent. We read through the whole story without stopping. They want the students to write everything now. Before it was more like talking, to think about what we are doing. And now there are the worksheets’. (Kokugo teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi Second JHS) Though he participated in both the research committee and the faculty meetings which ostensibly made the decision to adopt standardized worksheets, he refers to the decision-makers as ‘they’. Any frustration seems to be the fatigue of change rather than opposition or particular apathy toward moral education policy: ‘I suppose there is value in using worksheets. It builds this portfolio for students to look back at, and we can comment on their thoughts and growth over the term’. Beginner teachers are more frequently characterized as uncritical receivers of policy. Their agency is also limited structurally during the frst year of teaching by the need to ‘pass’ probation. Two teachers who could be observed ‘just coping’ were discovered due to their appointments as the dōtoku lead teacher at their respective schools. At Higashimachi Kita ES in 2018, almost all contributions on moral education in faculty meetings were initiated by Sasaki-sensei, who organized a study group on dōtoku. The handful of regular members convened quarterly at Kita ES and two other schools in the evenings to discuss forthcoming contributions to lesson studies and, at the time, plans to present at a regional conference. However Sasaki-sensei had not assumed the position of dōtoku lead teacher. Tsuji-sensei, a teacher with two years’ experience, was appointed to the role. During this period, Tsuji-sensei limited her role to preparing paperwork and collecting photos of moral education classes for the school newsletter. She did not participate in Sasaki-sensei’s study group on dōtoku. At Umimachi Sugami JHS (not one of the feldwork schools), the dōtoku lead teacher Tsuchida-sensei openly stated that she was in the role because she had drawn the proverbial short straw. Despite having over twelve

170

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

years’ experience teaching her subject at junior high school, she had little confdence speaking about moral education. After returning from a presentation on moral education organized by the prefectural board of education, she suggested that she ‘needed time to review the materials received’ in the training session before being able to explain its content or main messages. Whilst doing the essential administrative work, she invested little in moral education practice. At a short interview one year later, she remained unable to discuss her policy work, commenting that she ‘might as well have done nothing’ through the preceding year. The dōtoku lead teachers Tsuji-sensei and Tsuchida-sensei seemed to be just coping in relation to their roles promoting moral education, though this should not suggest that they were not active in other domains of practice. Those dōtoku lead teachers who were active in policy work, including Sakurai-sensei at Noda ES and Sawada-sensei at Nishimachi First JHS, had been actively ofering advice and collating materials for colleagues since before their respective appointments to the role. They reported changing little in their activities due to their appointments and felt no additional empowerment. Tsuji-sensei and Tsuchida-sensei likewise continued their existing low interest in moral education regardless of their appointments. Critics

Similarly to previous studies, critics in the school tended to be ‘marginal and muted’, expressing ‘discomforts’ as ‘mundane criticisms that are a part of everyday life in almost all organizations’ (Ball et al. 2012: 61). Konishisensei, tech teacher and 8th-grade HRT at Nishimachi First JHS, purposely took distance from discussions on moral education. He commented that it ‘doesn’t make much diference’ whether he takes notice of the new requirements or not, though his demeanour in staf room and yeargroup meetings suggested a more critical stance. Konishi-sensei occasionally discarded materials circulated in the yeargroup meeting and often padded lessons with anecdotes. On the other hand, he was serious about students’ refection, allocating substantial time for students to think at the end of moral education lessons, which many teachers, at Nishimachi First and at other schools, often tried to squash into the closing minutes of the lessons. After beginning time for refection in a lesson on the importance of life, he prompted students: ‘Don’t just write “life is important”. What have you learned that is important? Think carefully’. Konishi-sensei values time for refection in moral education lessons, but he fnds his own way of teaching in opposition to calls for change based on a partially critical orientation to moral education policy or its reform. This difers from the ‘receiver at ease’ Tachibana-sensei, who seemed comfortable teaching his own way whilst relatively indiferent to, and perhaps mildly welcoming of, change. Critics’ infuence on formal stafroom discussion could be observed mostly in its infuence on enthusiast colleagues, who sometimes voice the concerns of their more critical colleagues during debate and planning.

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 171 Making sense of new curriculum content The introduction of textbooks and the requirement of syllabus planning further entrenched the default position of a relatively fxed syllabus. Pragmatically textbooks were useful for saving planning time, especially as teachers’ work continues to intensify. Little investment was necessary because coursebooks had long served as the primary teaching material for most teachers, supplemented by bespoke, ofcial, and other commercial materials. Creative interpretations and new content could be substituted in by teachers, most frequently through the yeargroup forum, when there was a particular reason for their modifcation. However, most practitioners made sense of new requirements through their existing understanding(s) of education practice, taking refuge in the familiar, continuing established practices, based on institutionalized beliefs in the social professional context. Established issues, such as career education, were easier for editors to newly incorporate into moral education textbooks and were likewise easier for teachers to adopt based on established practice. Whilst teachers considered cyber-bullying important, practice did not develop because of the signifcant investment needed to establish new practices in the absence of established expertise. Though the new requirements did not reduce the potential for practitioners to determine classroom content, the textbook syllabus became further entrenched, requiring more groundwork to be undertaken before substituting materials, leapfrogging materials, or even focusing materials on unfamiliar contemporary issues. Teachers and school administrators with long-standing professional interests in moral education provided refective accounts. Such enthusiasts may be vocal or not, but they contribute to school responses in reference to experience, study, and authoritative materials. They work through the faculty meeting, through committees that ostensibly report to the faculty meeting, in the yeargroup and by modelling practice and answering questions informally. Understanding other teachers’ limited enthusiasm for moral education, they balance their desire to innovate in moral education with leadership. For this purpose, the familiar textbook syllabus and other resources are adopted as a structure to frame their innovations. Chapter Eight returns to the role of enthusiasts and other actors in mediating the response of schools to reform, and it goes some way toward explaining how new practices enter the school. Before that, Chapter Seven explores the enactment of pedagogy, where innovation was observed, and illustrates some of the practices adopted by enthusiasts and how they were received by other classroom teachers. Notes 1 The curriculum since at least 1958 stipulated that moral education lessons should be undertaken by the homeroom teacher. The language was relaxed in 1998 to read that ‘in principle, [moral education] lessons will be undertaken by the homeroom teacher. However, teaching may be enhanced by the participation of the principal

172

2 3

4 5 6 7

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

and vice-principal and through cooperation with other teachers, under the leadership of the moral education lead teacher’. The uncle’s story is virtually indistinguishable from reports of the real-life Yoshihiro Mizutani (see NHK 2021), though nobody is named or credited in the textbook. According to the paperwork, this school was designated by the municipal board of education as a research school for countering cyber-bullying. However, the activities undertaken and the information in its reports almost exclusively concerned digital hygiene, with little mention of counter-bullying. My last review of portfolios in most feldwork schools was in December 2019. Planned reviews at the end of the school year (March 2020) were aborted due to emergency school closures at the onset of the pandemic (see Appendix A). This was explicitly verifed at all feldwork schools except Umimachi Sugami ES. Numerous research projects are underway in Japan to understand how the role of principal has been changing in recent years. However, these results have not yet fully emerged. The fgure provided is for the subset of teachers at schools not designated as moral education research schools. The fgures rise to 11.8% and 36.6%, respectively, in schools designated as moral education research schools. This question was also asked to junior high school teachers, with all responses between 0 and 0.1%, including at designated moral education research schools. This is not surprising because each junior high teacher is aligned to one subject in which she holds a teaching qualifcation and is employed to teach, whilst there is no licence in the subject of moral education.

References Antoniadou, Nafsika & Constantinos M. Kokkinos. 2015. Cyber and school bullying: same or diferent phenomena? Aggression and Violent Behavior, 25(B), 363–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2015.09.013. Baldridge, J. Victor. 1971. Power and Confict in the University. John Wiley. Ball, Stephen. 1987. Micro-Politics of the School: Towards a Theory of School Organization. Routledge. Ball, Stephen. 2008. The Education Debate. Policy Press. Ball, Stephen. 2012. Global Education Inc. New Policy Networks and the Neoliberal Imaginary. Routledge. Ball, Stephen, Meg Maguire & Annette Braun. 2012. How Schools Do Policy. Routledge. Bamkin, Sam. 2020. The taught curriculum of moral education at Japanese elementary school: the role of classtime in the broad curriculum. Contemporary Japan, 32(2), 218–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2020.1747780. Bjork, Christopher. 2000. Responsibility for improving the quality of teaching in Japanese schools: the role of the principal in professional development eforts. Education and Society, 18(3), 21–43. Bjork, Christopher. 2016. High Stakes Schooling. University of Chicago Press. Blecher, Marc J. & Gordon White. 1979. Micropolitics in Contemporary China: A Technical Unit During and After the Cultural Revolution. Macmillan. Cave, Peter. 2007. Primary School in Japan: Self, Individuality and Learning in Elementary Education. Routledge. Cave, Peter. 2016. Schooling Selves: Autonomy, Interdependence, and Reform in Japanese Junior High School. University of Chicago Press. Coburn, Cynthia E., L. Choi & W. Mata. 2010. “I would go to her because her mind is math”: Network formation in the context of district-based mathematics reform.

Making sense of curriculum content in the school 173 In A. J. Daly (ed) Social Network Theory and Educational Change, 33–50. Harvard Educational Press. Cole, Russel & Michael Weiss. 2009. Identifying Organizational Infuentials: Methods and Application using Social Network Data. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/ download?doi=10.1.1.212.6594. Entrich, Steve. 2018. Shadow Education and Social Inequalities in Japan: Evolving Patterns and Conceptual Implications. Springer. Fujita, Teruyuki. 2011. The current state and future tasks of Japan’s career education promotion policies-embarking on the road less traveled. Japan Labor Review, 8(1), 26–47. Fukuzawa, Rebecca. 1994. The path to adulthood according to Japanese middle schools. Journal of Japanese Studies, 20(1), 61–86. LeTendre, Gerald. 1996. Constructed aspirations: decision-making processes in Japanese educational selection. Comparative Education Review, 43(3), 283–310. LeTendre, Gerald. 2000. Learning to be Adolescent: Growing Up in US and Japanese Middle Schools. Yale University Press. Lewis, Catherine. 1995. Educating Hearts and Minds. Cambridge University Press. Lipsky, Michael. 1980. Street Level Bureaucracy. Russell Sage. McCarthey, Sarah J. & Rebecca Woodard. 2018. Faithfully following, adapting, or rejecting mandated curriculum: teachers’ curriculum enactments in elementary writing instruction. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 13(1), 56–80. https://doi. org/10.1080/1554480X.2017.1376672. MEXT. 2005. 小・中学校教育課程実施状況調査 [2002–3 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MEXT. https://warp.da.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/287175/www.mext. go.jp/b_menu/houdou/16/11/04110503/001.htm. Miyazato, Yu. 2004. 宮里流: ゴルフ子育て法 [The Miyazato Way: How to Raise a Golfer]. Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Mochizuki, Yuki. 2011. Career education in high schools: focusing on ‘guidance in ways of being and ways of living’. Japan Labor Review, 8(1), 67–84. MOE. 1983. 公小・中学校における道徳教育の実施状況に関する調査結果 [1982 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MOE. MOE. 2000. 道徳教育推進状況調査結果 [1998 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MEXT. https://warp.da.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/287175/www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/ houdou/12/05/gaiyo.pdf. Moschetti, Mauro, Mark Martínez Pons, Eloísa Bordoli & Pablo Martinis. 2020. The increasing role of non-State actors in education policymaking. Evidence from Uruguay. Journal of Education Policy, 35(2), 367–393. Nagata, Shigeo & A. Fujisawa. 2012. 道徳教育に関する小・中学校教員を対象とした 調査 [Survey of Teachers on Moral Education]. Tokyo Gakugei University. https:// web.archive.org/web/20220204081138/www.u-gakugei.ac.jp/~kokoro/databank/data/report_2012houkokuALL.pdf (archived 22-02-04). NHK. 2021. Direct Talk, broadcast 2021-02-08. Transcript available online: https:// web.archive.org/web/20210920022937/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/ en/ondemand/video/2058735/#p-episodeV2Transcript (archived 21-09-20). Nozaki, Yoshiko. 2008. War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan, 1945–2007: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo’s Court Challenges. Routledge. OECD. 2015. Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection. OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/19963777.

174

Making sense of curriculum content in the school

Roesgaard, Marie Højlund. 2016. Moral Education in Japan: Values in a Global Context. Routledge. Sato, Masaaki & Manabu Sato (eds). 2003. 公立中学校の挑戦: 授業を変える学校が変 わる 富士市立岳陽中学校の実践 [The Challenge of Public Schools: Changing Lessons, Changing Schools: Practice at Fuji Municipal Gakuyo Junior High School]. Gyōsei. Shimahara, Nobuo. 1998. The Japanese model of professional development: teaching as craft. Teaching and Teacher Education, 14(5), 451–462. Shimizu, Kokichi. 1992. Shidō: education and selection in a Japanese middle school. Comparative Education, 28(2), 109–129. Shimizu, Kokichi. 2001. The pendulum of reform: educational change in Japan from the 1990s onwards. Journal of Educational Change, 2(3), 193–205. https://doi. org/10.1023/A:1012745423369. Smagorinsky, Peter, Andrea Lakly & Tara Star Johnson. 2002. Acquiescence, accommodation, and resistance in learning to teach within a prescribed curriculum. English Education, 34(3), 187–213. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40173127. Stiglic, N. & R. M. Viner. 2018. Efects of screentime on the health and well-being of children and adolescents: a systematic review of reviews. British Medical Journal Open, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023191. Tähkämö, Leena, Timo Partonen & Anu-Katriina Pesonen. 2019. Systematic review of light exposure impact on human circadian rhythm. Chronobiology International, 36(2), 151–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/07420528.2018.1527773. Takayama, Keita & Bob Lingard. 2019. Datafcation of schooling in Japan: an epistemic critique through the ‘problem of Japanese education’. Journal of Education Policy, 34(4), 449–469. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2018.1518542. Takayama, Keita & Bob Lingard. 2021. How to achieve a ‘revolution’: assembling the subnational, national and global in the formation of a new, ‘scientifc’ assessment in Japan. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 19(2), 228–244. https://doi.org/10. 1080/14767724.2021.1878016. Tokyo Shoseki. 2019. 内容解説資料 [Explanation of Contents]. https://web.archive. org/web/20201105002227/https://ten.tokyo-shoseki.co.jp/spl/doutoku/chu_ fles/column_07_01.html. (archived 21-07-07). Vincent, Carol. 2020. Taking stock: JEP, heading for a mature, middle age. Journal of Education Policy, 35(2), 149–150. Weick, Karl E., Kathleen M. Sutclife & David Obstfeld. 2005. Organizing and the process of sensemaking. Organization Science, 16(4), 409–421. https://doi. org/10.1287/orsc.1050.0133. Woods, Peter E. 1977. Teaching for Survival. Routledge. Woods, Peter E. 1979. The Divided School. Routledge.

7

Enacting pedagogy in the school

Whilst the central government drove through greater control over content of the new moral education subject, pedagogy was hardly mentioned in reports of the supra-cabinet council or in the new curriculum. The non-binding curriculum guidance addressed pedagogy. Informed by ‘active learning’ and written partially by practitioner writers through mid-level committees of the Ministry of Education, it called for ‘dōtoku for thinking and discussion’ – ‘studies based on an understanding of the [listed] moral values in order to fnd oneself, think about multiple perspectives and from multiple standpoints to broaden one’s perspective and deepen thinking about how to live as a human being’. The exhortation for thinking and discussion might be expected to fall on fertile ground, as teachers were generally wary of imposing values on students and sceptical toward government intentions. Fostering a spirit of enquiry seems to hold potential to mitigate the risks of both government control and of imposing values. On the other hand, these exhortations are found in non-binding documents and might be easy to evade for pragmatic teachers. Based mainly on block observations, post-lesson interviews, and other interviews, this chapter considers questions of pedagogy. It examines how moral education lessons have changed in practice, the extent to which this fulfls the aims of curriculum guidance, and how the planning stages provide insight into the process of enactment. Rather than simply observing the extent of change, it examines how those teachers enacting change made sense of policy during lesson planning and refection on lessons. The analysis reveals some of the micro-processes through which teachers receive policy from local enthusiasts active in its interpretation and translation into practice. New teaching methods Prior to reform, relatively stable standard models of dōtoku lessons had been developed on the basis of pedagogical expertise. One standard lesson model began with a ‘hook question’ before reading the material (usually a story), considered the characters’ thoughts and feelings not only to check understanding but as a substantive part of the lesson, discussed two substantive questions and closed with a summary by the teacher. Elementary school DOI: 10.4324/9781003125471-8

176

Enacting pedagogy in the school

children were regularly encouraged to refect on their strengths. At junior high school, lessons encouraged refection on students’ weaknesses. A signifcant minority of lessons incorporated music and role-play, and they connected with moral learning in the broader curriculum. The standard lesson model discussed in Chapter Five continued to provide a framework for moral education lessons throughout the feldwork period. However, new teaching methods emerged. Table 7.1 shows the frequency at which various features and teaching methods were observed in the block observation lessons. Letter writing, role-play, and similar activities continued in a signifcant minority of lessons at elementary level. Explicit discussion of children’s good points at elementary school and of student weaknesses at junior high school declined. The use of video in class, whether television broadcasts are included or not, had been in decline since the 1990s and remained low. Other teaching methods increased signifcantly. Worksheets, which were occasionally used in moral education lessons in preceding years, mainly for composition activities, became established practice and implemented in almost all lessons at junior high school. At elementary school, their usage varied by grade, which is not surprising because text-based activities in the lower grades almost necessarily double as reading and writing practice and take more time. In Higashimachi, all lessons at 4th-grade used worksheets; and around half of the lessons at both 2nd and 3rd grade. At junior high level, mini-whiteboards were used in about one third of lessons in Nishimachi and most lessons in Umimachi. There are variations between individual schools, too. Including all observation data, the use of a CD for story dictation was only observed in Higashimachi Minami ES. Finally, those lessons with no reading materials are mainly based on other stimuli included in the textbook pages, such as pictures, poems, or discussion points. Table 7.1 Lesson features arising during block observations Teaching approach

ES (%)

JHS (%)

Hook question Reading materials

70 70 17 0 0 13 4 17 13 4 17 52 25

47 82 0 6 6 6 59 6 6 6 6 94 25

Teacher reads Read by CD Read by students Reading material jettisoned No reading material Use of mini-whiteboards, small-group discussion Plenary child-child discussion All students write on the blackboard; or similar Use of video or music Letter writing, role-play, drawing, composition, or props Use of worksheets Refection time ran beyond end of lesson (of those lessons using worksheet)

Enacting pedagogy in the school 177 Portfolio assessment

Portfolio assessment in Japan has been discussed at length for the period for integrated studies, which, like dōtoku, is not numerically graded. The introduction of the period for integrated studies was the fagship of MEXT’s ‘relaxed education’ eforts to move away from knowledge accumulation in a high-pressure atmosphere toward learning for understanding, ideally underpinned by independent inquiry. According to Nishioka’s (2016) account from a laboratory school, portfolios combine student work, self-assessment, and teacher feedback over an extended period of a term or school year. The assessment is ideally criterion-referenced against higher-order thinking skills or competencies. That is, time is invested in negotiating or communicating the criteria to be assessed, based on a chart of qualitative descriptors of the level achieved. In this way, portfolios ideally shift ownership to students (ibid: 115), introduce ideas generated by students, and provide time in class for critical, creative, or refective thinking. All feldwork junior high schools introduced portfolio assessment for moral education. Though referred to as portfolios, the assessment portfolios constructed by the feldwork schools did not reach this level of complexity. The laboratory school studied by Nishioka is not representative of practice in public schools (Cave 2018). Moreover, unlike integrated studies, topics in moral education lessons rarely spanned more than one lesson. In moral education, the portfolio comprised more-or-less one worksheet per lesson. Standardization allows for easier perusal by teachers to construct overall qualitative comments as student feedback or for report cards. The principal of Takanami JHS suggested: ‘The challenge of implementing dōtoku is assessment because it is different from that which is graded. Students will write their thoughts and teachers will be able to see the changes. It is not about assessing morality, but how they develop in thinking about morality. You cannot write “how much empathy”. But you can look at their refection. If teachers follow the worksheet, then assessment will be easier’. Compiling a portfolio has potential to prompt refection on higher-order thinking skills or competencies based on specifc criteria. However, the extent to which worksheets in moral education unlock the potential for portfolio assessment in moral education is limited because each lesson, generally, is a discrete unit, so sustained refection on any given issue is limited.1 Use of worksheets

Few feldwork schools utilized the workbooks available from textbook publishers, but all schools formalized the use of worksheets to some degree, some of which standardized the worksheet format across the school. Figure 7.1 is an example used for all moral education lessons at Nishimachi Second JHS.

178

Enacting pedagogy in the school Date ___ / ___ / ___ Name ________________

Class __-__

Lesson title ________________________________________________________ Notes

Let’s write based on reasons and grounds for our thoughts and ideas ˜ [First question] My thoughts

Classmate’s thoughts

˜ [Second question] My thoughts

Classmate’s thoughts

˜ Let’s write what we learned and thought in this lesson

˜ Reflecting on this lesson, please circle a number [for each question] The lesson left a strong impression (ky˜kan ya kand˜)

4

3

2

1

I discovered something new

4

3

2

1

I could think and reflect on myself

4

3

2

1

The teaching materials were good

4

3

2

1

Figure 7.1 Sample worksheet from Nishimachi Second JHS

Enacting pedagogy in the school 179 Whether standardized or not, the questions are generally determined by the yeargroup in reference to the textbook or its teachers’ companion. The worksheets used for the majority of lessons were structured around one or two questions relating to the story or material, based on a pre-existing standard model lesson. In preparation for the new requirements, worksheets came to include two (or more) boxes for each question, labelled, for example, ‘what I think’ and ‘what somebody else thinks’. This was intended to encourage students to exchange and compare ideas. Contrasting the student’s own perspective with that of a classmate or small-group members has potential to focus comments on thinking from multiple standpoints and perspectives and to reinforce that ‘there is no right answer’. Most worksheets included a box intended to prompt refection on learning. Finally, some schools included space for children to evaluate the lesson using Likert scales. This was intended for the teacher (or yeargroup, etc.) to evaluate their lesson planning. Worksheets operate as pedagogic tools and as a means to plan and structure a lesson. During the frst year of implementation, time for students to write on worksheets, and particularly the writing of overall refections (‘what I have learned’), was often squashed into the closing minutes of each lesson and was regularly interrupted by the end-of-lesson chime (see Table 7.1). Whilst students often continued writing after the chime, the opportunity for depth was rarely provided in this stage of the lesson. Discussion in class, supported by the teacher, allows for ideas to be shared, refned, and questioned. Writing reasons or an explanation can aid memory, especially through self-explanation as opposed to one heard (Chi et al. 1994; Frazier et al. 2016). This is not to say that the record of learning or the memories constructed by children are unique or wholly original. The social context of the classroom discourages certain ideas and guides which ideas are expanded and which are discarded, as discussed in the next section. Nonetheless, there is variety in the issues identifed by students in response to many lessons. Separately, if there is any validity to the assumption that closing statements give away the teacher’s moral perspective because it is constructed ‘in the moment’, the use of worksheets guides the lesson toward pre-planned questions or focus for refection. Assessment for moral education was based on the ‘portfolio’ of the worksheets completed throughout the school year. ‘We need to follow what is here [in the textbook] now. You know that this is the frst year using textbooks. And that’s one thing. But there is also assessment, which is new this year. . . . If it is what is in the heart, how can you assess it? . . . I cannot understand. What do we say to somebody who [responds that they] feel a certain way? So we take the worksheets, collate them, look at the refection box, and consider what the student is thinking. . . . So I can look at the refections and ask myself: what was this student thinking or sharing with classmates. And we write that down for the assessment’. (Taguchi-sensei, science teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi Second JHS)

180

Enacting pedagogy in the school

Asked whether students might try to write a model answer: ‘No, I don’t think so. I can see a range of thoughts and ideas, and how their ideas are diferent from their friends’’ (ibid). On the other hand, students might be more reticent to write, as opposed to speaking, in a class with a supportive atmosphere: ‘Reading the worksheets is good to see what they think. Well, they write what they think they are supposed to sometimes, but .  .  .’ (Takeda-sensei, maths teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi Second JHS). This topic was debated even amongst teachers in the same school and yeargroup. Regardless of the consequences of its introduction, the imperative for assessment strengthened the pragmatic case for using worksheets in moral education lessons, and specifcally for standardized worksheets. Teachers are familiar with marking worksheets as a daily practice in all school subjects. Comments from worksheets then serve as material for teachers to copy across or condense into comments for each student’s report card at the end of each term. Use of mini-whiteboards and blackboards to structure lessons

The use of mini-whiteboards in junior high schools represents a development in dōtoku pedagogy, not only as a teaching aid but as a means of reshaping the fow of lessons. Mini-whiteboards were used to capture the contributions and consensus of groups, which were then brought together for plenary discussion (see Figure 7.2). Most commonly, questions from worksheets are used as questions for group discussion. The structuring of discussion exposes students to examples of ‘what somebody else thinks’. In practice, students tend to engage in smallgroup discussion, writing ideas onto the mini-whiteboards as they emerge, which fow more freely because the space is less directly managed by the teacher. It allows for unconventional ideas and experimental suggestions to be written. However, these are often erased before the mini-whiteboards are collated for discussion in the plenary. In some yeargroups in both Umimachi and Nishimachi, teachers developed a practice of asking each group either to underline two contributions for discussion in the plenary, or to erase all but two. This eliminates ideas that do not attract support from fellow students, with potential infuence from the teacher. The space opened by group discussion generates a wider range of ideas. However, it also flters out unconventional contributions. After small groups have discussed the second substantive question, the mini-whiteboards are hung on the main blackboard for plenary discussion. Because the ideas are written on the mini-whiteboards as a group, students need not fully ‘own’ ideas through the middle stages of the lesson. However, each idea has students to explain the thinking behind it. At elementary school, teachers sometimes encouraged a diversity of perspectives by asking all children to write a response on the blackboard, the results of which can underpin deeper discussion. Figure 7.3 shows Takagi-sensei’s lesson based on the material Running Mate (Akatsuki, 5G, 2002–current) at

Enacting pedagogy in the school

181

(a)

(b)

Figure 7.2 (a) Using mini-whiteboards in small groups (8th grade, Umimachi Takanami JHS); (b) Mini-whiteboards magenetted to the blackboard (8th grade, Nishimachi Second JHS)

182

Enacting pedagogy in the school

Figure 7.3 Children label their contributions on the blackboard, making a choice continuum for a dilemma-like scenario

Umimachi Sugami ES. Children place their opinion on a continuum to represent how sure they are that one or the other course of action is best, and they provide a reason. Both Minami and Noda elementary schools in Higashimachi similarly used the blackboard for all children to comment on a continuum in numerous lessons. In some lessons at Minami ES, children indicated which way they were leaning by wearing their white hat in support of one response and a red hat in support of another.2 This was partly an extension of existing practice, sometimes extended to underpin further discussion.

Running mate (I) (5th grade, Umimachi Sugami ES) The material begins with the elementary-age narrator watching television. Olympian Gabriela Andersen-Schiess completes the women’s marathon of the 1984 Summer Games on television. She refuses intervention by stewards though in a state of extreme dehydration and semi-consciousness to complete the full distance. It is made clear that she would have been disqualified from finishing if the stewards had made physical contact with her. Jumping to the main storyline, the narrator’s best friend Hiroshi visits and declares that he will enter the city wheelchair marathon and asks the narrator to be his running mate. He accepts. The story recounts their training regime. The narrator helps his friend complete increasingly further distances around the park each day. The narrator receives running mate instructions from the marshals of the city marathon – he is instructed to ‘not allow the racer to get hurt and make sure they don’t push themselves too far’. As the race unfolds, Hiroshi struggles to make it up the hill on the final lap. His hand bleeding as he fights to push his wheel, he refuses help from the narrator. The story material ends here. Children revise the main points of the story. Each contribution is written on the boards, along with a magnetted picture of the events. The

Enacting pedagogy in the school 183 fnal point is that the narrator is confused, leading to the frst question: ① ‘Why did the narrator not know what to do?’ Children have three minutes to write their thoughts and swap notebooks with a partner. A continuum is drawn on the blackboard between ‘take hold of the wheelchair’ and ‘keep hands of’, and children have some time to read the thoughts of their partner and think about ② ‘Where would you fall on the continuum, and why?’. Takagi-sensei asks children who have not yet contributed for their response and reason, placing their name-card in the approximate place indicated on the continuum. Analysing the many contributions, the teacher circles all of the items that relate to Hiroshi’s life (his life, his body, injury) and underlines Hiroshi’s wishes (to complete the race).

In Running Mate (I), Takagi-sensei neither comments on nor underlines one comment in the centre: ‘We have to follow the rules’. Both mini-whiteboards and blackboard continua seek to move away from a single right answer and encourage reasons, discussion, or analysis. Moral education for thinking and discussion Practitioner literature, discussed in Chapters Two and Three, generally promotes moral education to foster healthy, prosocial attitudes, good relationships, cooperative and collaborative practices, service, perseverance, and identifcation with the country, with the ultimate goal of living better alongside others. It encourages refection on social practices undertaken in the school community, building a close relationship between moral education and school activities. And it encourages teachers to approach everyday problems with a level of complexity appropriate to challenge the age group, including problems that teachers ‘cannot answer’. The new practices enacted in response to the reform promoted curriculum guidance objectives in line with these ideals. Multiple standpoints and multiple perspectives

Nagata’s conceptions of ‘thinking from multiple standpoints’ and ‘thinking from multiple perspectives’ (see Chapter Three), terms used mainly in the curriculum guidance for moral education, are connected. Thinking from multiple standpoints could be rephrased as ‘considering the viewpoints of others’ inside the story world. Thinking from multiple perspectives could be rephrased as ‘considering other ways of analysis’, compared to one’s initial impression or compared to those of classmates, fnding new ways to analyse the events from a perspective outside the story world.

184

Enacting pedagogy in the school

The frst of these, considering multiple standpoints, has a long pedigree in moral education lessons, which is attested by the popularity of materials such as The Red Ogre Who Cried and The Wolf on the Bridge (various textbooks, 1G, 1992–current). Taniguchi-sensei’s enactment of the latter material in 2015 illustrates established practice.

The Wolf on the Bridge (I) (1st grade, Umimachi Sugami ES, 2015) The wolf hides near a bridge as a rabbit approaches. As the rabbit steps onto the bridge, the wolf also strides onto it saying, ‘Get back, get back’. The teacher performs the actions using a chalk bridge on the blackboard and cardboard cut-outs of the animals that magnet to the board. The same thing happens with a racoon and a fox, who each try to cross the bridge. Each time she checks understanding, asking, ‘What is the wolf doing?’, ‘How does the rabbit feel?’, and ‘Why?’. The children say that the wolf is scary and enjoys playing by herself. After three iterations, the wolf again jumps out to scare an animal crossing the bridge but is confronted with a bear. The bear looks down at the wolf, picks her up, saying, ‘How about if I just . . .’, and places her back down on his other side. The bear then continues walking without looking back. The next day, the wolf hides, and when the rabbit approaches, she jumps onto the bridge and says, ‘How about if I just!’, and she picks up the rabbit and places him back down on her other side. The wolf walks across the bridge and looks back smiling. The main analysis is from the viewpoint of the wolf toward the smaller animals. After this, there is some discussion on the standpoint of the bear, and of the wolf toward the bear. Some children say that the wolf likes the bear because he is strong, but he is also kind. He can be both strong and kind. The teacher then closes with an anecdote, seemingly identifying with the rabbit (see pages 128, 131).

In stories involving classroom bullies, it is not unusual to consider a wide range of standpoints: the feelings and motivation of the bully; the thoughts and motivations of bystanders; the class atmosphere; and who else might be afected, such as family members or teachers. Characters who might seem peripheral on frst reading may be foregrounded for discussion in turn. Akiko Hayashi (Hayashi and Tobin 2011) has discussed Japanese preschool teachers’ ‘pedagogy of peripheral participation’, in which teachers maintain an awareness of what spectators to classroom incidents are learning as the events unfold. The class declarations on bullying proposed by 7th-grade students in the previous

Enacting pedagogy in the school 185 chapter included the principle ‘don’t judge the bully’. Encouraging the moral analysis of situations, in this case fctional, fnds strong support in moral psychology. Originating in Piagetian approaches to child development, the concept of decentring is widely accepted across schools of moral psychology and moral education. William Damon (2018) is often critical of teaching discrete items in moral education, but he still discerns principles: ‘Algebra is a better way of doing math than counting on your fngers. In morality, the capacity to balance multiple perspectives is an advance, for example’. Dōtoku stories are often leveraged to consider the standpoints of spectator characters. Thinking from multiple perspectives has less of a pedigree in moral education practice, which informs the critique of ‘moral education by reading’. However, teachers expressed an aspiration to accept and discuss all contributions by students. During a discussion on employment with 8th graders at Nishimachi Second JHS, Takeda-sensei had opened a lesson (based on Hide-san’s Kokoro, Mitsumura, 8G, 2009–current) with the question ‘Why do people work?’. He responded to some contributions, writing them on the board for later discussion, but overlooked others. Reflecting in the evening after the lesson, Takeda-sensei recalled a student’s comment that people might work ‘for money’. At the time, he had not recorded this one on the blackboard, effectively ruling it irrelevant or inappropriate. He reflects: ‘For example today, I asked why people work. A few of them said “for money”, but not many of them. And I wonder whether, naturally, they might think “for money”, but maybe they are wondering whether that is the right answer . . . and we are not pushing them to write [sic] the right answers. It should be without a right answer. This has always been the same. So even if they think, “What is the right answer?”, there is no right answer’. (Maths teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi Second JHS) Takeda-sensei is struggling to embody the expectation that students are free to contribute their opinions openly. This comment is directed toward right-answerism in moral education lessons which, in his words, ‘has always been the same’. He wondered whether he had imposed a right answer in response to a contribution that could have been honestly proffered. Did the student speak out before thinking sufficiently, or could ‘for money’ be a reason for working, or did students even think that this was the expected answer? In the moment, Takeda-sensei was not active in opening up this line of discussion but instead accepted the students’ swift retraction of his (perhaps) spontaneous contribution, and the notes on the board and discussion followed more normatively ‘virtuous’ lines (to get lost in the work; to help other people; to follow a dream, etc.). It is not unusual for only a subset of student contributions to receive teacher recognition in moral education practice, but Takeda-sensei is thinking about the value of

186

Enacting pedagogy in the school

following more lines of discussion. He also implicitly questions the kind of moral atmosphere required to encourage contributions to be made with honesty and confidence. Tanaka-sensei, also an 8th-grade homeroom teacher at the same school, taught the same lesson during the same week based on the same lesson plan agreed in the yeargroup. He did not speak at length about his own practice responding to student contributions but discovered the capacity of students for original contribution by incorporating mini-whiteboards into the lesson. In the story Hide-san’s Kokoro, two students join a landscaping company for fve days’ work experience. The supervisor treats them as part of the crew, but one student behaves more as an observer. The boss is particularly strict about manners toward colleagues and toward customers. The boss shows concern when the boys are late. In the fnal scene, the boss bows reverently before a tree he is about to fell. Though it is not an old material, Tanaka-sensei saw the material as relatively stufy, though one which might be useful in the students’ early days of work experience the following week. He had expected the lesson to be didactic, coaching students toward understanding the place of manners in the workplace. However, during small-group discussions, he was surprised to overhear some original ideas. As he explained after the lesson: ‘Group 2 was talking about the expectations of customers and how they were paying for the work. This is also an important perspective I had not thought of’ (Tanaka-sensei, Tech teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Nishimachi Second JHS). Tanaka-sensei found multiple perspectives emerge from the space created for small group discussion by the incorporation of mini-whiteboards into the lesson. Because of the structure of the lesson, he was listening rather than scribing or adjudicating student contributions on the board. Questioning the value

The most ‘adventurous’ level of engagement with moral education contents, following Nagata, is ‘questioning the self, questioning the value’ (Figure 3.2). As suggested in Chapter Five and elsewhere, questioning the self has long been an established practice in moral education classtime, and continues, perhaps with less dedicated time, in the moral education subject. Questioning the value is less concrete, and as such requires scafolding from clear examples, which inevitably takes time. Sano-sensei’s lesson based on Grandmother Kimi’s Camellias (MEXT 2014: 108) at Umimachi Takanami JHS provides one example. The lesson was scheduled to coincide with a Human Rights Festival organized in partnership with the department of the prefectural board of education responsible for cultural afairs.3 All junior high students had attended part of the festival as a school excursion the previous Saturday.

Enacting pedagogy in the school 187 Grandmother Kimi’s Camellias (I) (8th grade, Umimachi Takanami JHS) is based on a lengthy story. To summarize the relevant events: the teenage characters fnd out about the historical fgure Tanso Hirose, presented as the founder-director of a successful private school (juku) in the mid-Edo period. He was terminally ill and in continual pain but nevertheless established the school. He keeps a journal which includes a white circle for each of his good deeds, and a black circle for each bad deed. At a later point in time, he is visiting a pupil called Ito who is also sick, but additionally confned to hospital. On one of the days Hirose does not visit, the pupil dies. This is recorded with ten black circles. The frst question posed to students, ‘What kind of person is Tanso Hirose?’, is covered quickly. The second question, ‘When the student died, why did Tanso Hirose give himself ten black circles?’, provides the basis for discussion. The group captains fetch mini-whiteboards and each group brainstorms ideas. Sano-sensei asks for their own ideas and also at least one idea ‘from the perspective of human rights’. One contribution is profered by each student: • • • • • • • • • • •

It’s sad that the student died (x2). The student he taught is important (x3). His [young] age is sad. Because he could not [continue to] teach him until the end. Each student is important. He understood how precious life is because of his own weak constitution. The student who died is one of his students studying at his place [school] (x3). Because it was the student who died frst. He thought it was his fault that the student died (x2). He regretted that it was this day that he did not visit. He does not want to forget that day.

Based on these responses, Sano-sensei asks questions about what Tanso Hirose considered ‘bad’. ‘What if he had visited? Would it be so bad?’, ‘Is it important that he is Hirose’s student? What if it were not his student?’, ‘Is he more important because he is close to Hirose, and Hirose is teaching him?’, ‘Is it better that somebody old dies?’, ‘So how can we say that all lives are equal?’. The students are lively and recognize the conficting perspectives. Some responses which do not address the question of Hirose’s involvement prompt the teacher to modify the question slightly to emphasize the large number of circles, ‘When the student died, why did Tanso Hirose deserve as many as ten black circles?’

188

Enacting pedagogy in the school

Rather than reaching a conclusion, Sano-sensei closes the lesson by bringing together some indications of progress in the discussion: ‘So we think that the importance of all lives are equal. All life is precious. But sometimes it is sad if someone young dies. They have more life to live’, he pauses. ‘Does that mean it is more important?’, another pause, ‘and we feel sad when it’s somebody close to us. Ito is his student. Was he responsible for him? He feels regret’.

In the post-lesson interview, Sano-sensei spoke at great length about the multiple philosophical angles which this material might open up. ‘When we think about the reason why Hirose felt so bad, and he is a teacher, we immediately think how terrible it is. He taught the student and he would continue until [the student’s] graduation. He is part of his school. But then of course, in Japan, there is also Buddhism, and not even Buddhism but even before that. All living things are important. Not only humans, but trees and insects. They are all important. That is also the meaning of kizuna. We are connected, and we have to care about all living things. If something dies close to us, that is terrible. We don’t need to know that person. Just being close is enough, and it’s a black mark. But human rights is so clear-cut. It is humans that are important’. (Kokugo teacher and 8th-grade HRT, Umimachi Takanami JHS) On the basis of this short excerpt alone, three philosophical foundations can be identifed for comparing the value of life: an ‘everyday thinking’ relational ethic (Noddings 2013) in which connections between people require a consideration of the particular relationship in question; a foundation associated (by Sano-sensei) with both Buddhism and pre-Buddhist Japanese thought in which the connection between beings is salient and includes non-humans; and an interpretation of human rights discourse which encompasses only humans and applies to all humans equally regardless of relations. Each has a diferent way of understanding Hirose’s black circles. As the interviewee noted earlier: ‘Most people would agree that it’s worse for somebody young [to die]. And the teacher would feel worse if her student died frst – like a parent’. Neither the ethical merits of this analysis nor its representativeness of ethical thinking ‘in Japan’ are relevant to this discussion. What is relevant is the sophistication of his analysis. There is no doubt that Sano-sensei holds both knowledge and opinions on the topic, and he has confdence in their articulation. Importantly, however, in the lesson he took the position of facilitator, employing short open questions, rather than airing his own analyses or opinions. This was a pedagogic choice. Whilst he could have dispensed knowledge on this topic, he invited students to respond to gaps in the story, opened

Enacting pedagogy in the school 189 up through the worksheet, the use of mini-whiteboards, and his questioning. Sano-sensei was gently encouraging students to analyse which of the details made it so bad as to warrant ten black circles, and thus to bring specifc, and perhaps competing, ways of thinking about the value into focus. The second question asks why Hirose gave himself ten black circles ‘from the perspective of human rights’. This was difcult for students, who instead profered more general reasons for him receiving ten black circles. The teacher overlooks Hirose’s comment written next to the ten black circles in the textbook image of his journal (‘Didn’t care enough’). A possible ‘right answer’ is available in the textbook, but Sano-sensei instead aims for discussion amongst students. The questions encouraged students to move their angle of perspective with questions that prompted ‘cognitive confict’. Some questions were analytical, checking the reasons against hypotheticals: ‘What if he had visited? Would it be so bad?’, ‘What if it were not his student?’. He also utilized the stance of (his interpretation of) human rights as a position from which to ask questions to challenge students’ contributions: ‘Is it important that he is Hirose’s student?’, ‘Is he more important because he is close to Hirose and Hirose is teaching him?’, ‘Is it better that somebody old dies?’, ‘So how can we say that all lives are equal?’ Students clarifed their position and saw the limitation of their perspective, which opened space to recognize alternative perspectives. Moreover, these questions were directed to the value of ‘the importance of life’ itself, ‘questioning the value’ – not that life is important, but examining how life is important. Finally, this is not a case of the teacher criticizing the ethical principles of human rights or imposing values on children. Rather than a fxed point of view, the post-lesson interview reveals his consideration of further questions and alternatives. Bringing the values into focus for older children can sound rather abstract. To the contrary, Taniguchi-sensei, after moving to Konami ES, demonstrates that multiple principles of happiness can be brought into focus for 1st graders through a later enactment of The Wolf on the Bridge. Much of the lesson was the same as three years earlier, but the opening and closing of the lesson were modifed, italicized in the following description.

The Wolf on the Bridge (II) (1st grade, Umimachi Konami ES, 2018) The wolf stands on a bridge, scaring back the smaller animals and smiling. The children discuss whether the wolf is happy. After some minutes, they conclude that maybe he is, alongside other analyses. After three iterations scaring a rabbit, a racoon, and a fox, the wolf again jumps out to scare an

190

Enacting pedagogy in the school

animal crossing the bridge but is confronted with a bear. The bear looks down at the wolf, picks him up, saying, ‘How about if I just .  .  .’, and places him back down on her other side. The bear then continues walking without looking back. The next day, the wolf hides, and when the rabbit approaches, he jumps onto the bridge and says, ‘How about if I just!’, and he picks up the rabbit and places her back down on his other side. The wolf walks across the bridge and looks back smiling. The class discusses the standpoint of the wolf toward the smaller animals. After this, there is some discussion on the standpoint of the bear and of the wolf toward the bear. This time, the lesson closes by returning to the question at the beginning: ‘Originally, the wolf was happy. Afterward, too, the wolf is happy. Which is better? What is the diference between these happinesses?’.

The last question for discussion was ‘Originally, the wolf was happy. Afterward, too, the wolf was happy. Which is better? What is the diference between these happinesses?’ This is both within the grasp of 1st-grade children, when concretized by their understanding of the events of the story and requires the comparison of two perspectives on happiness. It prompted serious and original thought from 1st graders. The planning of questions in advance, encouraged by worksheets, can build a structure for questioning the value. However, worksheets are not essential for planning efective questions. Both iterations of The Wolf on the Bridge were lessons that had been ‘polished’ through earlier lesson study and the sharing of lesson plans whilst included in earlier coursebooks. Taniguchi-sensei had commented in 2015 that: ‘I made the props a while ago – the frst props like this were more than ten years ago – and I keep them for this material. I am suitable for teaching lower grades, so any time I can teach them I am happy. . . . The Wolf on the Bridge is a 1st-grade story, so when I am teaching 1st graders, we do this story’. Umimachi adopted a new elementary textbook for moral education in 2018. At this time, Taniguchi-sensei was again teaching 1st graders at a diferent school and reported her delight that The Wolf on the Bridge appeared in the new textbook. She reported using the props again following her mental plan of the lesson. In the later iteration, however, she focused the discussion on the value of happiness. Likewise, Grandmother Kimi’s Camelias was not a new material in 2019 but had been included in coursebooks available to junior high schools for some years. Plenary discussion on values

For the purpose of Table 7.1, discussion was defned as back-and-forth between children in plenary with interjections by the teacher functioning only

Enacting pedagogy in the school 191 as those of a ‘facilitator’. This kind of discussion arose mainly in elementary schools, whilst in junior high school, the majority of discussion arose in small groups using mini-whiteboards. Tada-sensei invested great energy in ‘class building’ to create an atmosphere in all classes in which children could contribute freely to promote discussion. His lesson on The Happy Prince (various textbooks, 3–4G, 1964–present, see page 97) for 3rd graders prompted discussion between children.

The Happy Prince (I) (3rd grade, Higachimachi Minami ES, 2020) In the opening stages of the lesson, the children compare two pictures of the happy prince (before and after he gives away his gold leaf and jewels), listen to the story, and list the character traits of the happy prince and the swallow. Tada-sensei writes on the board ‘[The swallow] could not go to the southern country. Is the swallow happy (shiawase)?’ The children are surprised to hear the question. The teacher says, ‘It is not a study problem [gakushū mondai]. This is dōtoku, so it is something to think about. We can say anything we feel’. He draws a continuum on the board between ‘happy’ and ‘not happy’. The children write their responses on their worksheets, which each have one box for the response and another box for writing refections. As they write, the teacher prompts quietly, ‘What does “happy” mean?’. As they progress, the teacher asks for a show of hands ‘who is writing about “happy”? “Unhappy”?’ More than half are writing about why the swallow seems happy. He checks progress, ‘Hands up, who has fnished? Who has not fnished?’. Most have not. ‘One more minute’. Children’s contributions, which are listed on the board, include that the swallow: • • • • • • •

Could help people. Could become friends with the prince. Could help the prince. Could have lived. Was infuenced too much by the prince [lit: listened too much]. Still wanted to stay close to the prince. Stayed even though all of the treasure was gone.

The children are excited and all eager to contribute, some shouting across the room and turning their chairs toward other children. ‘If the swallow was close to the prince, [it] would die’, one child fres across the room.

192

Enacting pedagogy in the school

‘OK, OK’, Tada-sensei says calmly, ‘Let’s think how we wish to respond. Let’s say who we wish to respond to’. C2: ‘The swallow wanted to stay together at the prince’s location’. T: ‘Why did [the swallow] want to stay together?’ C2: ‘Because [the swallow] wanted to talk a lot and listen to the prince’.

One boy who is usually quiet stands to speak, but no words come to his mouth despite encouragement from the teacher. This boy does not speak much. The teacher suggests, ‘If you want to read a sentence, about which part you are thinking?’ The boy holds up the textbook, nervous, and says, ‘the sparrow’. The other children laugh a little imitating ‘the sparrow’. The boy smiles bashfully and sits. Another child stands soon afterward: C4: C5:

‘It is cold so the swallow will die. But the prince will not die, so . . .’ ‘The swallow listened to the prince too much!’

Other children shout down this speaker, either saying that he should put his hand up, or otherwise arguing. The teacher selects one of the children arguing, ‘Please stand’. C6:

‘Even in the southern country, maybe he wouldn’t be happy’.

Another child raises her hand and stands. Her classmates are shouting their opinions to try to encourage her to follow one side or the other. C7: ‘The swallow could [alternatively] help people in the southern country’.

There are more contributions along this line, connecting reasons why the swallow might be happy or not happy. One contribution touches the children’s imagination: ‘The swallow stayed because [it] was happy with the prince, and [it] was happy because he stayed’. This is met with approving sounds from other class members. Tada-sensei asks for a show of hands who thinks that the swallow was happy. About two thirds think the swallow was happy. The second question draws the children’s attention to the board, where most reasons were recorded. The teacher asks: ‘What questions would we want to ask?’. Suggestions from children included: • Does the prince want the swallow to stay? • If the swallow did not help people, would [it] be happy? • If you helped others, and there was nothing left to give, would you continue? The class members seemed to think carefully about these ideas.

Enacting pedagogy in the school 193 Following contributions written on the board, Tada-sensei provides a short summary of the various positions taken by children, before asking children to write refections: ‘Let’s think about the swallow. Can we feel happy when actually we are not happy? Can other people see it? For those who thought that the swallow was not happy, we could think about how the swallow might become happy. How about the questions we wanted to ask? How would it change what you think?’ The writing lasts barely 30 seconds before the chime for the next lesson. Some continue writing.

The discussion brings out value-to-value conficts with only questions posed by the teacher. When asked about the discussion, Tada-sensei explains: ‘I always tell children that there are no wrong answers. I want them to get to know each other well and work together to say what they are thinking freely. Then they can think it through together. Especially in dōtoku, I say that “it is not a study problem” that has one answer. As you saw, for some lessons, we use a horseshoe (ko-no jigata) seating arrangement so that they can see each other’s faces and try to understand what the other child is thinking. ‘They spoke a lot today about the swallow. This was difcult to understand, but I think that they can understand a little more deeply’. The question that prompted discussion was on the worksheet and led to further questioning by Tada-sensei, enhanced by the collegial atmosphere he fostered in his class. Asking what questions the children ‘want to ask’ allows for insight into their thinking processes. He prompted children to consider whether we can ‘feel happy when actually we are not happy’ and ‘how might the swallow become happy’. These questions point toward a discussion on the tension between happiness and making good decisions, or between short-term happiness and long-term happiness. However, it seems that the question was improvised. In the post-lesson interview, Tada-sensei comments: ‘It was great that everybody had their own opinion and were giving reasons. I was thinking how to think more deeply, how to question the value, how I could relate it to the sublime’. The end point of the lesson he envisaged was guided by the textbook which designates this material as treating ‘beautiful things and the sublime’.4 However, the worksheet had set the lessons on a track away from the textbook objective and toward a study of diferent kinds of happiness. His teacher’s intuition followed the track of the worksheet, but he simultaneously felt frustration because he had not realized that the focus of the lesson he was implementing was different from the focus provided by the textbook.

194

Enacting pedagogy in the school

Questioning the self

Questioning the self is listed by both Sakamoto and Nagata as an objective of moral education by thinking and discussion. The question ‘What would you do?’ is also lambasted in the critique of ‘dōtoku by reading’. It is easy to imagine, for example, children being quizzed on ‘What would you do?’ when an elderly person is standing without a seat on the train, or some analogous interrogation in which the ‘right answer’ is evident. As discussed in Chapter Five, practitioners do not expect moral education lessons to infuence behaviour, a perspective which is also supported by theory. The way in which Takagi-sensei utilized the story in Running Mate (I) moves it closer to a dilemma scenario in relation to values relating to rules and friendship. The rules provided to the narrator by the race marshals indicate the value of following the rules and perhaps the importance of life. On the other hand, the opening episode from the Olympics, almost a mini-great person story, gently suggested the struggle and perseverance needed to achieve greatness. Perseverance is also a key value emphasis across Japanese education (Singleton 1989; Yamamoto and Satoh 2019). As such, the question ‘What would you do?’ seems valuable only where complexity has been drawn out of an open, or ‘writerly’, story. Questioning the self, or challenging one’s views, is a constructive process of each individual learner. The use of a continuum in Running Mate (I) at Konami ES validated the range of possible responses. More importantly, a preceding question asked children, ‘Why did the narrator not know what to do?’ This question sought complexity, bringing out the human-in-the-moment so often overlooked in dilemma-like scenarios. There are conficting values and no right answer, but, also, the question was not purely a rational one of balancing competing rights. The children swapped notebooks with a partner, raising the opportunity to see diferent responses. The continuum was then introduced. The question asking, ‘Where would you fall on the continuum and why?’ contains two parts. Children have both contributed their position and seen the range of positions amongst classmates. The ‘why’ can be written with less threat of missing a ‘right answer’. Children were encouraged to think from multiple perspectives. Age appropriacy and depth of analysis

Age appropriacy is a broad concept that includes length and number of characters in a material and the pace of presentation and discussion, amongst other factors. It also includes other less-tangible ideas such as children’s interests, classroom atmosphere (Jackson et al. 1993; DeVries and Zan 1994), and teaching methods. Sasaki-sensei, 5th-grade homeroom teacher at Higashimachi Kita ES summarizes his approach to encouraging thinking in terms of age appropriacy whilst considering diferences between children: ‘Sometimes topics are too difcult to grasp. For example, freedom (jiyū). So I need to encourage more thinking. Just like other lessons, I want to

Enacting pedagogy in the school 195 challenge them. This requires a good environment to speak out and contribute ideas. It’s not good if they are feeling uneasy. Sometimes there is uncertainty and children cannot put things into words. Here, I move on and later return to clarify the meaning. I think a lot about how to encourage discussion: should I ask or not? What about this? What about that? And so on’. Sasaki-sensei places emphasis on the teacher’s capacity for adaptability and refection in the moment of teaching, based on personal relationships with particular students. He has seen little qualitative change in moral education materials: ‘In terms of content, the stories and materials are very similar to the old textbooks [sic]. Basically the same stories with three questions, or so. But they vary less now. Some previous terrible coursebooks tried to print answers in their teachers’ editions. But all have similar topics: family, nature, etc., which depend on the grade. I’m sure we have all seen [that] grades 1 and 2 have animals: Ms. Elephant said this; Mr. Rabbit did that. In grades 3 and 4, lots of pupils in classrooms, and they look like real children. And in grades 5 and 6, people in society doing things’. Whilst seeing improvement in the consistency of textbooks that no longer ‘print answers in their teachers’ editions’, he works to improve his teaching and considers approaches and principles to achieve this objective. The enactment of The Wolf on the Bridge (II) demonstrates the potential for well-planned questions to prompt discussions that encourage refection on values. In reference initially to The Red Ogre Who Cried, Nagata has built a theory rooted in practice on age-appropriacy. Speaking as a oneof guest commentator at the Nishimachi City Dōtoku Study Group, he suggested that the story can be approached backward through the school grades. In grades 1 and 2, children can be drawn to the characters and their situation, to sympathize with the red ogre, and maybe consider why the blue ogre departed. Grades 3 and 4 might consider the fght and how it becomes a ‘point of no return’, shaping the unfolding of subsequent events. The upper grades of elementary school might examine the beginning of the complications, focusing on the blue ogre’s idea to help the red ogre. Finally, junior high school students might consider the original setting of the story. Doing policy The changes to classroom pedagogy and lesson planning outlined in this chapter shed light on how practice becomes established in the school organization between enthusiasts and receivers. As enthusiasts work through faculty meetings, committees, and by ofering advice, the standardization of new teaching methods and by surface objectives shape the enactment of moral education lessons. To the extent that new practices fulflled requirements, made sense

196

Enacting pedagogy in the school

to teachers, and did not confict with strongly held beliefs, they were received into practice by the majority of teachers. Taniguchi-sensei had implemented a polished lesson based on The Wolf on the Bridge for numerous years, but she made changes for 2018. She took this decision and planned the changes independently in response to an external speaker who had visited the school and presented the objective of ‘questioning the value’ as a means to achieve ‘dōtoku for thinking and discussion’. Takedasensei was also thinking carefully about the extent to which his lessons provided space for multiple perspectives on moral issues by considering whether students are ‘saying what they are really thinking’. Changes were made in response to surface objectives received from enthusiast colleagues in the same school or at nearby schools. Tada-sensei’s enactment of The Happy Prince also ‘questioned the value’. On the one hand, he worked to foster a relaxed atmosphere in which children ‘could ask questions without any restraint’. On the other hand, the plenary discussion with sustained back-and-forth between children was prompted by the adoption of a worksheet which structured a lesson plan designed to achieve ‘dōtoku for thinking and discussion’. Another member of Tada-sensei’s yeargroup had attended a study group, hosted by Sasaki-sensei at the nearby Kita ES, and brought back a worksheet for this material. The adoption of this worksheet structured the lesson. Even the uncritical receiver Takahashi-sensei resignedly admitted that ‘I suppose there is value in using worksheets’. At all junior high schools, the use of mini-whiteboards prompted discussion and a greater range of contributions from students, efectively making questions more open, with more space for students to discuss a range of responses before refning them in plenary. Takeda-sensei was frustrated to have swiftly discarded a student contribution during the opening phase of his lesson based on Hide-san’s Kokoro. In Tanaka-sensei’s enactment, small-group discussion structured by mini-whiteboards opened space for original contributions, which prompted him to refect on the capacity of students and the potential of mini-whiteboards. These sections show receivers (besides the receivers at ease) searching for the best way to realize policy pragmatically within the school or through immediate colleagues. Taniguchi-sensei paid attention at in-school workshops to gather ideas and considered new surface objectives whilst making minor but efective changes to her tried-and-tested lesson plan. Tada-sensei’s yeargroup adopted a worksheet without fully analysing its approach. Takeda-sensei and Taguchi-sensei held reservations about assessment but found value in worksheets after trying them out. Few of the receivers adopting mini-whiteboards or worksheets thought deeply about the principles on which they were based but adopted them as means to fulfl (their understanding of) the requirements. Enthusiasts often engage more deeply with the principles behind new practices and with post-lesson refection. Saito-sensei and Sasaki-sensei spoke about student engagement as they worked to leapfrog materials.

Enacting pedagogy in the school 197 Sasaki-sensei spoke not only about creating a congenial class atmosphere, as did Tada-sensei and others, but also about reasons for doing so in pedagogic terms, the lesson planning process, and the depth of children’s thinking. However, innovations enacted by enthusiasts are also supported by new teaching methods. Sano-sensei thought carefully about the ethics that might underpin student responses. On this basis, he posed poignant questions in class, reinforced by his use of worksheets. Yet, the pedagogic strength of his enactment of Grandmother Kimi’s Camelias was in curtailing his own analyses to leave the interpretation of the teaching material open for students. This was facilitated by the brainstorming activities structured using mini-whiteboards. The key diference in policy work between receivers and enthusiasts is not in the adoption of new practices during their own lesson planning (though that is indicative). It is the enthusiasts’ work searching for new practices from outside the school and introducing or promoting them within the school. Rather than pragmatism, this search is relatively principled (Golding 2017) and based on a degree of expertise and investment in sharing practice-based knowledge. In Chapter Six, enthusiasts were vocal at faculty meetings and shared materials within the school. Through similar processes, they were also instrumental in standardizing the adoption of portfolio assessments, worksheets, mini-whiteboards, and in promoting surface objectives – their interpretations of ‘thinking from multiple perspectives’, ‘questioning the value’, child-to-child discussion – to promote ‘dōtoku for thinking and discussion’. Sawada-sensei did not look far outside the school but was known as a point of information and supported colleagues with questions on moral education lessons. Sakurai-sensei, in collaboration with Sakae-sensei, collated examples of practice from within the school and shared them with her colleagues. The silent enthusiast Saito-sensei seemed to be acting similarly in a purely local fashion, but her reading of practitioner literature brought new ideas into the school and were adopted by others. Sasaki-sensei hosted a study group, at which he, Sakae-sensei, and other presenters discussed their readings and innovations, sometimes packaged into artefacts such as worksheets for participants to take back to their respective schools. External speakers visiting the school and those who lead in-school lesson studies are also kinds of enthusiasts, usually more widely recognized as regional or national experts. Enthusiasts working in the school understand their fellow teachers well and, on the basis of knowledge of practice, promote resources that will readily make sense to their colleagues. Whilst based in local schools, local enthusiasts regularly operate on the boundary of the school organization, bringing ideas and artefacts into the school or inviting expert practitioners into the school. In a very real way, enthusiasts advocated systems that would efectively constrain creativity, in the sense of devising each lesson freely, including in ways that they deemed undesirable for their own teaching practice. Their support for rota systems leveraged the pragmatism of colleagues, whilst they simultaneously advocated bottom-up standardization to infuse new teaching methods

198

Enacting pedagogy in the school

and surface objectives which provided a framework for students to think about open questions and move toward discussion. These new teaching methods and objectives held potential to scafold (but did not ensure) deeper thought, on the part of teachers, in lesson planning along lines similar to curriculum guidance and practitioner literature. Change was realized to standardized lesson models, teaching approaches, and, at times, to how teachers planned moral education lessons. Enacting pedagogic innovation The reform of moral education prompted new teaching methods, which overlaid existing models of dōtoku lessons. In particular the use of worksheets, mini-whiteboards, and portfolio assessment have altered the structure of lessons to provide more space for student contributions. Similar practices emerged in all feldwork schools and were frequently planned in reference to objectives aligned with practitioner literature and curriculum guidance. Within each school, teachers particularly interested in moral education practice continued their policy work, with greater relevance to colleagues pragmatically seeking to fulfl new requirements. Though it was these practitioners who seemingly had the most to lose by the standardization of moral education content in their own practice, it was also these enthusiasts who invested time in creating and searching for translations that made sense for in-school colleagues. Some modelled these practices whilst others collated materials, provided advice, worked through faculty meetings, and hosted in-school lesson studies and local study groups. Receivers adopt and enact these practices as they search for pragmatic ways to realize new requirements. This chapter has discussed how pedagogic innovations are promoted and received after entering the school organization. It remains to be seen, however, how new practices are brought into the school and why their enactments are similar not only across each region, but also between regions separated by large distances. Grounded in the results from Chapters Six and Seven, Chapter Eight examines other moments of policy and other actors to shed light on the micro-processes involved in the translation of policies into practice. Notes 1 Less is said about portfolio assessment because this strand of research was partially frustrated (see Appendix A). 2 Like in many schools, children at Minami ES each have a reversible hat as part of their standard school equipment (most typically used to designate teams in physical education lessons). 3 Whilst all board of education participants in this study are responsible for school education, more generally boards of education in Japan additionally have functions relating to extra-curricular education, lifelong learning, culture (including museum administration), and sports. 4 This expression is the grade-specifc equivalent to ‘sense of wonder and reverence for the sublime’ in Table 3.2.

Enacting pedagogy in the school 199 References Cave, Peter. 2018. Review. Curriculum, instruction and assessment in Japan: beyond lesson study. Asian Studies Review, 42(1), 182–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/10 357823.2017.1368117. Chi, Michelene T.H., Nicholas De Leeuw, Mei-Hung Chiu & Christian Lavancher. 1994. Eliciting self-explanations improves understanding. Cognitive Science, 18(3), 439–477. https://doi.org/10.1016/0364-0213(94)90016-7. Damon, William. 2018. They do care: an interview with William Damon and Anne Colby, Journal of Moral Education, 47(4), 383–396. https://doi.org/10.1080/03 057240.2018.1494972. DeVries, Rheta & Betty Zan. 1994. Moral Classrooms, Moral Children. Teachers’ College Press. Frazier, Brandy N., Susan A. Gelman & Henry M. Wellman. 2016. Young children prefer and remember satisfying explanations. Journal of Cognition and Development, 17(5), 718–736. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2015.1098649. Golding, Jennie. 2017. Policy critics and policy survivors: who are they and how do they contribute to a department policy role typology? Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 38(6), 923–936. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306 .2016.1183589. Hayashi, Akiko & Joseph Tobin. 2011. The Japanese preschool’s pedagogy of peripheral participation. Ethos, 39(2), 139–164. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.15481352.2011.01182.x. Jackson, Philip, Robert Boostrom & David Hansen. 1993. The Moral Life of Schools. Jossey-Bass. MEXT. 2014. 私たちの道徳 [Dōtoku ES: Watashi-Tachi No Dōtoku]. MEXT. www. mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/doutoku/detail/1344255.htm. Nishioka, Kanae. 2016. Portfolio assessment in the period for integrated study. In Koji Tanaka, Kanae Nishioka & Terumasa Ishii (eds) Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment in Japan: Beyond Lesson Study, 112–126. Routledge. Noddings, Nel. 2013. Caring: A Relational Approach to Ethics and Moral Education (2nd ed.). University of California Press. Singleton, John. 1989. Ganbaru: A Japanese cultural theory of learning. In J. J. Shields (ed) Japanese Schooling: Patterns of Socialization, Equality, and Political Control, 8–15. Penn State University Press. Yamamoto, Yoko & Eimi Satoh. 2019. Ganbari: Cultivating perseverance and motivation in early. In Olivia Saracho (ed) Contemporary Perspectives on Research in Motivation in Early Childhood Education, 229–250. Information Age Publishing.

8

Translating policy in(to) the school

Through the 2015 curriculum revision, the central government intended to tighten control of moral education while ensuring that societal goals are at least not subordinated to the individual. However, the Ministry promulgated competing policies which promoted active learning, encouraging more diverse teaching methods and utilizing what the children bring to the classroom to construct knowledge. The revised national curriculum requires the use of textbooks, assessment, and syllabus planning. However, the curriculum guidance was informed by knowledge of school practice as expert practitioners worked through the Ministry. Textbooks were constructed amidst competing interests and processes of the Ministry of Education, local boards of education, expert practitioners, policy entrepreneurs, and more difuse lobby groups. Planning for the reform became an imperative for boards of education and for elementary schools in the year leading up to 2018, and for junior high schools by the following year. School administrators and teachers worked to make sense of the policy. Many teachers were suspicious of government intentions for the reform, and yet they valued moral education to foster healthy, prosocial attitudes, good relationships, cooperative and collaborative practices, service, perseverance, and identifcation with the local area, with the ultimate goal of living better alongside others. Most teachers met calls for content change with pragmatism, utilizing textbooks to the extent that they did not confict with strongly held beliefs and seeking means to achieve policy requirements in the least painful way. They were supported by moral education enthusiasts who invested time toward standardizing new teaching approaches and objectives that followed the aims of practitioner literature. These local enthusiasts promoted portfolio assessment, worksheets, mini-whiteboards, and various surface objectives, which made sense to fellow teachers. Considering the difering policy orientations of teachers in the school organization provides one step toward a theory of policy enactment. However, the similarity of practices appearing in multiple schools in each municipality, and in regions separated by great distance, remains difcult to explain as purely local actions amongst colleagues in each school. DOI: 10.4324/9781003125471-9

Translating policy in(to) the school 201 This chapter looks at ‘other moments of policy enactment’ that intersected the feldwork schools during the period of this study to question what happens between state policy and school practice. It examines the micro-processes through which new lesson models and pedagogies entered the school and how they were shared and disseminated to better theorize interactions between the overlapping roles of expert practitioners, school administrators, local enthusiasts, and classroom teachers who act as receivers in relation to moral education policy. In doing so, it illuminates the questions of who does the policy work to build and disseminate translations that make sense of policy for teachers and school administrators, and how. The analysis reveals the work of expert practitioners with experience in a range of positions in and near school administration who promote innovation in practice, in references to policy, through national and regional networks at the boundary of the school. As their practices make sense to teachers, they simultaneously make sense for teachers and translate policy into practice. Some policy translations in moral education Policy is interpreted as teachers and school administrators make sense of what they read and hear through prior experiences, beliefs, and social interactions. Put simply, ‘Agents must frst notice, then frame, interpret, and construct meaning for policy messages’ (Spillane et al. 2002: 392). However, sense-making rarely occurs through the reading of ‘high-level’ governmental policy documents, although some school administrators and highly invested practitioners do engage at this level to afrm their expertise and, relatedly, to legitimize their interpretations. Teachers’ sensemaking is based on existing knowledge and practices; with both reafrmation and accommodation supported by bulletins, discussion with colleagues, engagement in practice-sharing sessions, and mandated requirements. Structured practice sharing and discussion are undertaken both in the school and through study group activities and attendance of regional and national conferences and seminars. Artefacts and tools are introduced, which shape how teachers make sense of policy and come to enact classroom practice. Textbooks and practitioners books

Many teachers rely to some extent on textbooks for most subjects, rather than reading curriculum documents or devising lessons unmediated (Azuma 2002: 10; Shimahara 2002b: 95). At the chalkface, such pragmatism seems to have increased across the curriculum (Cave 2014: 275–6). Textbooks are powerful mediators of policy, determining not only content but also the starting point for school syllabi. Their contents are infuenced by ofcial narratives, and also by the work of staf at publishing companies responding to local demand and by editors with knowledge of practice. Original materials and lesson plans, shared across the yeargroup, can supplement, extend, repurpose, or replace

202

Translating policy in(to) the school

coursebook materials, both for the level and interests of the students, to repurpose topics disfavoured by the teacher and to encourage deeper learning. To this end, practitioner literature, whilst recognizing that the new introduction of textbooks is more restrictive, discusses numerous means to develop materials through both content and approaches to teaching. Practitioner books are intended for reference not only by classroom teachers but also by other expert practitioners to lead development sessions and for principals and board of education members to fulfl or coordinate policy requirements. Tools for lesson planning

Umimachi Board of Education in West Japan circulated a standard ‘design sheet’ for junior high school lesson planning for the new moral education. The design sheet is essentially a skeleton lesson plan for a moral education lesson which can be modifed according to the materials for each lesson. The design sheet originated in a regional study group and gained further authority through publication in a practitioner book. It was introduced initially to the principals’ discussion group, whose membership comprises all principals and vice-principals in the municipality, and numerous retired principals. The board of education then adopted it in consultation with the principals’ discussion group. The design sheet (the bold text in Figure 8.1) requires the use of miniwhiteboards initially to distil group discussions, then the sharing of ideas as a plenary discussion. It standardizes the stages of the lesson in the form: ‘teaser questions, then listen and think individually, then contribute, refne and collate as a group, then listen to other groups ideas, then class discussion, then individual refection’. Planning the layout of the blackboard is a common expression of lesson preparation in Japan.1 Many teachers wrote the title/aim at the right-hand (‘beginning’) side of the board and the target questions at the left-hand (‘end’) side of the board before the lesson commences, anticipating class contributions which are relevant to address those questions. The example of a ‘flled in’ lesson plan in Figure 8.1 includes some possible answers anticipated by the teacher. It can be questioned whether such an approach might promote right-answerism, where the teacher might continue elicitation until the anticipated answer emerges, rather than considering the extension of each line of discussion proposed by students on its own merit. This does not mean that the lesson plan would necessarily be enacted in such a way, but it communicates that such an implementation would satisfy policy requirements. Sakamoto’s practitioner primer (2018) connects the idea of active learning with groupwork, for example heading a chapter ‘realizing active learning with small groups’. Though there is detail in places, especially through example lesson plans, the message that planning groupwork means doing active learning is unmistakable. It can be questioned to what extent the design sheet suggests that surface features (mini-whiteboard work in small groups followed by plenary) may satisfy a checkbox criterion for ‘doing discussion’, and thus having achieved active learning.

Translating policy in(to) the school

203

Yeargroup and class: 8th grade. Resource name: Grandmother’s Camelias . Moral value addressed: Reverence for life. Date: […] 2018-19 AY. Aim / points to develop: no matter what the circumstances, consider other people, understand the important of human life [inochi], realise the importance of living a life [seikatsu] that always attends to the importance of life [inochi]. Lesson plan: [summary of the key points of the reading materials omitted] It is easy to understand that Hirose Tansou, who wrote this story for a sickly boy, was teaching about the importance of life. He wanted to make the boy consider the importance of not forgetting to care for others, not being pessimistic, and living positively, no matter how sick he be. I think that, whilst teaching about respect for life [seimei], the reading also teaches the importance of making one’s own decisions about one’s own life [ikikata].

Blackboard plan

The doctor’s words He got over it

Title Aim Thinking about the value of human life

Hang mini-whiteboards HERE

Lost his way l The author of the story l Sickly / body weak

2. Please write your reflections on the importance of life

Gets a white mark for every good thing Gets a black mark for every bad thing

1. Why does he get 10 black marks when one of his students dies?

Flow of questions / lesson 1. Aims. To think about the of human life. Why does he get 10 black marks when one of his students dies? (distribute worksheets) 2. Read through the story 3. Thinking, discussion Individual thinking 5 mins (proactive) Thinking as a group 10mins (interactive) Sharing ideas [happyō] 7mins (interactive) 4. Collating ideas [matome] 5. Discussion About The importance of life. - even if you are unwell; even if numerous issues arise. - there is nothing more important than life. - to not forget that we must always think of others regardless of our own circumstances. The way that we choose to live is ultimately our own choice. 6. Write reflections on the importance of life based on today’s lesson(deep learning).

Figure 8.1 Design sheet introduced into Umimachi junior high schools

204

Translating policy in(to) the school

Major change in professional understanding (whether desirable or not) is diffcult because the mind conserves old ideas, for example about how a textbook is utilized, about class discipline, or how children learn. Much like the use of textbooks, groupwork and the increased use of mini-whiteboards in isolation may be received as more of an incremental change, not necessarily accommodating (Piaget 1972) new understandings of discovery learning or discussion that ‘drives adventurously’ to follow student contributions. Nonetheless, such surface practices do not detract from deeper understandings, and they may be conducive to discovering deeper changes in practice. Planning is undertaken in the social context of teachers, where practice serves as the stimulus and language. Realizing group discussion in the classroom may facilitate conversations and refection, on the part of teachers, of its value or otherwise. Surface practices have potential to scafold new understandings. Spillane et al. (2002: 413) suggest that in such cases ‘McLaughlin’s (1990) adage that “belief can follow action” takes on even richer signifcance. Understanding can follow action’. The policy is translated in terms that may not require fundamental change but leave the door open for further development. The design sheet tool was initially developed through a large regional association and was published in practitioner literature, then introduced by an expert practitioner through long-standing connections with school administrators at the board of education. In Chapter Seven, Tada-sensei adopted an artefact that he did not fully understand. On the one hand, this led to frustration over which value the lesson was supposed to discuss. On the other hand, he gained the experience of child-child discussion prompted by questioning the value of happiness. It is easy to imagine this experience being leveraged to underpin refective practice, which might lead to an even more efective lesson the next time around. Worksheets were adopted for most lessons by the junior high schools included in this study and the upper grades at some elementary schools. They encouraged explicit comparison by students between their own thinking and that of their peers. Teachers shared experience and innovations about how to best achieve these aims. Some teachers, such as Takeda-sensei, had doubts about whether students were saying what they really think, in both verbal contributions and on worksheets. However, he came to appreciate the worksheets to an extent. Some enthusiast teachers, such as Sano-sensei, began to modify questions on worksheets based on their classroom experience. Others, such as Sakurai-sensei, recorded and actively shared their modifcations. Teachers made sense of the new moral education in reference to ‘thinking from multiple standpoints and multiple perspectives’, prompted by the design sheet developed by expert practitioners. The tool was introduced into schools through expert practitioners and school administrators, and it became routinized through discussion between colleagues and enactment in the classroom. Enthusiasts modifed and promoted its use, whilst receivers adopted it pragmatically as a tool to fulfl new requirements for moral education. They required only a small change but provided a scafold for refection on students’ awareness of their peers’ opinions and the diferences between them.

Translating policy in(to) the school 205 In-school lesson study

Teachers at the small Umimachi Takanami JHS undertook in-school lesson study on moral education three times through the 2019–20 school year. This decision was made by the school research committee, with confrmation from the municipal board of education. The school adopted the design sheet circulated by the board of education. In-school lesson studies were organized in which all homeroom teachers and deputy homeroom teachers were observed by most other staf and received comments on an evaluation sheet on points including: ‘opening questions (to draw students’ interest)’, ‘blackboard management (to understand the story or materials deeply)’, ‘pairwork and groupwork’, ‘fostering student thinking and discussion and summary (which does not impose values on the students)’. The key information was extracted and collated anonymously by a classroom teacher who does not hold administrative responsibilities, and each set of evaluation sheets was returned to the teacher of that lesson on the same day. This allows for the discussion of anonymized comments. The format and structure of lessons became more standardized through lesson studies, following the design sheet. The lesson plans and comments made during the lesson study (though written rather than spoken) are based on the pedagogic knowledge of teachers. At this stage, school administrators were not involved in the process. Initially, teachers acting through the school research committee may have shown enthusiasm for moral education in selecting it as the research topic. However, most classroom teachers drew on the design sheet and discussion with colleagues to make sense of the requirements. Teachers notice, frame, interpret, and make sense of the new requirements for moral education through interactions and artefacts that partially construct their meaning. The design sheet served as one such artefact. From a broader perspective, one of the artefacts through which these goals are realized was created outside the school at a member-led study association. A nationally infuential expert practitioner worked with school administrators to bring this artefact into the local school, which was adopted by classroom teachers. The design sheet made sense to teachers as a tool for planning, and in turn for realizing the requirements of reform. Simultaneously, it translated an interpretation of the requirements closer to the language of practice, making sense of the policy for classroom teachers. It then became routinized through discussion between colleagues, engagement in practice-sharing sessions, and enactment in the classroom. Everyday practice (and perhaps ‘belief’ and ‘understanding’) had started to follow action. Sano-sensei’s lesson based on Grandmother Kimi’s Camellias (I) in Chapter Seven came on a regular teaching day, following a lesson plan based on the design sheet. Though the written exchange is uncommon, otherwise similar in-school lesson studies are undertaken amongst the faculty of many schools. National data from NIER (2011) shows that 99.3% of public elementary schools and 93.5% of junior high schools report having a formal system of lesson study. Of those, the following systems were reported: all teachers (72.1% ES; 44.9%

206

Translating policy in(to) the school

JHS), representatives of subjects, and year groups (29.7% ES; 46.9% JHS); as development for newly qualified or less experienced teachers (16.6% ES; 29.6% JHS); in coordination with open days for parents (35.4% ES; 42.6% JHS). As illustrated in Figure 8.2, around 75% of elementary and junior high schools held open classes specifically in moral education long before its reform was announced, often multiple times per year (MEXT 2013). Though schools that had not previously undertaken lesson studies in moral education increased to implement one after the reform (that is, between 2012 and 2022), the number of schools undertaking two or more remained steady. This data includes municipal demonstration lessons (for the host school), open schools, and inschool lesson studies. Open schools may be open primarily to parents and community members or advertised as lesson studies for teachers from other schools to attend. During the years of implementation, municipal lesson studies may have increased. Municipal lesson study

Earlier accounts of lesson study in Japan emphasized its voluntary nature as a reflective and collegial process (Fernandez 2002; Lewis 2002), through personal-professional relationships (Lewis 2009), ‘initiated by teachers’, and ‘often formulated quite independently from politicking and MOE internal debates’ (LeTendre 2002: 22) with regional lesson study ‘completely independent of government control and subsidies’ (Shimahara

100 75 50 25 0

Elementary

Junior high

Elementary

2012 Four times or more

Junior high 2022

Twice or more

Once or more

Figure 8.2 Proportion of schools that undertook in-school lesson study in moral education in 2011–12 (adapted from MEXT 2013; 2022)

Translating policy in(to) the school 207 2002a: 108). More recent accounts, however, have identifed increasing involvement of boards of education in structuring lesson studies (Yufu and Matsuoka 2018: 190). Many municipalities organize demonstration lessons and are, to a lesser extent, involved in the organization of open schools. Demonstration lessons often form a coherent programme of three to fve lesson studies. These programmes may include municipally designated research schools alongside schools involved on the initiative of the principal or assistant principal. The programme is advertised by the municipal board of education online and via pamphlets. Those who volunteer to provide demo lessons are likely to be enthusiasts who engage with regional or national member-led associations. On the other hand, in-school lesson study and open schools often include lessons from all members of the faculty. Participation ranges greatly from enthusiasm to acquiescence, depending on the orientation of teachers to policy work in that domain or subject. Receivers may be more likely to experience in-school lesson studies and open-school lesson studies as just another hoop to jump through, for which ‘Getting done becomes more important than what was done or how one got there’ (Apple 1983: 59). Scholars such as Yufu and Matsuoka (2018) have this extra burden in mind when they describe lesson study as a site of anxiety in the intensifcation of teaching. In particular, Yufu and Matsuoka critique structures put in place to standardize teacher education (including lesson study), which limits both broad interest and the depth of knowledge developed. Meanwhile, enthusiasts may be more likely to take the opportunity to disseminate ideas and artefacts developed in or adopted from member-led associations. The Higashimachi board of education asked all schools to assign a teacher to attend at least one of the three moral education municipal demonstration lesson studies planned in the academic year of 2018–19. Noda ES and Kita ES housed enthusiasts (Sakae-sensei and Sasaki-sensei, respectively) who were pleased to attend on a Saturday. At Minami ES, however, there was little enthusiasm. In this case, the administration lead teacher Tamamoto-sensei attended. This was primarily, in his words, to ‘save the burden falling on other teachers’. Nationwide, 75% of elementary schools and 53% of junior high schools reported at least one faculty member participating in a lesson study on moral education at another school in 2012 (MEXT 2013). For both enthusiasts and receivers, lesson studies remain intimate spaces with potential to ‘open up practice’ for change, to expand teachers ‘zone of enactment’ using Spillane’s (1999) terminology. They are accompanied by documents which frame practice explicitly in the terms provided by written policy. Lesson studies potentially demonstrate rich practice and refective interpretations of policy. They also provide surface-level practices, such as ‘key takeaways’ and artefacts, tools, and checklists to aid pragmatic planning. Rather than detracting from the strength of the lesson study, these documents serve as reminders of the discussion and perhaps scafolding for teachers to reach deeper understandings through practice.

208

Translating policy in(to) the school

National conferences and laboratory schools

Whilst the degree of enthusiasm between educators varies greatly at municipal lesson studies, those undertaken almost entirely by committed enthusiasts exist and are far more visible and easier for researchers to access than those at local schools. The Tokyo Gakugei University Attached Schools Research Group for Moral Education meets six to ten times per year to develop moral education practice in schools attached to the university, which function partially as laboratory schools. The group has overlapping membership with the regional Society for the New Study of Morality and Education, and numerous long-term members have served as assistant principals and instructional advisors at Tokyo boards of education. Beyond this, various national member-led study associations exist, which are more theory-focused, but regularly exchange reports of practice. The Japan Moral Education Research Association, which exchanges mostly theory and reports of practice, has over 1000 members including teachers and academics. These groups have a largely inclusive approach to membership, participation, presentation, and hosting events. They are organized by expert practitioners who build networks to facilitate the sharing of practice. Interpretations of terminology and policy are shared. Lesson studies are used to build theory, developed by members voluntarily and refned through discussion sessions. Organizers have some hand in gatekeeping ideas by adopting and further disseminating those that reinforce or modify their interpretations. The associations and study groups provide bulletins, newsletters, research reports, and conferences that consolidate interpretations of policy. These conferences, lesson studies, seminars, and publications translate policy into the language of practice. Because participation is largely voluntary, such associations attract participation by enthusiasts and expert practitioners, and they also reinforce identifcation with subjects and domains of practice. The importance of laboratory schools is not only because of their commitment to developing practice in moral education but because of the activities of their members in other schools. Members of laboratory schools, like memberled study associations, regularly provide demonstration lessons at in-school and municipal lesson studies. Their members also serve as commentators and discussants at in-school and municipal lesson studies, as discussed later. In addition to gathering innovation led by enthusiast practitioners and fostering the identity of moral education enthusiasts, national conferences allow for keynote speaking to make a case for concentrating on certain important innovations or directions (whilst side-lining others). Presenters make sense of policy for participants, who take this knowledge, along with artefacts and other resources, back to their schools. Conferences promote practitioner literature authored by presenters, commentators, and its organizers. Sakae-sensei reported attending a regional conference once every couple of years either in Higashimachi or in central Tokyo. More regularly, she read bulletins of national associations and referred regularly to practitioner literature in comments at her study group.

Translating policy in(to) the school

209

The worksheet for The Happy Prince (I) adopted from her group by Tadasensei was created in response to a pre-planned discussion intended to ‘question the value’, a theme which was itself proposed by Sakae-sensei. This planning resonates with the exhortations of both Nagata and Sakamoto. Sakae-sensei, however, did not associate this idea with any particular expert, saying, ‘I think that everybody is trying to “question the value”’. She saw this objective as a general consensus on the requirements of the new moral education, guided by her engagement with bulletins and publications from associations and occasionally with regional conferences. Commentators and discussants

Lesson studies (%)

The in-school lesson studies at Umimachi Takanami JHS, discussed earlier, were undertaken entirely in-school. However, many in-school lesson studies and municipal lesson studies invite an external commentator. Figure 8.3 summarizes the affiliation of commentators at lesson studies in 2010, nationwide across all subjects. During this school year, 77.5% of elementary schools hosted board of education members, who would most likely be instructional advisors; 26.7% invited enthusiast teachers (without administrative responsibilities) from other schools; 24.9% invited university professors; 17.8% invited principals of other schools; and 13.6% invited commentators who did not fit into these categories (NIER 2011: 60). The figures are slightly lower but otherwise similar for junior high schools (ibid). Many commentators and discussants are invited by the school research committee and are known as expert practitioners who understand challenges in practice and base their policy work partially on knowledge of classroom practice. At larger conferences and events, it is commonplace for speakers to introduce themselves as practitioners, showing a slide or two of themselves standing in front of a class of children, even if they are currently positioned outside the school. Identification as an expert in terms of pedagogic and school-based knowledge accumulated as a teacher, rather than as a bureaucrat 100 80 60 40 20 0

Elementary School BoE Principal Teacher University Principal (other professor (retired) member (other school) school)

Other

Junior high school

Figure 8.3 Current affiliation of external commentators at in-school lesson studies (adapted from NIER 2011: 60)

210

Translating policy in(to) the school

or manager, is designed to build rapport. The case of instructional advisors, appointed to board of education positions, essentially with a remit to translate policy in a given subject or domain, is more complex, and is discussed below. Syllabus innovation from the principal’s ofce

At Nishimachi First JHS, the principal Sahashi-sensei led three syllabus innovations through the school’s research committee. Firstly, each block of six or seven lessons would end with extended time for refection by students. During this period, students spent half a lesson refecting on that block of lessons. The worksheet listed the lesson titles from the term. Below these are two rows in which students are prompted to write which materials studied in dōtoku left an impression and the reason(s). And below these are two further boxes are labelled ‘What did you learn in dōtoku lessons during this block?’ If you can think of a way that you have developed [yourself], let’s also write that’ and ‘Is there something you want to study or think about in dōtoku lessons next term?’ The worksheet appears similar to those found in many dōtoku classrooms but prompts students to refect over a whole block of lessons. Secondly, one and a half lessons were dedicated to the creation of a class dōtoku declaration (sengen) or slogan. The slogan was devised by students, initially in groups, using mini-whiteboards and worksheets, then refned as a class, and then transferred onto a poster and displayed at a prominent place near the entrances of the school. As discussed in Chapter Four, the overall picture of textbook materials can be described as eclectic. As such, refection over multiple lessons expands the space, if only slightly, to discuss contradictions between materials. Thirdly, a new format of moral education lesson was developed in each of the school’s two annual open schools. The innovative lesson format used a double period for moral education utilizing the now-classic materials The Magician and The Red Ogre Who Cried. The choice of materials was experimental because the stories are both ordinarily used for elementary, rather than junior high, lessons. The materials were carefully selected to ensure that each had been current in elementary coursebooks from most publishers during the relevant period of time. That is, most students would have encountered the stories some years earlier regardless of the location of their respective elementary schools. During frst period on a Saturday morning, every class of every grade of Nishimachi JHS studied the same elementary-level material in their respective homeroom class. For the second period, the whole school (over 460 students, assuming full attendance) assembled in the sports hall and continued the discussion of the moral education materials, chaired by the student council. This format was an attempt to reach greater depth by treating elementary materials a second time and to utilize student agency for building a wholeschool understanding on a moral issue. In total, the lessons for refection, the lessons for slogan creation, and the whole-school lessons reduced the number of lessons using regular materials

Translating policy in(to) the school 211 from the textbook to 27 full lessons and 4 half-lessons. This demonstrates that syllabus innovation remained technically possible even after the introduction of the moral education subject. Teachers at Nishimachi First JHS generally supported the new moral education syllabus. Whilst the overall structure was determined by the principal, teachers contributed amendments and suggestions through the school’s ‘moral education development (suishin) working group’, which was created, almost as a duplicate, from the in-school research committee the year before implementation of the new moral education was required. Asked who created the worksheet for refection, Sawada-sensei, who is herself is professionally invested in moral education, replied: ‘The principal. He is dōtoku’ (Kōchō wa dōtoku desu). The principal put in much of the work required to create a new syllabus. The worksheet for refection undertaken at the end of each term was created by the principal, but it was nonetheless quite similar to those that appear in commercially published student workbooks and to worksheets found for single lessons at other junior high schools (see Figure 7.1). The principal also volunteered to read and comment on all student portfolios at the end of the year. This was presented as a means to ensure consistency across classes during the frst year of implementation, but, similarly to the administrative head Tamamoto-sensei, this was also presented as a concession to teachers to avoid creating extra work for teaching faculty. As noted in Chapter Six, the content of the regular classes was planned in yeargroups. At Nishimachi First JHS, Sawada-sensei could refocus materials on a poem; Tajima-sensei could replace the lesson with a discussion of his new-born baby; and teachers with a partially critical stance, such as Konishi-sensei, could continue their existing practice. Though the innovations were efectuated through a committee (essentially the school’s research committee), they were directed by the principal. Nonetheless, Sahashi-sensei has also been long recognized locally as an expert practitioner of moral education. He was brought into the board of education initially as an instructional supervisor in moral education and wrote materials through a research group which were later adopted by a commercial textbook publisher for inclusion in their frst manuscript submitted for screening as a dōtoku textbook in 2017. His long-standing interest in education practice since his early career as a classroom teacher is corroborated by two other principals in Nishimachi. Sahashi-sensei’s school (Nishimachi First) was recommended as a ‘better case study school’ on my frst meetings with the principals of both Nishimachi Second JHS and Nishimachi Fourth JHS (not one of the feldwork schools) and by teachers at other schools. Whilst this demonstrates long-standing enthusiasm and refective practice in moral education, the ideas he has efectuated as principal are drawn from outside the school. The idea of re-deploying elementary-level materials at junior high school is not a new one. The 2018 Mitsumura textbook adopted by Nishimachi included one historically popular elementary-level dōtoku material at each grade as supplementary materials – The Wolf on the Bridge, The Red Ogre Who Cried, and The Magician.2 Each begins with the same prelude: ‘You may have

212

Translating policy in(to) the school

studied (mananda) the following story during dōtoku at elementary school. What do you think you will feel and think by re-studying (manabinaosu) the story now that you’re older (seichō-shita)?’. No other schools in Nishimachi, which all adopted the Mitsumura textbook, included these supplementary materials in their syllabi. However, whilst prompted by the opportunity presented by the textbook, Sahashi-sensei’s thinking was equally as infuenced by the work of a nationally recognized expert practitioner. More specifcally, Sahashi-sensei followed the work of Shigeo Nagata. Sahashi-sensei and the principal of a nearby elementary school led the Nishimachi City Dōtoku Study Group, which also counted as regular participants two junior high teachers (none of whom were faculty at Nishimachi First) and about ffteen elementary teachers. Through these years, the theme was designated as ‘using the same material for elementary and junior high lessons’. On one occasion, Nagata was invited as a guest lecturer and commentator. Sahashi-sensei presented on the students’ whole-school discussion of The Red Ogre Who Cried, and an elementary school teacher presented the outcomes of an innovation to focus class discussions on diferent parts of the same material. The practice of creating double periods resonated with the concurrent study theme of the Tokyo Gakugei University Attached Schools Research Group for Moral Education, partially led by Nagata, on cross-curricular double periods in which the same material was studied in both a kokugo lesson and a dōtoku lesson. At the Nishimachi City Dōtoku Study Group, Nagata advocated focusing on later pivot-points in each story with younger age-groups for afective responses, then focusing on pivot-points closer to the beginning of the story at progressively higher grades for analytical responses to ‘question to the value’. Though presented in very general terms, this model was developed by Nagata some years earlier in reference to The Red Ogre Who Cried. The lecture and extensive comments provided by Nagata at the study group responded to the presentations on lessons carried out by its members in Nishimachi. However, Nagata’s promotion of The Red Ogre Who Cried as a dōtoku material and his numerous reports on practice are well-known. The model presented in his lecture had itself been presented at other events, was published (e.g. Ito 2014), and was known to Sahashi-sensei before he invited Nagata to provide the lecture and comments. Policy work: local enthusiasts and expert practitioners In the school organization, both classroom teachers and administrators make sense of policy in a social context and in reference to the resources available. Diferences in their orientation to policy work are also important. Enthusiast teachers engage with lesson studies on the basis of their long-standing interest in a given domain of education practice and bring resources and knowledge into the school from member-led associations, practice reports, or other practitioner literature. They council colleagues and lead in-school lesson studies, making sense of policy for teachers, often re-deploying objectives, teaching

Translating policy in(to) the school 213 methods, and artefacts from elsewhere, and occasionally creating artefacts. Their work is frequently informed by regionally and nationally active expert practitioners.3 Local enthusiasts invite expert practitioners or board of education members as commentators and discussants in lesson studies. They choose commentators whose work responds to practical needs – that which makes sense to teachers on the basis of their prior knowledge, beliefs, and practices to fulfl their interpretations of the policy requirements. However, translations brought into the school, in the form of demonstrations, commentaries, discussion, or artefacts such as syllabi, lesson plans, worksheets, and guides, also make sense for teachers. Just as enthusiasts make sense of policy for receivers in their own and surrounding schools, they themselves make sense of policy in reference to expert practitioners both inside and just outside the education system, and often outside the municipality. Framed in the language of practice, these translations are based partially on knowledge of practice, ofering a means to fulfl policy requirements without compromising core beliefs. Whilst expert practitioners build a preferred interpretation of policy, this rarely entails advocating overtly against the written form of policy. Their visions of practice may be achieved by focusing on parts of policy that match teachers’ interests, or demonstrating how seemingly unsavoury policy can indeed be interpreted to serve teachers’ interests. They emphasize the aspects that further their cause, implicitly side-lining aspects which are potentially questionable, and they reinterpret contentious aspects. The practices they advocate are largely compatible with, and often legitimized by, written policy. This can be seen most easily in the case of nationally active expert practitioners who hold ofces liminal to the education system. Expert practitioners The careers of Shigeo Nagata and Tetsuhiko Sakamoto were outlined in Chapter Three. Both were appointed instructional advisors on the basis of recognition as experts in moral education as classroom teachers and progressed into administrative positions. Sakamoto has shaped moral education practice in the West of Japan, advocating universal design for learning on the basis of ‘moral education for thinking and discussion’, which, he writes, are the ‘very foundation’ of moral education lessons (Sakamoto 2018). For Shigeo Nagata, too, the Curriculum Guidance provides a touchstone when advocating for a ‘moral education for thinking and discussion’ and ‘considering multiple perspectives and multiple angles’. These interpretations grate against the control sought by central government policy over moral education specifcally, but they are presented as coherent with policy on active learning. The efect is to amplify the greater freedom potentialized by active learning within the confnes of mandatory textbook usage. Nagata was a lynchpin of the Tokyo Gakugei University Integrated Moral Education Programme, which compiled a series of fve surveys to build a ‘databank’ on various aspects of moral education (e.g. Nagata and Fujisawa 2012):

214

Translating policy in(to) the school

a survey of teachers on their planning and teaching methods for moral education classtime; a survey of board of education members on the administration of moral education; a survey of adults on their childhood experiences, moral education lessons, and current disposition; a survey of trainee/aspiring teachers on their childhood experiences of moral education lessons; and a survey of university staf responsible for teacher education provision. The extent of the surveys of teachers are comparable in ‘N-number’ only to the ofcial surveys undertaken by the Ministry of Education on an efectively compulsory basis, and they moreover diferentiate schools that have special features (such as prefecturally designated moral education research schools). Previous studies have argued that teachers in Japan value experience over abstract principles (Shimahara 2002b). Takayama and Lingard recently demonstrated the important role of instructional advisors in constructing meaning on the basis of pedagogic knowledge. They are ‘At the core of the Japanese idiosyncrasy’, Takayama and Lingard (2019: 463) argue, speaking of continuity and change in relation to another educational issue: Instructional advisors . . . have dominated the municipal and prefectural educational bureaucracies. Having been classroom teachers and worked closely with them, instructional advisors remain embedded within the traditional professional discourse where teachers’ tacit and embodied forms of knowledge about children and learning are highly valued. As expert teachers, their identities are formed around their intuitive understanding of teaching and learning and deep understanding of a given subject matter. In agreement with Takayama and Lingard, instructional advisors, appointed to help construct meaning in planning, pedagogical, and administrative practices, are active in translating policy. Expert practitioners overlap with the category of instructional advisor, and with other roles at the board of education. However, this study argues for an expanded category of expert practitioner to include not only instructional advisors, but also other roles on the administrative track, and often outside of it. Expert practitioners both migrate between formal administrative roles and hold multiple roles, within or just outside of the education system. Table 3.3 lists roles: in school administration, at the board of education, on policy councils advising the Ministry of Education, directly employed part-time by the Ministry, with textbook publishers, in teacher training, and academic posts in universities. The similarity between the work of nationally infuential expert practitioners and descriptions of ‘policy entrepreneurs’ emphasizes the degree of independence enjoyed by these actors. Like policy entrepreneurs, expert practitioners make investments of ‘time, energy, reputation, and sometimes money’ (Kingdon 1995: 204) hoping to see a return in the form of policy change: Policy entrepreneurs are ambitious in pursuit of a cause. They display sociability and exhibit high levels of social acuity. To secure credibility within specifc policy circles, they draw on their past accomplishments and

Translating policy in(to) the school 215 expertise, their professional connections and whatever power or prestige they enjoy in their current positions. They are tenacious. In promoting signifcant policy change, policy entrepreneurs deploy several strategies. These include framing problems and redefning policy solutions, using and expanding networks, creating advocacy and coalitions, leading by example and scaling-up advocacy initiatives to expand the scope of policy change. (Mintrom 2020: 1, following Mintrom 2000) However, rather than being opportunistic or exploiting a need for innovation, the expert practitioners in this study have remained committed to the development of one or two domains of education for a period of many years or decades, long before it became the subject of reform. Rather than pursuing one irreversible ‘big change’ in written policy, their work is more open ended, seeking steady innovation or general development of the feld in practice. Moreover, expert practitioners in Japan are typically working for improvement in the public sphere, whereas policy entrepreneurs have become associated with shared interests in privatization. Chapter Three discussed policy actors, such as Yoshio Oshitani, Takashi Muto, and Shigeki Kaizuka, who are consulted by the MEXT Central Council for Education and who also work through its sub-committees, mostly as career university professors. These actors may be more readily seen as policy entrepreneurs. Needless to say, the distinction is not clear-cut. These actors and their successors have chaired textbook editorial committees, and they remain committed to a single domain of policy rather than searching for opportunities to exploit. Conversely, practitioners brought into the Ministry of Education may come to operate mainly through policy outcomes. Tetsuya Asami, also discussed in Chapter Three, is a career educator later brought into the Ministry of Education. He edits moral education content for the MEXT journal Papers on Primary Education, defning an ofcial history of moral education policy. These papers are intended mainly for an audience of policy insiders. Nonetheless, they provide a platform for the voices of instructional advisors and select teachers and school administrators, and they seem to be focused on the process rather than realizing any particular ‘big change’. His work intends to speak to moral education enthusiasts and school administrators. In this sense, he operates as an expert practitioner. Expert practitioners translate policy, shaping the ways in which sense is made of policy by teachers, assistant principals, principals and school administrators, and board of education instructional advisors. However, this way of conceptualizing infuence is overly hierarchical. Many expert practitioners in these roles are transferred not out of their position as a teacher but partially within that position. Career progression on the ‘administrative-track career trajectory’ (Takayama and Lingard 2019) rotates between roles and contexts. This is how the board of education gains, or is in fact largely composed of, pedagogical expertise. These positions may be ‘based’ variously near the classroom, in the school ofces, or in board of education ofces, but administrators move back and forth between the school, board of education, and other public

216

Translating policy in(to) the school

institutions. For example, in smaller municipalities, principals are appointed from amongst those with experience in roles of both deputy principal and instructional advisor. Advisors and assistant principals provide expertise to the principal, but the principal is more senior than those board of education members. Again, it is not unusual for a department head of the board of education to rotate (back) to the ofce of principal, perhaps at a school with particular characteristics. Likewise, though the Ministry of Education is largely composed of career civil servants, there is also smaller-scale systematic job rotation between the prefecture and the Ministry, and multiple other systems for incorporating knowledge from practice into policymaking. The most successful expert practitioners (a) work to identify with, and to be identifed as, teachers rather than bureaucrats or managers, utilizing personalprofessional connections to support and infuence practice as members of the teaching community. They (b) often hold public ofce, but (c) are independently committed to the pursuit of improvement in their area of expertise, and (d) base judgement on knowledge of both classroom practice and of the policy world, (e) leveraging (their interpretation of) ofcial policy to advocate innovation in practice. More widely recognized expert practitioners are liminal along three dimensions: they are identifed within the community of teachers but are based outside the school; they are largely independent in their feld of expertise but hold public ofce; and they speak the languages of both practice and policy. They work with, not wholly within, the school organization. Translating policy into practice The national curriculum, the curriculum guidance, and textbooks are not received into schools unmediated. This chapter illustrates some of the microprocesses that shaped how teachers made sense of curriculum reform and enacted it at the feldwork schools. It provides a heuristic of expert practitioners and their potential to make sense of policy for teachers in Japan’s schools. Whilst a small number of enthusiast teachers actively worked toward the goals of ‘dōtoku for thinking and discussion’, a more receptive majority adopted worksheets, mini-whiteboards, and portfolio assessment as sensible tools to enact the requirements of the reform, which infuenced the structure of moral education lessons. Enthusiasts invested time in creating and searching for translations that made sense for in-school colleagues. However, they did so in reference to translations found outside the school. They brought artefacts and adapted ideas, created by regionally and nationally active expert practitioners, into the school as they took supporting and leadership positions. And they invited expert practitioners into the school as commentators and discussants at local lesson study events. These expert practitioners are current or former teachers with experience in a range of positions in and near school administration who promote innovation in practice, in reference to policy, and through national and regional networks. As

Translating policy in(to) the school 217 their translations make sense to teachers, they simultaneously make sense for teachers and translate policy into practice. Notes 1 Recent research on blackboard writing in Japan (e.g. Tan 2023; Tan et al. 2023) has discussed how teachers decide what to write. Though perhaps implicit in these previous studies, I observed moreover that blackboard plans and post-lesson photographs of it can encode lesson plans, and that teachers develop an ability to ‘read’ the lesson plan from blackboard images in reference to their cognitive scripts of model lessons. 2 The elementary material The Magician was also included as a supplementary material in the 2006 edition of the 9th-grade Nichibun coursebook. Beyond speculation, however, no connection is apparent. 3 I previously defned a category of ‘practitioner advocates’ (Bamkin 2022). However, this earlier work failed to adequately distinguish between high-profle, nationally infuential actors and those active regionally and in individual schools. This chapter intends to further clarify and develop this theory.

References Apple, Michael W. 1983. Work, class and teaching. In S. Walker & L. Barton (eds) Gender, Class and Education (2013 reprint ed.). Routledge. Azuma, Hiroshi. 2002. The development of the course of study and the structure of educational reform in Japan. In Gary DeCoker (ed) National Standards and School Reform in Japan and the United States, 5–18. Teachers College Press. Bamkin, Sam. 2022. Practitioner advocates in Japan: bringing in knowledge of practice for policy translation. Journal of Education Policy, 37(6), 965–985. https://doi.org /10.1080/02680939.2021.1941267. Cave, Peter. 2014. Education after the ‘lost decade’: Stability or stagnation. In Satsuki Kawano, Glenda Roberts & Susan Long (eds) Capturing Contemporary Japan, 271–299. University Press of Hawaii. Fernandez, Clea. 2002. Learning from Japanese approaches to professional development: the case of lesson study. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(5), 393–405. https://doi.org/10.1177/002248702237394. Ito, Keiichi. 2014. 研究資料・資料分析「泣いた赤おに」[Research reports & material analysis section: the Red Ogre Who Cried]. 道徳教育 [Dōtoku Kyōiku], 675, 57–59. Kingdon, John W. 1995. Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies. Longman. LeTendre, Gerald. 2002. Setting national standards: educational reform, social change, and political confict. In Gary DeCoker (ed) National Standards and School Reform in Japan and the United States, 19–34. Teachers College Press. Lewis, Catherine. 2002. Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change. Research for Better Schools. Lewis, Catherine. 2009. What is the nature of knowledge development in lesson study? Educational Action Research, 17(1), 95–110. https://doi. org/10.1080/09650790802667477. McLaughlin, Milbrey W. 1990. The Rand change agent study revisited: macro perspectives and micro realities. Educational Researcher, 19(9), 11–16. MEXT. 2013. 道徳教育実施状況調査 [2012 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. MEXT. MEXT. 2022. 道徳教育実施状況調査 (令和3年度実施) [2021 Survey on the State of Dōtoku]. www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/doutoku/chousa/mext_00080.html.

218

Translating policy in(to) the school

Mintrom, Michael. 2000. Policy Entrepreneurs and School Choice. Georgetown University Press. Mintrom, Michael. 2020. Policy Entrepreneurs and Dynamic Change. Cambridge University Press. Nagata, Shigeo & A. Fujisawa. 2012. 道徳教育に関する小・中学校教員を対象とした 調査 [Survey of Teachers on Moral Education]. Tokyo Gakugei University. https:// web.archive.org/web/20220204081138/www.u-gakugei.ac.jp/~kokoro/databank/data/report_2012houkokuALL.pdf (archived 22-02-04). NIER. 2011. 教員の質の向上に関する調査研究報告書 [Report on 2009–10 Survey on Raising Teacher Quality]. NIER. www.nier.go.jp/kenkyukikaku/pdf/kyouin-003_ report.pdf. Piaget, Jean. 1972. The Psychology of the Child. Basic Books. Sakamoto, Tetsuhiko. 2018. 小学校新学習指導要領 道徳の授業づくり [Making Dōtoku Lessons for the New Curriculum]. Meiji Tosho. Shimahara, Nobuo. 2002a. Teacher professional development in Japan. In Gary DeCoker (ed) National Standards and School Reform in Japan and the United States, 107–120. Teachers College Press. Shimahara, Nobuo. 2002b. Teaching in Japan: A Cultural Perspective. Psychology Press. Spillane, James P. 1999. External reform initiatives and teachers’ eforts to reconstruct their practice: the mediating role of teachers’ zones of enactment. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 31(2), 143–175. https://doi.org/10.1080/002202799183205. Spillane, James P., Brian J. Reiser & Todd Reimer. 2002. Policy implementation and cognition: reframing and refocusing implementation research. Review of Educational Research, 72(3), 387–431. www.jstor.org/stable/3515992. Takayama, Keita & Bob Lingard. 2019. Datafcation of schooling in Japan: an epistemic critique through the ‘problem of Japanese education’. Journal of Education Policy, 34(4), 449–469. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2018.1518542. Tan, Shirley. 2023. Variations of board writing styles in Japanese schools: how is it related to the teaching of school subjects? The Teacher Educator, 58(3), 347–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/08878730.2022.2140237. Tan, Shirley, Shiho Nozaki, Hongxue Fu & Yoshiaki Shibata. 2023. The principles of teacher’s decision-making in Japanese board writing (bansho) process. Asia Pacifc Journal of Education, 43(1), 236–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2021 .1924119. Yufu, Sawako & Ryoji Matsuoka. 2018. The growing infuence of political leadership on teacher education. In Akiyoshi Yonezawa, Yuto Kitamura, Beverly Yamamoto & Tomoko Tokunaga (eds) Japanese Education in a Global Age. Education in the Asia-Pacifc Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 175–194. Springer. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-981-13-1528-2_10.

9

Policy enactment in Japan

Policy is done not only by governmental bodies and at local sites such as schools and classrooms, but also through processes in between. The voices of classroom teachers at the end of the line have long been represented in ethnographic studies of education in Japan. Later accounts considered how teachers responded to the Ministry’s reliance on schools to build courses for integrated studies. However, the microprocesses of policy enactment in and around schools have largely been overlooked in studies of education in Japan. This study moved with the change along one trajectory of reform to examine various moments of policy enactment, flling in some of the gaps between state policy and school practice. It has illustrated the involvement of expert practitioners in policy work at multiple levels of Japan’s education system and some interactions amongst teachers and school administrators who orient themselves diferently in relation to policy work. It illuminates how expert practitioners and local enthusiasts translate policy closer to the language of practice, and the respective policy work of classroom teachers and school administrators as they make sense of reform. Moreover, as discussed below, the Japanese education system incorporates particular structures that recognize expertise in particular domains of education practice and facilitate the infuence of expert practitioners. The outcomes of the reform of moral education are signifcant in their own right. More importantly, careful interpretation of the case of moral education sheds light on how policy and curriculum reform are enacted in the Japanese education system. The moral education subject since 2018 and beyond Moral education is one of the most controversial aspects of Japanese schooling. Historically, though not inevitably, it has served as an ideological battleground in post-War education, and perhaps further back in history. Journalism and research on high-level policymaking have exposed nationalistic motives amongst politicians, some of whom draw inspiration from antecedents in pre-War imperialistic indoctrination. On the other hand, teachers and school administrators are unlikely to be willing agents of mass-indoctrination and are DOI: 10.4324/9781003125471-10

220

Policy enactment in Japan

neither ignorant of debates on imperialism and post-War political struggles, nor are they powerless to navigate insensitive policy. Undertaken by teachers as everyday professional practice, the broad concept of moral education and the prescribed classtime for moral education aim to foster prosocial sentiment, caring, friendship, fundamental life habits for health and happiness, perseverance and hard work, and thinking about one’s actions and relations to other people and society, a sense of belonging in the school, locality, and region or nation, as well as a range of eclectic, contested, and sometimes unrealistically ambitious objectives. Redesignating moral education as a subject was a symbolic victory for the now-dominant culturally conservative wing of the LDP. The initial policy at cabinet level sought to defne an ofcial morality, relegating individual freedoms for its defnition of the good of society, envisioning an ‘enlightenment from above’. In echoing sentiments, phrases, and even policymaking processes from earlier eras of strong government, the reform proclaimed the newfound power of the Abe administrations to drive policy and basked in the undeniable decline of the organized Left and of oppositional power in Parliament. Some politicians in central government may have believed, just as many detractors did, that bringing the new moral education subject under the textbook screening system and introducing formal assessment would precipitate greater, and more state-oriented, control over its content. However, the curriculum changed little and was mediated by its curriculum guidance. Recent and current textbooks can be characterized as eclectic. Textbook publishers have long worked closely with teachers and school administrators to produce (as far as possible) pedagogically sound and compelling materials within the constraints of the curriculum. The resulting textbooks include materials created by commercial coursebook publishers, those created under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and boards of education, and those adopted by publishers from amongst materials created generally by children’s writers and created for moral education by education practitioners. Many contents are carried over from pre-existing coursebooks. Numerous lobby and interest groups have advanced overlapping threads of materials in pursuit of particular perspectives on morality, inspired variously by psychology, sentimentalism, pedagogy, pacifsm, and patriotism. New trends, such as essays, songs, viral stories, and studies of factual information seem no more statist than earlier content. Patriotism is a discernible but minor theme in recent coursebooks and, most likely, in current textbooks. The curriculum guidance also called for moral education for thinking and discussion, by thinking from multiple standpoints and multiple perspectives through lessons that use, but do not follow, the textbook in reference to wider curriculum reforms working toward ‘active learning’. In practice, moral education lessons in municipal schools in Japan are far more mundane than might be expected from the intensity of political and media debate over its content and status. Coursebooks were voluntarily and widely utilized by teachers long before the current curriculum revision, and long before ofcial coursebooks, beginning with Kokoro no Nōto, were

Policy enactment in Japan 221 commissioned. In this sense, the previous coursebooks and current textbooks make planning easier. Many teachers are sceptical of government intentions and wary of teaching content that might be perceived as statist or patriotic in any strong sense, though lessons on ‘good things that Japanese people can achieve’ are perceived as relatively harmless, and localism is commonly embraced in local schools. Standard models of dōtoku lessons were developed ‘bottom-up’ by educators in schools as street-level bureaucrats. Where there is enthusiasm, teachers can use materials creatively, usually through the yeargroup forum. Nonetheless, far from the moral education classtime envisaged by its scholarly supporters in the late 1950s and earlier, in which ‘the teacher, rather than teaching morality, can work with students to examine aspects of life, to think together about the issues and their application’, teachers most frequently use material pragmatically in areas outside the most contentious topics. However, new life was breathed into the spirit of ‘examining aspects of life’ and ‘thinking together’ by the call for ‘moral education for thinking and discussion’ in the curriculum guidance. Local enthusiasts worked through lesson studies to promote more writerly approaches to materials, peer discussion, free contribution, and consensus. These were promoted partly through the introduction of worksheets with space for contrasting perspectives, lesson plans that required the use of mini-whiteboards, and by the promotion of portfolio assessment. The controversial history surrounding dōtoku attracts perennial criticism from the worlds of journalism and academia, particularly at times of change. This causes perennial headaches for those policymakers who are not ideologically committed to its current format. Recently, the Ministry of Education has been researching new subjects under the rubrics of global citizenship and education for sustainable development, which may come to serve as candidates to replace moral education as dōtoku. As such, a sea change may be on the horizon, at least at the junior high level. Whilst the fndings on moral education in junior high school developed in this book may become outdated under subsequent revisions of the national curriculum, the light shed through this window on policy enactment in Japanese schools will remain relevant. It will be particularly relevant to future policies driven through the Ministry of Education by the prime ministerial executive, and those readily characterized as culturally conservative. Micro-processes between state policy and school practice Sensemaking and enactment

National education policy cannot be simply implemented in schools. Much depends on how teachers, school administrators, and other actors make sense of policies based on their prior knowledge, beliefs, and practices, the multitude of current policies and demands, and translations ofered by colleagues, particularly those recognized as both experts and members of the teaching community.

222

Policy enactment in Japan

Cave (2016) analysed the enactment of the earlier curriculum reform for integrated studies largely in terms of institutionalized beliefs and practice, which can be maintained in the face of curriculum revision in Japanese schools, making fundamental change difcult. The earlier reform of integrated studies was, to a certain extent, ‘appropriated’ (Sutton and Levinson 2001: 2–4, cited by Cave 2016: 221) and used to continue previous practices, such as revision sessions and school trips, which could be re-labelled as integrated studies. In many ways, enactment amounted to existing practices, ‘repackaged’ to fulfl what was required (Cave 2016: 221). Bjork’s (2016: 202) fndings were similar, but with greater emphasis on parental expectations: Teachers made decisions with careful attention to the factors that determined their students’ immediate educational prospects, their classroom experience, and the wishes of local communities, rather than MEXT priorities. Similar processes could be observed in the adoption of contemporary issues into moral education. However, the requirements for integrated studies consisted largely of ‘abstract principles’ which are ‘susceptible to being understood in superfcial and idiosyncratic ways’ (Spillane et al. 2002: 416). Indeed, the blank slate provided by the Ministry of Education more or less required integrated studies to be appropriated by schools or local boards of education. What was far from the intention of the reform may not have seemed that way to those who enacted it. On the other hand, the moral education reform imposed specifc requirements in a bid to control content, to which educators needed to respond in diferent, more constrained ways. Teachers and school administrators were aware of sensitivities in debates on moral education, and the historical and political reasons for them. Care was taken in faculty meetings to respect the views of colleagues, particularly those taking a critical stance. However, the Left-Right framing of political debate is no longer sustained across any majority of the teaching community. Economic conditions have been comfortable through the living memory of contemporary teachers. Though scepticism toward government is evident, the connections made between moral education and pre-1945 statism remain most consistently as vestiges in the feld of collective memory and in practices built during the intellectual and ideological fervent of the immediate post-War period. Many teachers expressed a desire to avoid patriotic materials and to retain some fexibility in lesson planning by the homeroom teacher, who knows students the best. Yet, teachers are generally committed to realizing their understandings of policy to the extent that it does not confict greatly with ideologically held beliefs. Despite limited time and scepticism toward government control, teachers searched for palatable and pragmatic ways to realize policy requirements. Textbook content and the more rigid requirement for a syllabus plan, to the extent that they were new, were adopted pragmatically and assimilated into existing models and resources for moral education practice. Also pragmatically,

Policy enactment in Japan 223 teachers at junior high school took the opportunity to prepare fewer lessons by adopting a rota system, coming to organize moral education more like existing subjects. The default position to follow textbooks was strengthened, leaving a steeper slope to climb for teachers and yeargroups wishing to modify contents. Discussions amongst teacher yeargroups worked to follow policy but also included ‘misunderstandings and fruitful reconstruction[s] of existing knowledge’ (Spillane 2004: 2) as teachers made sense of policy. In any given subject or domain of education, only a minority of educators are doing policy work with any great enthusiasm. These practitioners study and search for resources outside the school and invite guest speakers who bring ideas and artefacts into the school. New ideas are introduced into the school either by local enthusiasts, who have a longstanding interest in its development, or by expert practitioners invited into the school by local enthusiasts or by school administrators. Expert practitioners demonstrate and advocate new practices in reference to knowledge of pedagogy consistent with many beliefs institutionally shared by teachers. They rarely advocate against policy but emphasize aspects of policy that further their cause and sideline those which might be seen as contentious. Their translations and associated artefacts ofer means to realize policy requirements in the most palatable way. The majority of teachers might be characterized as receivers in relation to any given domain of education practice. As receivers search for resources that make sense to them, those translations partially make sense of the policy for them. Should practices in newly introduced contemporary issues, such as bullying and information morality, develop in school practice, it will likely be led by regionally and nationally active expert practitioners and the networks they work to build. However, though infuential, this should not suggest that expert practitioners can freely impose practices upon teachers. The infuence of such translations depends greatly on their adoption by local enthusiasts, committees, and classroom teachers in the school, who are seeking resources to realize policy requirements relatively painlessly without confict with strongly held beliefs. The use of worksheets, mini-whiteboards, and portfolio assessment introduced innovation, altering the structure of lessons to provide more space for student contributions. Both encourage lesson structures through which students can think from multiple standpoints and from multiple perspectives in discussion with peers and question the value intended for study, which can inform criteria for higher-order thinking skills. Some teachers began to plan lessons with ‘thinking and discussion’ in mind, as understanding followed action. Change was realized to standardized lesson models, teaching methods, and, at times, to teachers’ approaches to planning moral education lessons. The policy was translated by recognized expert practitioners as teachers sought to make sense of policy in the social professional context of local schools. The passage of these translations into the school and their adoption were supported by local enthusiasts drawing on resources in practitioner literature and with access to interpretations developed in regional or national member-led associations. Innovation is partially driven by local enthusiasts who operate

224

Policy enactment in Japan

through the same member-led associations as expert practitioners, who contribute to, collate, refne, and disseminate innovation, in addition to working as commentators and discussants at local lesson studies. The early careers of expert practitioners look very much like those of local enthusiasts. The interactions between expert practitioners and local actors, with varying orientations to policy work, shape the enactment of policy. Without contradiction, it can be said that expert practitioners remain embedded within the professional discourse of teachers, sharing institutionalized beliefs and pedagogic knowledge, whilst challenging some established practices for innovation. They operate within, and they modify, knowledge of practice. Making written policy

Criticism of high-level policy is often levelled at ‘the government’, uncritical of rifts in interests that exist between the cabinet and the Ministry of Education, and between departments in the Ministry. Taking advantage of the increased strength of the prime ministerial executive, the reform of moral education was the frst major curriculum revision initiated primarily outside the regular curriculum cycle through a private policy council to the prime minister. It was ‘driven through’ the Ministry. Concomitantly, the initial move to reform moral education was culturally conservative and sought control over curriculum content. The policymaking process difered from that of previous curriculum revisions, such as the new subject of life studies in the lower grades of elementary school in the early 1990s, the call for greater experiential learning in the late 1990s, and the introduction of relaxed education, which were long-term progressive projects of the Ministry. In this case, MEXT delivered the ‘centrepiece’ of the culturally conservative policy, which was formulated without the involvement of education specialists. However, policy is not only handed down to the Ministry, but evolves as it moves through it. This fundamental reform was eroded to a signifcant degree as it evolved through the Ministry of Education. This fnding is reminiscent of Schoppa’s (1991) seminal study of policy immobilism. However, the policy landscape has changed considerably. Schoppa demonstrated that the Ministry of Education, and particularly sub-committees of its Central Council for Education, defeated, diluted, or indefnitely postponed policy before its promulgation. However, the promulgation of the cabinet’s core requirements to strengthen moral education were never in question. The CCE has been packed with loyalists, and its sub-committees had little scope during this expedited policymaking process to leave much of a mark on the outcome. The erosion of the cabinet-level bid for control rather occurred through other departments of the Ministry and lower-level councils. The Ministry of Education is implicated in policymaking in multiple ways: as an arm of government fused with the cabinet; as a bureaucracy that implicitly seeks to increase its turf and to maintain stability, cognizant of sensitive issues and the demands placed on teachers; as a civil service working to realize numerous partially incompatible policies; and as a conduit for expertise

Policy enactment in Japan 225 based on pedagogic knowledge gained through classroom practice and school administration. The higher echelons of MEXT tend to follow policies driven by the cabinet. At the lower levels, some quarters of MEXT rely on practitioners. The Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education needs to be porous to ensure input from practitioners so that policy makes sense to school administrators and classroom teachers. Civil servants in some departments are closer to educators on the ground, and they appoint expert practitioners to policy councils. The decline in unionism has allowed for greater exchange between civil servants and educators. Aspinall (2001: 187) noted in the aftermath of the collapse of the Japan Teachers’ Union as an organ of clear opposition that: There is also no evidence that the Ministry of Education has taken the opportunity of the Union’s schism to seek to impose a right-wing set of reforms onto Japan’s schools, something that the left in Japan were very much afraid of in the aftermath of the Occupation. Instead, the evidence now makes it seem that the MOE’s main enemies are from the right and centre, not the left. Curriculum and guidance documents are written in a particular code, which requires cooperation with teachers and school administrators with knowledge of practice. Thus, the Ministry ‘brings in’ current or semi-retired teaching professionals and education professors, who ‘reach up’ and contribute to making written policy which makes sense to (and for) teachers. The (re)interpretation of policy begins before its promulgation. Just as policy entrepreneurs and members of select interests contribute to the formulation of cabinet policy, which is driven through the Ministry, the Ministry simultaneously flls in the blanks with details drawn from its longer-standing objectives and from expert practitioners brought in to draft curriculum guidance. Indeed, the selection of expert practitioners for appointment to policy councils and groups to support the drafting of the curriculum guidance is made by civil servants on the basis of prior knowledge of the work of those practitioners. Textbooks enter almost every debate about changing practice. They remain powerful artefacts for translating policy into practice. The selection of materials for textbooks is infuenced by numerous stakeholders, including expert practitioners and university professors who sit on textbook editorial boards. The screening process may not be the most important determining factor in the selection of content by commercial textbook publishers. Publishers appear to be more concerned with satisfying the local adoption process. Moreover, textbook screening has become more transparent in recent years, and it is led by practitioners appointed by MEXT as textbook inspectors. Active learning

Active learning is the latest name for a series of attempts by the Ministry, reaching back at least several decades, to realize more experiential, deeper,

226

Policy enactment in Japan

child-centred learning in Japan’s classrooms. Whilst the reticence of some quarters of the Ministry of Education and the work of expert practitioners provide partial reasons for the evolution of policy in the Ministry, moral education is but one subject in the more comprehensive programme of the national curriculum. The pedagogic (and social) project of active learning runs through the curriculum. As such, it provides a signifcant resource to those seeking to reshape restrictive policy. Simultaneously, moral education was the Petri dish in which the current strain of active learning was incorporated into ofcial curriculum guidance. This is mainly because its curriculum guidance was created some years before the full curriculum revision. Separately, however, the initiative of the Ministry to frefght against summative or otherwise stronger forms of assessment in moral education inadvertently defned parts of the new curriculum-wide assessment framework, which emerged two years later in 2017. In particular, it produced the ‘evaluation of the individual’ outside ‘graded assessment’.1 It was moreover in reference to active learning that expert practitioners ‘reaching up’ into MEXT shaped the curriculum guidance. As such, whilst expert practitioners advocate moral education ‘for thinking and discussion’ and ‘considering multiple perspectives and multiple angles’, they are drawing on the broader and wider-ranging policy strand of active learning developed by MEXT. This further evidences a rift in educational vision between the cabinet and the Ministry, and perhaps a tendency for the Ministry to consider pedagogy in policymaking. In turn, the curriculum and guidance are written partly by practitioners and are more likely to make sense to teachers. The micro-processes that leverage active learning are brought into sharper focus through the study of moral education because of its genesis in the cabinet seeking control of content with culturally conservative undertones. Nonetheless, its structural requirements – the use of textbooks, an annual syllabus plan, and assessment – remain, working as both a constraint and further means through which expert practitioners work to shape practice in schools. Curling policy

Expert practitioners have been discussed at numerous junctures in the preceding chapters. Chapter Three discussed the evolution of policy through the Ministry of Education. Civil servants in certain departments, including in the Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education, placed limitations on the scope of reform. The curriculum guidance was written by the same department in collaboration with practitioners brought into the Ministry. It called for ‘moral education for thinking and discussion’, which encourages an ‘attitude and desire to continue thinking about those [contemporary issues] for which there is no single answer’, and to do so ‘from multiple perspectives and multiple angles’. This promotes complex and challenging lessons which ‘utilize the textbook but do not follow it’, requiring teachers to apply pedagogic knowledge and skills. Similarly, Chapter Four illustrated the diversity of stakeholders involved

Policy enactment in Japan 227 in the compilation and editing of textbooks. Practitioners and education professors with expertise in school practice have been two groups amongst others closely involved with the editing of textbooks. The practitioner literature and teacher guidebooks discussed in Chapter Two were written by expert practitioners. Expert practitioners also worked with enthusiast school administrators and board of education members, through informal networks, at regional and national conferences and member-led associations, and at municipal and inschool lesson studies. Bernstein suggests that translation2 occurs in two felds: the ‘ofcial recontextualization feld’ and the ‘pedagogical recontextualization feld’. The ofcial feld produces authoritative documents and is dominated by the state, its agencies, and the inspectorate. The pedagogic feld ‘consists of agencies at multiple levels, including professional development units responsible for translating policy into manuals, procedures, and handbooks for teachers, and for ofering other forms of support to schools and teachers in enacting the policy’. It is composed of ‘specialized media of education, weeklies, journals, and publishing houses together with their readers and advisers’ (Bernstein 1990: 192), schools, and university departments of education (Singh et al. 2013). Its power is ‘bottom-up’. In this formulation, the interpretation of high-level written policy and policy work at local sites are relatively separate. However, rather than a clear distinction between these two felds, there is signifcant overlap in the context of Japan. Nationally recognized expert practitioners in Japan are those enthusiasts who have extended their reach beyond the local context. Many contribute ideas to lesson studies, conferences, and member-led associations. Some become leaders of national groups and infuence school administrators through practitioner literature and informal networks. This recognition as a leading practitioner allows some expert practitioners to ‘reach up’ into the ofcial feld of policymaking, for example on committees that draft curriculum guidance. These practitioners enter into the world of policymaking, without leaving the world of practice. The curriculum guidance was well-suited to support practices advocated by widely recognized expert practitioners partly because it was those same practitioners who collaborated on its drafting. Practitioners who reach up into the Ministry partially create the very policy they will later translate into practice. The terms used in the curriculum guidance for moral education serve as ‘hooks’ which can be caught by practitioners working in the pedagogic recontextualization feld to legitimize their advocacy of more pedagogically open practices. Those involved at numerous moments of policymaking can be observed ‘curling’ the trajectory of policy, active from drafting the curriculum and curriculum guidance, to writing practitioner literature for administrators and classroom teachers, collating, editing, and gatekeeping ideas whilst hosting national conferences, organizing lesson studies in laboratory schools, commenting at regional study groups, attending lesson studies at municipal schools, and working directly with school administrators.

228

Policy enactment in Japan

Facilitating the infuence of expert practitioners in Japan Expert practitioners within and liminal to the education system, operating at a range of levels, play a signifcant role in translating policy, making sense of it for teachers, which shapes its enactment. Kariya and Rappleye (2020) and Schoppa (2013) suggest paying more attention to structures that have brought about particular patterns of behaviour, perhaps quite accidently (or due to path dependency). Certain structural features of the Japanese education and policymaking system allow expert practitioners to operate liminally, with access to both policymaking processes and to local schools. Bringing in knowledge of practice to policy work

The Japanese education system contains formal mechanisms for ‘bringing in’ knowledge of practice to policymaking contexts. Expert practitioners are mobile between positions and serve, either concurrently or sequentially, in multiple roles. Those with formal positions squarely in the education system – instructional advisors, assistant principals, and (vice-)principals – are discussed, followed by those on the periphery of the education system – including formally retired educators, roles working on policy committees, university professors, and textbooks editors. Positions within the education system are allocated through the complex process of personnel rotation. Every year personnel rotation reallocates about one ffth of teachers and school administrators (Kawakami 2013; Fukuya 2015: 212), meaning that each teacher can expect to be transferred to a diferent school every three to six years. Horizontal transfer in the personnel rotation system at public schools has long been credited for facilitating network expansion and information and values sharing (Sato and McLaughlin 1992; Fernandez 2002; Kawakami and Seno 2011; Kariya and Rappleye 2020: 64–65). The rotation system also allocates administrative roles. Appointments to administrative positions are selected from amongst those transferring and are based on experience and perceived merit, forming a fuzzy pyramid of seniority including administrative roles both in the school and in the municipal and prefectural board of education ofces. Teachers’ employment status generally does not change between roles within the public school system, including administrative posts in schools and at the board of education. Promotion to the role of instructional advisor is an important juncture because it is the frst promotion out of the school, working primarily at the board of education. Previous studies have argued that teachers in Japan (and probably not only in Japan) value experience over abstract principles. Takayama and Lingard (2019) connect this preference with the existence of instructional advisors. A culturalist interpretation is possible here – that a particular preference of Japanese teachers for learning from experience explains the existence of instructional advisors and also explains the existence of practice-based learning mechanisms. Alternatively, paying attention to structures, the existence of instructional advisors and other formal positions in Japan may increase the

Policy enactment in Japan 229 frequency of practice-based interactions between experienced teachers and classroom teachers, compared to contexts lacking a comparable role. Practitioners appointed to this post often move from classroom teaching without senior administrative experience and are charged with guiding teachers in multiple schools. They participate in in-school lesson studies (Figure 8.3) and regional member-led associations and conferences, with costs largely covered by the relevant board of education as a matter of course. Appointments to instructional advisor and administrative positions are informed partially by peer esteem, the enthusiasm, sustained commitment, and the capacity of educators to make sense of policy for fellow teachers. The early careers of nationally recognized expert practitioners outlined in Chapters Three and Eight suggests that the interpretations of policy they advocate are genuinely held and based on knowledge of practice. Simultaneously, as discussed further, their appointment is a formal process governed by insiders already promoted to senior positions on the administrative track. Separately, at the periphery of the education system, many municipalities have semi-formal processes for incorporating retired educators. The inclusion of retired principals in municipal principals’ discussion groups retains knowledge of practice in local policy work. Their continued involvement is indirectly facilitated by the mandatory retirement age of 65. In Japan, active educators who might retire later in other contexts continue to work voluntarily from liminal positions just outside the education system. Lesson study

Lesson study describes a diversifying family of practices in Japan. In previous research, lesson study has often been discussed as a collegial process amongst peers. Observers attending lesson studies at a member-led association or laboratory school will quickly be impressed by the high enthusiasm of most, if not all, participants. Indeed, voluntary participation in such events is a defning factor of enthusiasts and expert practitioners. On the other hand, receivers of policy may experience in-school and municipal lesson study as burdensome. And yet lesson study remains a space to open up practice. Practices observed at lesson studies that make sense to local teachers may be adopted as palatable and pragmatic ways to realize policy requirements. Lesson studies regularly provide the opportunity for teachers, particularly the chair of the research committee at in-school lesson studies, to invite commentators or discussants. These invitations indicate which practitioners have infuenced the organizers, or which strand of practice they wish to promote, and they provide opportunities for those practitioners to present their translations frst-hand. Discussants are often expert practitioners who present policy-engaged interpretations of practice (or practice-engaged interpretations of policy) whilst working to be identifed as a fellow teacher. These formal mechanisms, which interface with the role of instructional advisor, provide fora for translations to be communicated in the language of practice.

230

Policy enactment in Japan

The council system

Public policymaking councils are, in legal theory, bodies independent from the Ministry. The council system was built under US Occupation to check the power of the ministries through the infusion of civilian knowledge and interests (Miyake 1971; Harari 1974). They ofer seats at the policymaking table to those outside the civil service. Nonetheless, in practice, because they are appointed by secretariats in the Ministries, they are peopled by advisors likely to share the views of those making the appointments (Schwartz 1998). Nonetheless, public councils do have potential to provide expertise, especially at lower levels of policymaking. The expertise of practitioners, when appointed, is informed by the experience of practice. These features in combination allow the most successful expert practitioners in Japan to ‘reach up’ into the ofcial recontextualization feld and to begin ‘curling’ policy through the education system at an earlier stage. The preceding sections have discussed processes that facilitate the infuence of expert practitioners. Though these processes can be heuristically separated to explain the structures that allow knowledge of practice to inform policy work in and around schools, there are strong interfaces between the rotation system, the existence of instructional advisors, the inclusion of roles liminal to the education system, and the participation of practitioners external to the school in lesson study. Each reinforces the operation of the others. Questioning the governance of expert practitioners The sensemaking approach studies how change happens. Examining the micro-processes of enactment illustrates an extent of dynamism in education practice. It connects policymaking with classroom practice in a complex organization where teachers take diferent orientations to policy work. However, this approach tends to obscure the operations of power (Helms-Mills 2010). On the one hand, the interpretations of policy advocated by expert practitioners are based on knowledge of practice, and their efectiveness draws on their identifcation as members of the teaching community. Yet their capacity is also enhanced by promotion to administrative positions. Those who hold administrative positions are promoted partly on the basis of enthusiasm and capacity. However, making sense to educators on the ground may be a necessary but not sufcient condition for promotion to administrative positions. This raises important questions on the governance of promotion on(to) the administrative track. As will be discussed, this question has implications for the work of both expert practitioners promoted into administrative positions and those liminal to the education system. Each teachers’ next assignment is determined ofcially at the prefectural board of education. In practice, however, decisions are based primarily on recommendations from principals (Choshi 2015) via the municipal board of education. Therefore, principals have recourse to signifcant power to infuence promotion opportunities for teachers under their charge. Seebruck (2019) astutely notes that the ofcers in the prefectural board of education ultimately

Policy enactment in Japan 231 responsible for personnel appointments are themselves teachers brought into the prefectural board of education. The same is true of principals. The few studies that exist on principals (Bjork 2000; Sato and Sato 2003) suggest that principals tend toward a supportive role. However, these studies are relatively dated. In recent years, some quarters of MEXT have worked to strengthen the school management chain by emphasizing the directorial power of the principal, stipulating training sessions to qualify for promotions, and by creating the new position of assistant principal as a middle manager. Recent research in senior high schools (Katsuno 2016) demonstrates policy ‘working through’ teachers who are disciplined by (their perception of) the gaze of their principal. Moreover, Katsuno (ibid) found principals more supportive of performance-related pay and the newly introduced teacher evaluation system than were classroom teachers. Whilst the analyses in the preceding chapters illustrate that expert practitioners operate partially within their role as teachers, tensions also emerge. Only a very brief overview is provided here to frame questions for future study. Nishimachi JHS was the only school to apply signifcant pre-planned innovation to a textbook syllabus. This innovation was led by the principal Sahashi-sensei, driving the school research committee, which in turn efectuated decisions. He operated in consultation with an external research group led by expert practitioners, including himself. The research group was provided space to meet by the municipal board of education, which also covered members’ transportation costs. The principal read all moral education portfolios during the frst year of his syllabus innovation ‘to ensure consistency’. Unlike the in-school lesson study comments in Umimachi Takanami JHS, Sahashi-sensei perused the outcomes of moral education lessons. Even if the principal did not intend to use the portfolios to evaluate teachers, the fact that he could has the potential to infuence teachers. On the one hand, he was promoted on the administrative track on the basis of expertise in moral education and other pedagogic domains; and moreover teachers in the school recognized his expertise and commitment to this domain of education. On the other hand, he exerted his authority on teachers at the school, efectively dictating strategic decisions of the school’s research committee in relation to moral education. Retired principals and university professors are liminal to the education system. They can operate freely in member-led associations and national conferences. However, curling policy into the local context is possible only in collaboration with teachers and school administrators. The design sheet discussed in the context of Umimachi was created by an expert practitioner working through member-led associations and regional conferences. However, its introduction into schools was realized through the principals’ discussion group, which was accessed through retired principals. Though retired principals are – by defnition – free of management, they have necessarily been promoted to the ofce of principal, which could operate as a kind of screening. The personnel system is relatively opaque and needs further research.

232

Policy enactment in Japan

Like many boards of education, the Higashimachi Board of Education created a series of municipal lesson studies, furnished with ofcial status. The request for each school to be represented generates incentives for attendance other than enthusiasm for practice sharing. The pamphlet for the lesson study series communicated that each session would be attended by the BoE Head of the Curriculum Division. The lesson study was centred on local video materials produced by instructional advisors at the Board of Education. Enthusiasts Sakae-sensei and Sasaki-sensei were relatively dismissive of the demonstration lesson and the materials, and they decided that there was little value in relaying these materials to colleagues back at their respective schools. Yet the ofcial nature of the event provided an opportunity for those on the administrative track to make themselves visible to senior administrators. Tamamoto-sensei from Minami ES attended ostensibly to reduce the burden on others. However, there may have additionally been some ‘networking’ beneft of attending. This does not mean that silent enthusiasts are not recognized amongst colleagues, or even ofcially through principal recommendations to the board of education. If only staf are considered, schools are relatively small organizations, in which it is possible for members to become familiar with the work of most colleagues over a small number of years. However, the possibility of attending municipal lesson studies as a site of ofcial knowledge creates a tension that might be explored in future research on the governance of education in Japan. Curriculum objectives and textbook syllabi could be modifed locally. However, in 2018/19, modifcation was achieved through an ofcial programme rather than the bottom-up work of individual teachers or yeargroups. The risk of innovation by individual teachers or the yeargroup may have risen since the reform, unless undertaken by those enthusiasts dedicated to progress on the administrative track. On the other hand, silent enthusiasts remained active as informal points of consultation for their immediate colleagues. Expert practitioners are brought into the BoE by senior administrators partially on the basis of knowledge of practice. As stated previously, most expert practitioners have been committed to their domain of practice for multiple decades, such that it seems very unlikely that any of the enthusiasts discussed in this study have moved into moral education to capitalize on its currency or as a career move. They are relevantly free from direct control by those entirely outside the world of education practice. Recent theories of performativity, however, see power as operating precisely through voluntary work. Re-regulation of teaching under neoliberal regimes elsewhere relies on actors to enact a regime through choice in reference to a centrally controlled feld of judgement. In Ball’s (2003: 215) conception, performativity is: a new mode of state regulation which makes it possible to govern in an ‘advanced liberal’ way. It requires individual practitioners to organize themselves as a response to targets, indicators and evaluations. To set aside personal beliefs and commitments and live an existence of calculation.

Policy enactment in Japan 233 More concretely, if senior administrators begin to judge educational performance in terms of measurable outcomes, this is more likely to inform the ways in which they infuence personnel decisions; and in turn teachers may become disciplined by the gaze of their seniors (and peers) in anticipation of the new feld of judgement. This is the ‘work through’ perspective suggested by Katsuno at senior high school. Performativity does not replace existing mechanisms but runs alongside (Kaneko 2010), overlays, and co-opts them, aided by the fragmentation of teachers’ professional values (see Inagaki and Kudomi 1994; Kudomi 2008). Katsuno’s study fnds that in Japan, as in studies on anglophone contexts, principals ‘are more vulnerable to the pressures of new professional values and identities than teachers’ (2016: 127). Teacher evaluations in senior high schools were used by principals to encourage teachers to set ‘specifc and measurable goals’ in reference to student attainment. New incentives are newly leveraged to pressure senior administrators to select those who can perform. The main substance of the reform of moral education is culturally conservative. It is not one which uses neoliberal (or ‘advanced liberal’) mechanisms to manage performance. Taylor et al. (1997) long ago declared that reference to street-level bureaucracy is no longer productive in the UK context since its education system had shifted to number-driven accountability mechanisms, initially under the banner of New Public Management. However, ‘Only when there is standardized content and assessment can the market be set free’ (Apple 2000: 72) for ‘governance by numbers’ (Grek 2009; Ozga 2009). More specifcally, the requirements of numbers-based competition can be activated only when there are: centrally defned standards, provisions for competition, assessment conducted through high-stakes testing, and rewards and sanctions (Posner 2002). There was little indication of such performativity in the enactment of moral education. No central models or standards exist for moral education, nor is it graded. However, performativity may operate either in reforms broader than curriculum revision (Bamkin 2022a) or initially in ‘academic’ school subjects, where grading is undertaken. At present, studies on performativity remain indicative, and they are almost non-existent in elementary and junior high schools. Whilst this section points out some tension that might be explored in the governance of expert practitioners, the overall study does not respond to questions of power. If performativity mechanisms were developing in Japan, they would not replace prior mechanisms but would overlay and work through the existing microprocesses, some of which are described in this book. Understanding these micro-processes is important whether or not school management in Japan is becoming more performative. Toward a general theory of enactment in Japan? There is a long way to go before a general theory of enactment in Japan can be articulated with confdence. This study has focused on the enactment of moral

234

Policy enactment in Japan

education reform informed by existing research on integrated studies. These two cases, which introduce new (quasi-)subjects into the curriculum, allowed for the prospective study of how change happened. Moral education provides a case of culturally conservative reform initiated at cabinet level. Nonetheless, the study of policy enactment in other subjects may yield diferent results. In anglophone contexts, it has been maths and national-language teachers who have felt the brunt of managerial accountability in schools (Taylor et al. 1997; Perryman et al. 2011). Senior high school teachers in Katsuno’s (2016) study reported pressure to frame annual evaluation goals in terms of student attainment. All subjects taught at senior high school are included on the high-stakes university entrance exams. At junior high school, the national achievement test in 8th grade, which includes fve subjects, is receiving greater prominence in national debates and teacher discussion. It may be that moral education (and integrated studies) represent mere exhortative policies, policy backwaters, as opposed to disciplinary policies (Ball et al. 2012) for academic attainment, which are more susceptible to governance and more comprehensively administered. However, this is an open question. There is abundant evidence that junior high schools (Bjork 2016; Cave 2016) and even more so elementary schools (Lewis 1995; Tsuneyoshi 2001; Cave 2007) in Japan continue to place importance on social learning, and more specifcally on moral education in the broad sense, school events (Cave 2007, 2016), and career guidance (LeTendre 1994; Shimahara 2002; Cave 2016). Therefore, rather than being transferred directly, results from senior high school in Japan should indicate directions for future research on policy enactment at junior high and elementary school. Other limitations

Amongst the limitations of this study, (at least) two are worth noting specifcally. Firstly, the extent of diferences between elementary schools and junior high schools have been highlighted in recent studies (Cave 2016). This study fails to consistently diferentiate between their organizational structures and features. Secondly, despite rich data in and around municipal boards of education, the feldwork collected insufcient data at prefectural boards of education. More serious challenges to the theory developed here may arise from a more nuanced understanding of governance in the Japanese education system, for which an understanding of the prefectural board of education is likely important. Future research Leveraging the case of moral education reform, this study sheds light on the microprocesses that mediate the enactment of curriculum reform. It expands the range of moments at which policy is analysed and expands the range of actors included in the analysis of policy enactment. This book also demonstrates new tools for the study of education practice under reform, grounded in the context of Japan.

Policy enactment in Japan 235 The mediation of written policy occurs at various moments before, during, and after promulgation by politicians, civil servants, policy entrepreneurs, and practitioners who operate between the worlds of policy and practice. Pedagogic knowledge is infused into written policy at lower levels of the Ministry despite the empowerment of the prime ministerial executive. Policy is also done by teachers, school administrators, and other actors, depending on their orientation to policy work in any given domain of practice. Particularly infuential in practice are those recognized as expert practitioners within and liminal to the education system. As they translate policy into the language of practice, they make sense of it for local enthusiasts and teachers, who are searching for the most palatable and pragmatic means to realize the requirements of reform. These translations are legitimized in reference to policy, but they draw on pedagogic knowledge partially shared with teachers and curl its meanings. They push against some parts of policy but are simultaneously aforded space by the education system, through public ofce and personnel rotation, lesson study, and porous ofcial networks, to knead innovation into the system. A wide range of actors is involved in enacting reform. Recognizing the rift between central government and the Ministry of Education and conceptualizing the Ministry of Education as a multi-layered organization brings the evolution of written policy into view. Observing various pressures on textbooks companies as content enters and exits the textbook circuit problematizes the assumption of ministerial omnipotence. In practice, considering the difering orientations of practitioners to policy work serves to balance the salience of written policy on the one hand, and to balance the voices of enthusiast teachers on the other. Analysing the interactions and movements between teachers, school administrators and actors at the boundary of the school provides a more nuanced theory of how reform is enacted. Future studies of policy enactment may draw on the methodologies, analytical approaches, and incomplete theory developed in this book to traverse ‘implementation gaps’ between state policy and school practice. Notes 1 See Iida (2022: 74) for an English translation of the assessment scheme. 2 I follow Singh et al. (2013) in overlooking some diferences in nuance to read Bernstein’s ‘recontextualization’ as a similar concept to Ball’s ‘translation’.

References Apple, Michael W. 2000. Between neoliberalism and neoconservativism. In Nicholas C. Burbules & Carlos Alberto Torres (eds) Globalisation and Education. Routledge. Aspinall, Robert. 2001. Teachers’ Unions and the Politics of Education in Japan. SUNY Press. Ball, Stephen. 2003. The teacher’s soul and the terrors of performativity. Journal of Education Policy, 18(2), 215–228. https://doi.org/10.1080/0268093022000043065. Ball, Stephen, Meg Maguire & Annette Braun. 2012. How Schools Do Policy. Routledge.

236

Policy enactment in Japan

Bamkin, Sam. 2022a. From enthusiasm to caution: Remaining questions surrounding the new curriculum. In Akito Okada & Sam Bamkin (eds) Japan’s School Curriculum for the 2020s: Politics, Policy, and Pedagogy. Springer. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-981-19-2076-9_12. Bernstein, Basil. 1990. The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse. Routledge. Bjork, Christopher. 2000. Responsibility for improving the quality of teaching in Japanese schools: the role of the principal in professional development eforts. Education and Society, 18(3), 21–43. Bjork, Christopher. 2016. High Stakes Schooling. University of Chicago Press. Cave, Peter. 2007. Primary School in Japan: Self, Individuality and Learning in Elementary Education. Routledge. Cave, Peter. 2016. Schooling Selves: Autonomy, Interdependence, and Reform in Japanese Junior High School. University of Chicago Press. Choshi, Daisuke. 2015. 教育経営における教員人事異動の研究 [Personnel transfer in education administration: a re-assessment of the participation of the school]. 東 京大学大学院教育学研究科紀要 [University of Tokyo Departmental Bulletin], 55, 471–480. https://doi.org/10.15083/00030979. Fernandez, Clea. 2002. Learning from Japanese approaches to professional development: the case of lesson study. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(5), 393–405. https://doi.org/10.1177/002248702237394. Fukuya, Kazuyoshi. 2015. 東海地方の自治体における招集学校の教員の人事異動の 傾向 [Tendencies in personnel transfers for elementary and junior high school teachers in the Tokai area]. Sugiyama Jogakuen University Journal of the School of Education, 8, 207–216. http://id.nii.ac.jp/1454/00001968/. Grek, Sotiria. 2009. Governing by numbers: the PISA ‘efect’ in Europe. Journal of Education Policy, 24(1), 23–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930802412669. Harari, Ehud. 1974. Japanese politics of advice in comparative perspective: a framework for analysis and a case study. Public Policy, 22, 536–577. Helms-Mills, Jean, A. Thurlow & Albert J. Mills. 2010. Making sense of sensemaking: the critical sensemaking approach. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 5(2), 182–195. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465641011068857. Iida, Naohiro. 2022. Evaluation and assessment to improve student outcomes. In Akito Okada & Sam Bamkin (eds) Japan’s School Curriculum for the 2020s: Politics, Policy, and Pedagogy, 67–81. Springer. Inagaki, Takahiko & Yoshiyuki Kudomi (eds). 1994. 日本の教員文化 [A Cultural Perspective on Japanese Teachers]. University of Tokyo Press. Kaneko, Mariko. 2010. 問題の設定と調査の概要ー＜改革＞のプロセスから見えてくる 教職という仕事 [Problem setting and overview of the research: The work of teaching seen through the process of reform]. In Takehiko Kariya & Mariko Kaneko (eds) 教員評価の社会学 [Sociology of Teacher Evaluation], 91–109. Iwanami Shoten. Kariya, Takehiko & Jeremy Rappleye. 2020. Education, Equality, and Meritocracy in a Global Age: The Japanese Approach. Teachers College Press. Katsuno, Masaaki. 2016. Teacher Evaluation Policies and Practices in Japan. Routledge. Kawakami, Yasuhiko. 2013. 公立学校の教員人事システム [The Public Teacher Personnel System]. Gakujutsu Shuppankai. Kawakami, Yasuhiko & Wataru Seno. 2011. 教員の異動・研修が能力開発に及ぼす直 接的・間接的経路についての考察 [The direct and indirect efects of training and personnel changes on the capacity building of teachers]. 佐賀大学文化教育学部

Policy enactment in Japan 237 研究論文集 [Saga University Departmental Bulletin], 16(1), 1–20. http://id.nii. ac.jp/1730/00019916/. Kudomi, Yoshiyuki. 2008. 教師の専門性とアイデンティティ[Teacher Professionalism and Identity]. Keisoshobo. LeTendre, Gerald. 1994. Guiding them on: teaching, hierarchy, and social organization in Japanese middle schools. Journal of Japanese Studies, 20(1), 37–59. https:// doi.org/10.2307/132783. Lewis, Catherine. 1995. Educating Hearts and Minds. Cambridge University Press. Miyake, Taro. 1971. 府県における審議会等の制度とその運営上の問題点 [Administrative issues in the prefectural public councils system]. 都市問題研究, 23(4), 57–69. Ozga, Jenny. 2009. Governing education through data in England: from regulation to self-evaluation. Journal of Education Policy, 24(2), 149–162. https://doi. org/10.1080/02680930902733121. Perryman, J., Stephen Ball & Meg Maguire. 2011. Life in the pressure cooker: school league tables and English and mathematics teachers’ responses to accountability in a results-driven era. British Journal of Educational Studies, 59(2), 179–195. https:// doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2011.578568. Posner, P. L. 2002 Accountability challenges of third-party government. In Lester M. Salamon (ed) The Tools of Government: A Guide to the New Governance, 523–551. Oxford University Press. Sato, Masaaki & Manabu Sato (eds). 2003. 公立中学校の挑戦: 授業を変える学校が変 わる 富士市立岳陽中学校の実践 [The Challenge of Public Schools: Changing Lessons, Changing Schools: Practice at Fuji Municipal Gakuyo Junior High School]. Gyōsei. Sato, Nancy & Milbrey W. McLaughlin. 1992. Context matters: teaching in Japan and the United States. Phi Delta Kappan, 73(5), 359–371. Schoppa, Leonard J. 1991. Education Reform in Japan: A Case of Immobilist Politics. Routledge. Schoppa, Leonard J. 2013. Residential mobility and local civic engagement in Japan and the United States: divergent paths to school. Comparative Political Studies, 46(9), 1058–1081. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414012463896. Schwartz, Frank J. 1998. Advice and Consent: The Politics of Consultation in Japan. Cambridge University Press. Seebruck, Ryan. 2019. A case study of how education labour markets are organized in Japan: mandatory teacher rotation in Japanese public schools. Asia Pacifc Journal of Education, 39(3), 323–337. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2019.1598847. Shimahara, Nobuo. 2002. Teaching in Japan: A Cultural Perspective. Psychology Press. Singh, Parlo, Sue Thomas & Jessica Harris. 2013. Recontextualising policy discourses: a Bernsteinian perspective on policy interpretation, translation, enactment. Journal of Education Policy, 28(4), 465–480. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2013. 770554. Spillane, James P. 2004. Standards Deviation: How Schools Misunderstand Education Policy. Harvard University Press. Spillane, James P., Brian J. Reiser & Todd Reimer. 2002. Policy implementation and cognition: reframing and refocusing implementation research. Review of Educational Research, 72(3), 387–431. www.jstor.org/stable/3515992. Sutton, M. & B. Levinson (eds). 2001. Policy as Practice: Toward a Comparative Sociocultural Analysis of Educational Policy. Ablex.

238

Policy enactment in Japan

Takayama, Keita & Bob Lingard. 2019. Datafcation of schooling in Japan: an epistemic critique through the ‘problem of Japanese education’. Journal of Education Policy, 34(4), 449–469. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2018.1518542. Taylor, Sandra, Miriam Henry, Fazal Rizvi & Bob Lingard. 1997. Educational Policy and the Politics of Change. Routledge. Tsuneyoshi, Ryoko. 2001. The Japanese Model of Schooling: Comparisons with the United States. Routledge Falmer.

Appendix A Fieldwork context and access

Preliminary feldwork (2015) Preliminary research in 2015 comprised visits over one to three days at each of twenty schools through both top-down and bottom-up means of access. The data were collected from individual and small-group interviews and through classroom observations and participation in school events. During earlier feldwork, I spent more time observing in a small number of schools to become familiar with each site. Subsequent visits allowed deeper interviews drawing on familiarity with practice based on observations at previous sites. I now characterize this period as that of an ‘observer as trusted guest’, building on trust initiated through shared colleagues, professional background, and broad interests, alongside minor participatory teaching activities incorporated into most visits. Data were collected between May and August 2015. The Ministry of Education had announced that moral education would become a subject in March 2015, though few teachers had read the details of the reform. Further details were published in July 2015. Therefore, this research was undertaken at a crucial point in time when most participants had heard of the revisions in principle but had not accessed specifc plans on implementation. Main feldwork (2018–2020) The main period of feldwork was conducted over an extended period spanning the two years between February 2018 and March 2020. Concentrated on the frst year of implementation in elementary and junior high schools, respectively, the access also allowed research during the second year of implementation at ES. In retrospect, numerous paths of access can be determined. My engagement with Umimachi continued through friendships and professional relationships forged in 2015 and the intervening years. Access was initiated in 2015 via a formal introduction to the superintendent, and later through current or former board of education contacts. Access to Higashimachi elementary schools carried over from collaborative research with a local kindergarten in 2016. Discussions with the kindergarten director and parents provided the opportunity to ‘follow’ the kindergarten graduates into Minami ES and Kita ES elementary schools, accompanying them on their induction days both before they entered 1st grade and before the

240

Appendix A: Fieldwork and access

feldwork period began in earnest. Personnel rotation one year later provided an opportunity to follow a teacher transferring from Kita ES to Noda ES. In Nishimachi, I began working with the chairperson of an NPO, which works in and with local junior high schools to combine the creation of a safe place for children ‘to be themselves’ (ibasho) with study opportunities, aimed primarily at teenagers experiencing or at risk of social, academic, or personal issues. The NPO governors are concerned with educational opportunity and the efects of poverty. The NPO has close working relationships with many schools in the municipality and organizes regular club activities. I joined as a volunteer and researcher in Nishimachi First JHS and Nishimachi Second JHS mid-way through 2018, which led to feldwork through the months leading up to and during the 2019 academic year. Nishimachi Third JHS was accessed through personal connections. These approaches in combination allowed depth of access and participation in various capacities, organizing exchanges with community members, organizing international exchange activities, and supervising bukatsu club activities to varying degrees. Table B overviews all preliminary feldwork and main feldwork municipalities. The main feldwork periods are bolded. Higashimachi and Nishimachi are in the Tokyo commuting area, insofar as their closest stations can be reached within 45 minutes from one of the ‘Yamanote’ transport hubs of central Tokyo. This defnition is intended to recognize the infuences and orientations Table B Details of feldwork municipalities Code/pseudonym

Description

Number of schools

Period of feldwork

Ward-1

Central Tokyo ward. Largely residential with a reputation for good education provision

1 ES 2015 1 JHS 1 ES/JHS 1 JHS/SHS

Ward-2

Central Tokyo ward. Big business, government ofces, main transport hubs

2 ES

2015

Ward-3

Central Tokyo ward. Big business, government ofces, main transport hubs

3 JHS

2015, 2017

Nishimachi (shi-1)

Tokyo commuting area

3 ES 5 JHS

2015, 2016, 2018–2020

City-2

City in southwest Japan

2 ES 1 JHS

2015

City-3

City in central Japan with mainline rail station

1 ES 2 JHS

2015

Umimachi (shi-4)

Small municipality in west Japan

6 ES 3 JHS

2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020

Higashimachi

Tokyo commuting area

4 ES 1 JHS

2018–2020

Appendix A: Fieldwork and access 241 of life and work in a given area. Higashimachi and Nishimachi are in diferent prefectures, but are statistically similar in terms of income, proportion of school age children, and municipal ‘fnancial power’. Both are Tokyo bed towns and have wealth gaps. Higashimachi has some semi-rural areas, whilst Nishimachi is geographically much smaller and largely urban. Nishimachi Third JHS is a very large school. It is situated between a small wealthy neighbourhood centred on a traditional industry and a larger area with little afuence. On the other side of the latter area is Nishimachi First JHS, also a large school with relatively little afuence. Most parents are employed in routine work such as care or retail work. Underlying problems from ‘outside school’ manifest themselves in a signifcant minority of students through difculties with emotional adjustment, withdrawal from social interactions, intermittent non-attendance, neglect, and occasionally self-harm. Each school has access to one counsellor for half a day per week, which is seen by administrators as insufcient. There is one modern PC room in each school but no interactive whiteboard. Both schools are served by a small station on a district line with no direct trains to Tokyo. Nishimachi Second JHS, 25 minutes’ walk from Nishimachi First, is situated in a more afuent area, from which many parents commute to central Tokyo wearing business clothes. There is a range of housing and services, and rapid trains to Tokyo. Parts of Higashimachi are aspirational bed towns for those who work in Tokyo. This reputation is welcomed by the local government, which provides extra funding to education. For example, all junior high schools in the municipality have a projector and whiteboard, but elementary schools have neither. Minami ES lives up to the municipality’s expectations. It is nestled in a residential area of relatively large houses, but it is also within walking distance of a large station with frequent rapid trains to the capital. Noda ES is located in the same municipality. This school serves a community of small-hold landowners, mostly operating family agricultural businesses. The school dietitian meets local producers who supply the school in person. The station has only one small grocery shop attached. Despite the rural feel, it is within 45 minutes of the metropolis by direct train. Diferent again, Kita Elementary School serves a more diverse community. The catchment includes numerous large houses, mixed amongst blocks of one-room apartments and danchi residential complexes which now function as de facto social housing. Umimachi is rural. It takes two hours to reach any large city or mainline station by public transport, for which there are only seven trains per day. The route is faster by car, the main mode of transport for adults. Its small size allows for interpersonal relationships between most, if not all, school administrators, local politicians, and educational enrichment NPOs. The board of education is unsurprisingly concerned about declining rural populations. Rather than fghting against the attraction of the cities, Umimachi invests in happy memories and education about the hometown alongside thorough teaching in all

242

Appendix A: Fieldwork and access

subjects to foster children ‘who want to return later in life’. Sugami ES and Sugami JHS are located in the rural town, and each has four classes per grade. Sugami JHS is not listed as a feldwork school because my access was limited in 2019. Konami ES and Takanami JHS are very small schools serving a rural area with few facilities or services within walking distance. Each has only one class per grade. The single-carriage trains that pass this side of Umimachi record a ridership below 100 passengers per day. Block observations and post-observation interviews

In addition to other approaches to feldwork, I undertook seven blocks of structured observation at four schools, creating a detailed record of yeargroup meetings and all lessons for six weeks, often with post-lesson interviews. Each block included, at the very least, one observation of each teacher in the yeargroup. Where possible, multiple iterations of a single lesson were observed. Needless to say, multiple iterations could not be observed in schools that scheduled all their moral education lessons during the same period (Higashimachi Minami ES and Noda ES; and Nishimachi First JHS). All four blocks at junior high school were undertaken with 8thgrade yeargroup. At elementary schools, one block was undertaken with each of a 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-grade yeargroup, largely due to timetabling. The block in Umimachi has a diferent format. Because of the structure of the feldwork in Umimachi, I instead observed all dōtoku lessons, spanning all grades, through one week at both Konami ES and Takanami JHS. This provides a total of eight blocks, overviewed in Table C. Table C Outline of block observations School

Grade Classes in Textbook grade

Comments

Higashimachi Noda ES

2

4

No syllabus units in school syllabus. Defned by researcher as six classes

Higashimachi Minami ES 3

”

Higashimachi Minami ES Nishimachi First JHS (×2) Nishimachi Third JHS Nishimachi Second JHS

4 8 ” ”

” ” ” 7

Umimachi Konami ES & Takanami JHS

1–9

1 (× 9)

Tokyo Shoseki

Defned by school syllabus as six classes in a unit Mitsumura

Akatsuki

” ” ” No syllabus units in school syllabus. Defned by researcher as six classes One class per grade. Block observation of all classes through one week.

Appendix A: Fieldwork and access 243 Questionnaire survey Questionnaires were distributed at all feldwork schools except Nishimachi Third JHS, inviting responses from teachers with four or more years’ service, who could make a comparison with moral education practice before the curriculum revision. Of the 179 teachers at these schools, 151 had been teaching for three years or more and were thus eligible to participate in the questionnaire. Of these, 99 valid responses were returned.1 The return rates, summarized in Table D, were in the range of 55% and 100% from all schools except Noda ES, where the questionnaire was distributed after the onset of the pandemic. The overall return rate was 65.6% (or 76.2% excluding Noda ES). Pandemic alterations My feldwork was originally planned to close soon after the end of the academic year in March 2020. The fnal month was to include the distribution and collection of questionnaires with difering schedules for each region and in-depth examination of assessment portfolios. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted all school activities from late-February onward. All feldwork schools closed to students and quickly established a rota for either one or two staf to remain on site each day. The principals at all feldwork schools commuted to the school for duty daily without interruption. At length, it was possible to amend plans successfully for the questionnaire surveys to be circulated and returned at all schools, with the partial exception of Noda ES. More problematic was access to the fnal submitted versions of students’ assessment portfolios, which I had planned to view over a whole day at each of the feldwork schools during the latter half of March. Though some in-person exchanges of gratitude were possible despite school closures and uncertainty, the in-depth study of assessment portfolios needed to be abandoned. For this reason, the discussion of assessment in this book is shorter than I had originally planned. Finally, syllabus and pedagogic adjustments to moral education Table D Summary of questionnaire survey participants  

Nishimachi

Higashimachi

 

Second JHS

Minami Noda Kita Takanami Konami Sugami ES ES ES JHS ES ES

First JHS

Eligible 21 (24) 20 (24) classroom teachers (total) Valid 13 11 responses Response 61.9 55.0 rate (%)

Umimachi

Total

26 (30)

25 25 7 (28) (28) (10)

6 (7)

21 (28)

151 (179)

22

3

5

20

99

84.6

12.0 72.0 100

83.3

95.2

65.6

18

7

244

Appendix A: Fieldwork and access

for the following year were disrupted. To the extent that such planning was undertaken, prospective access was not possible. Note 1 In all, 123 questionnaires were returned. Of those, 18 were blank and were discarded. A further 6 were discarded because the respondents indicated that they had less than four years’ experience as a teacher. A total of 97 questionnaires were returned with a valid response to all items. The remaining 2 had valid responses for most questions and were included in the results.

Appendix B List of participants (2018–2020)

Amongst many participants, those quoted twice or more are allocated pseudonyms. Higashimachi Kita ES

Nishimachi First JHS

Tanabe-sensei 3G HRT

F

Sawada-sensei

Kokugo, 8G HRT Dōtoku lead

F

Sasaki-sensei

5G HRT

M

Konishi-sensei

Tech, 8G HRT

M

Tsuji-sensei

2G HRT Dōtoku lead

F

Tamura-sensei

Kokugo, 8G DHRT M

Tajima-sensei

Science, 8G HRT

F

Social Studies, 8G HRT

M

Higashimachi Noda ES Sakurai-sensei 2G HRT Dōtoku lead

F

Takeuchi-sensei

Tashiro-sensei 2G HRT

M

Tachibana-sensei Maths, 7G HRT

M

Sakae-sensei

F

Sahashi-sensei

M

6G HRT

Higashimachi Minami ES

Principal

Nishimachi Third JHS

Tada-sensei

3G HRT

M

Tamamotosensei

Administrative M head

Saito-sensei

Kokugo, 8G HRT

F

Nishimachi Second JHS Takahashi-sensei Kokugo, 8G HRT

M

M

Takeda-sensei

Maths, 8G HRT

M

Tabata-sensei 2G HRT

F

Tanaka-sensei

Tech, 8G HRT

M

Takagi-sensei 5G HRT

F

Taguchi-sensei

Science, 8G HRT

F

Umimachi Sugami ES Takizawasensei

5G HRT

246

Appendix B: List of participants

Umimachi Konami ES

Umimachi Takanami JHS

Takano-sensei Vice-principal M Taniguchisensei

1G HRT

F

Sano-sensei

Kokugo, 8G HRT Dōtoku lead

M

Umimachi Sugami JHS Tsuchida-sensei

Kokugo, 7G HRT Dōtoku lead

F

Appendix C Textbook materials referenced

The Japanese titles and bibliographic information of coursebook and textbook materials referenced are provided in Table E. Table E Glosses and bibliographic information for coursebook and textbook materials (extracted from Bamkin 2022d) Title

English gloss

舞い降りた天使 The Angels’ Descent 大きな絵はがき Big Postcard たんじょう日

ひつじかいとお おかみ おれたものさし

Birthday

The Boy Who Cried Wolf The Broken Ruler 学 きゅうえんの The Class さつまいも Garden’s Sweet Potatoes 宇宙の始まりに Contemplating 思いを寄せて the Beginning of The Universe 住みよいマンシ Cooperative ョン Apartment Block 未来を変える Courage to 挑戦 Change the Future 民主主義 と Democracy and 多数決 の 近 Majority Rule くて 多 い 関係 東京大空襲の During the 中で Great Tokyo Air Raid

Textbook series G

Years included Credited author 石黒真愁子

Akatsuki

8–9 2008-

Tokyo Shoseki, Bunkei, Nichibun Tokyo Shoseki Many

4

1983–

2

1992–

1

1964–

2

1992–

2

1983–

Mitsumura

8

2018–

Nichibun

5

2017–

‘Editorial committee’

Akatsuki

6

2017–

Mitsumura

8

2009–

‘Editorial committee’/ Steve Jobs 加藤良平

Tokyo Shoseki

6

1983–

Tokyo Shoseki Tokyo Shoseki

辺見兵衛

‘Editorial committee’ Aesop 長谷川妙子 ‘Editorial committee’ 大内正巳

早乙女勝 (Continued)

248

Appendix C: Textbook materials referenced

Table E (Continued) Title

English gloss

命の重さはみな Everybody’s Life 同じ Is Equally as Important しょうぼうだんの The Fireman おじさん この一食のため For This Meal 白旗の少女

The Girl with the White Flag 金のおの Golden Axe キミばあちゃん Grandmother の椿 Kimi’s Camelias 七つのほし Great Bear 秀さんの心 Hide-san’s Kokoro しょうじきエイブ Honest Abe

じぶんがしんご うきに さかあがりでき たよ

I Became a Trafc Light I Rolled Backward Over the Bar 夢中になるのは Is It a Bad 悪いこと？ Thing to Become Engrossed? 手品師 The Magician 段ボールベッド Making の思い Cardboard Beds 命が生まれるそ The Moment of のときに Life Is Born 天女、再び宇 Chiaki Mukai 宙へ 雪に耐えて梅花 The Plum Tree 麗しー黒田博樹 Blossoms After Enduring Snow じゃがいもの歌 Potatoes Song かぼちゃのつる

ゆきひょうのラ イナ 優しさの光線

Textbook series G

Years included Credited author

Tokyo Shoseki

6

2011–

Tokyo Shoseki Akatsuki

4

2011–

3

2017–

沢田俊子 ‘Editorial committee’ ‘Editorial committee’ 比嘉富子

Tokyo Shoseki Many MEXT

6

1992–

2 8

1971– 2014–

Aesop (Uncredited)

Many Mitsumura

2 8

1983– 2008–

Leo Tolstoy 菅野由紀子

Many

3

1964–

Tokyo Shoseki Tokyo Shoseki

2

1992–

2

1972–

‘Ministry of Education’ Tokyo Sumida Ward BoE ‘Editorial committee’

Mitsumura

8

2018–

Many Mitsumura

5–6 1983– 8 2018–

Mitsumura

8

2018–

Gakken

6

Mitsumura

8

2000– 2015 2018–

Tokyo Shoseki Many

3

2011–

1

1966–

2

2004–

8

2018–

The Pumpkin Vine Raina the Snow Tokyo Leopard Shoseki A Ray of Mitsumura Kindness

‘Editorial committee’ 江橋照雄 ‘Editorial committee’ 繁延あづさ/林 佐知子 ‘Editorial committee’ Adapted from MoE 大蔵宏之 ‘Editorial committee’ 上條さなえ (Continued)

Appendix C: Textbook materials referenced Title

English gloss

Textbook series G

泣いた赤おに

Red Ogre Who Cried

Many

249

Years included Credited author

2–4 1962–

Tokyo 7–8 Shoseki; Mitsumura ぼくは伴走者 Running-Mate Akatsuki, 5/9 2002– Nichibun ピアノの音が The Sound of a Tokyo 6 2011– ... Piano Is . . . Shoseki にちようびのさん A Sunday Walk Tokyo 1 2000– ぽみち Shoseki 2017 電池が切れる Until the Many 3–5 2002– まで Batteries Run Out 「もののけ姫」 Watch Tokyo 7 2002 を見て Mononoke Shoseki Hime 朝がくると When the Sun Akatsuki, 4 2011– Rises Mitsumura, Nichibun いじめに 当 Which Do Tokyo 7 2018– たるのはどれだ You Think Is Shoseki ろう Bullying? はしのうえのお The Wolf on the Many 1 1964– おかみ Bridge Many = Five or more major publishers have included this material.

濱田廣介 吉田恵美子 NHK ‘Editorial committee’ 宮越由貴 奈/others ‘Editorial committee’ ‘Editorial committee’ ‘Editorial committee’ 奈街三郎

Index

Abe, Shinzo 1, 31–35, 52–53, 63, 66, 139, 220 active learning 48–49, 68–71, 77–78, 202, 213, 225–226 Ad Hoc Council on Education Reform 27–31, 65 Aesop 42, 88 age appropriacy 92–93, 189–190, 194–195 Akarui Nakama 85–86 Amano, Teiyu 20–23, 64 Angels’ Descent, the 94–95, 96, 110, 123–128, 131 Asami, Tetsuya 72–74, 215 Association for New History Textbooks 32, 104–105 bakery/wagashiya controversy see Sunday Walk bringing in 60, 69–78, 109–110, 215, 221–229, 231–233 Broken Ruler, the 94 bullying 27, 61–68, 97, 99–102, 128, 152, 154–156, 162, 171, 183–185, 223 Bureau of Lifelong Learning Policy, MEXT 63, 66–75, 78, 225, 226 Bureau of Primary and Secondary Education, MEXT 59–60 Cabinet Ofce 33–34, 63 career education 70, 99–101, 102, 152–153, 162 Central Council for Education 22–26, 30, 59–78, 224–225 Chiaki Mukai 129, 133 Class Garden’s Sweet Potatoes, the 42, 91–92 comportment and manners 62, 84–86, 102, 116–119, 139–140, 153, 155, 186

composition (writing in class) 24, 69, 92, 127–128, 130, 131, 151, 176, 211 conferences (on dōtoku practice) 8–9, 73, 76, 169, 201, 208–210, 226–231 contemporary issues (in dōtoku curriculum guidance) 70–71, 75, 99–101, 102, 152–156, 162, 223 curling policy 226–227, 230, 235 cyber-bullying see bullying design sheet (lesson planning) 112–113, 202–206, 221–222, 231 dilemma scenario 133, 140, 180–183, 194 dotoku by reading 50–52, 75–77, 185, 195 Dōtoku Dokyumento 95–96 During the Great Tokyo Air Raid 93–94 Education Rebuilding Council: frst 32; second 31–34, 59–68, 77 enthusiasts (policy orientation) 12–13, 49–50, 131, 160, 163–168, 170, 171, 175, 195–198, 200–217, 219–224, 226–235 expert practitioners 12–13, 45, 48–52, 69–78, 83, 109–110, 165, 195– 198, 200–217, 219–235 external collaborators on the curriculum guidance for moral education 59–60, 69–75 For this Meal 133–137 friendship 42–43, 62, 84–86, 89–90, 95, 98, 102, 130–131, 191–192, 194, 220 Fukuzawa, Yukichi 17–19 Fundamental Law of Education 25–32, 61, 84, 138–139, 142

Index ganbaru see perseverance Girl with the White Flag, the 92–93 Grandmother Kimi's Camellias 186–190 great persons (moral icons) 17, 43, 85–88, 94, 102 guided self-censorship 102–104 happiness 128, 130–131, 189–190, 191–193, 204, 220 Happy Prince, the 97, 190–193, 196, 209 Hashimoto, Ryutaro 45 Hide-san’s Kokoro 153, 186, 196 Higa, Tomoko see Girl with the White Flag Hokkaido 101 human rights 70, 100, 102, 156, 157, 162, 186–190 Ibuki, Bunmei 66 Ienaga, Saburo 93 ijime see bullying Imamichi, Tomonobu 109–110 immobilist politics 2–5, 26–28, 51–52, 61, 224–225 Imperial Rescript on Education 17–19, 30, 40–44, 53–54 importance of life 29–30, 62, 70, 84–86, 94–95, 96–98, 100, 102, 110, 123–125, 126–127, 135, 151, 170, 180–183, 186–189, 194, 203 imposing values 23–25, 117–119, 127–128, 136–140, 156, 185–189 instructional advisors 73–74, 155, 165, 208–210, 213–216, 228–232 Integrated Moral Education Programme (Tokyo Gakugei University) 213 integrated studies (curriculum domain) 4–6, 11, 101, 143, 153, 157, 177, 221–222, 233–234 Ishikawa, Itsuo 92–93, 109 Japan Teachers’ Union 19, 21–24, 66 Jump for Tomorrow 119 Kaigo, Katsuo 109–110 Kaizuka, Shigeki 43–45, 63–64, 215 Katsu, Yasuyoshi 87 Katsube, Mitake 24–25, 93, 109–110 Kawai, Hayao 109–110 Kawai Incident, the 91 Khan, Yoshimitsu 40–43 kirakira-taimu 159, 169 Kiyose, Ichiro 22 Koizumi, Junichiro 30–33 kokugo (school subject) 11, 83, 151, 152

251

LDP-Komeito Committee for Revising the FLE 32 lead teacher, dōtoku 73, 166–170 lesson study 3, 9, 190, 216–217, 229–230, 235; commentators on 194–195, 208–210, 212–213, 216–217, 223–224, 229; in-school 197–198, 205–209, 212–213, 226–229, 231; municipal 206–209, 229, 230–233; open school 206–207, 210–212 Liberal Democratic Party 3–5, 21, 24, 26–33, 45, 52, 137–140, 219–221 LINE-ijime see bullying Machimura, Nobutaka 45 Making Cardboard Beds 153 methodology 6–11, 144, 148, 239–244 Miki, Tadanao 87 mini-whiteboards 176, 180–191, 196–198, 200, 202–204, 210, 216, 221–223 Miyakoshi, Yukina 87, 96 Miyata, Takeo 93, 109–110 Miyazaki, Kenji 45, 96 Moral Education Panel, CCE 60, 64, 71–75 Mori, Yoshiro 29 Muto, Takashi 63–64, 109–110, 215 Nagata, Shigeo 71–77, 110, 186, 195, 212, 213–218 Nakasone, Yasuhiro 27–28, 31, 33, 65 National Council on Education Reform 29–31, 32, 65 nation conferences see conferences NHK 95–96, 119–121; see also Akarui Nakama; Dōtoku Dokyumento; Jump for Tomorrow Obara, Kuniyoshi 91 Obuchi, Keizo 28–29, 45 Okinawa 92–93, 101 Olympic and Paralympic Games 87, 140, 182–183, 194 omoiyari 42, 48, 62, 84–86, 102, 116– 119, 132, 139–140 Oono, Yasuyuki 95, 110, 126; see also Angels’ Descent orientations to policy 4–5, 148, 163–171, 200–217, 221–235 Oshima, Yasumasa 24 Oshitani, Yoshio 63–64, 109–110, 212, 215

252

Index

Papers on Primary Education 68, 73–74, 215 parliamentary interest group 26–28, 31, 33–34 performativity 230–233 perseverance 42, 48–50, 116–119, 126–128, 129, 133, 139–140, 194 policy entrepreneurs 64, 78, 82, 110, 200, 214–215, 225, 235 practitioner advocates see expert practitioners practitioner literature 48–52, 75, 119, 184, 198, 201–202, 204, 208–209, 212–213, 223, 227 pragmatism 12, 101, 119–123, 150–152, 161–163, 171, 175, 177–180, 196–198, 200–207, 221–224, 234–235 principal 71–75, 92, 110, 134, 137–140, 159, 165, 202–204, 206–212, 215–216, 228–233 psychologized pedagogy 47–48 publishers see textbooks publishers Pumpkin Vine, the 93 reaching up 71–75, 224–230 receivers (policy orientation) 163–168, 170, 171, 195–198, 200–217, 226–235 Red Ogre who Cried, the 89–90, 95, 130–131, 195, 210–212 role-play 48, 130–131, 176–177 Roundtable on the Enhancement of Moral Education 59–60, 63 Running Mate 180–183, 194 Sakamoto, Tetsuhiko 52, 72–77, 110, 202–203, 213–218 Saotome, Katsumoto 93

Sawayanagi, Masataro 90–92 SCAP see US Occupation secretariat (of a policy council) 28–31, 60, 63–64, 74–75, 230 Senkaku/Diaoyu problem, the 138–139 Shimomura, Hakubun 63 shūshin 17–21, 40–48, 52–53, 63–64, 82, 85–86, 88 social studies (school subject) 20–21, 26 Society for the New Study of Morality and Education 208 special activities (curriculum domain) 11, 131–133, 150, 153 street level bureaucrat 6–7, 137, 151– 152, 221, 233 Sunday Walk, a 103 textbooks publishers 8–9, 44, 53, 59, 78, 82–111, 119–121, 143, 148–150, 177, 201–202, 214, 220, 225, 235 Tokai, Kisaburo 66 Tokyo Gakugei University Attached Schools Research Group for Moral Education 73, 110, 208, 212 Tolstoy, Leo 42 US Occupation, the 19–26, 29, 43, 92, 230 Wilde, Oscar 97; see also Happy Prince Wolf on the Bridge, the 128, 130–131, 184–185, 189–190, 195–196, 211 Yae no Sakura 140 zoku see parliamentary interest group