2018 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Is An Alternative Concept of Learning Driving East Asian Academic Achievement? Comparisons of PISA Performance with Implications for Policy Reforms
| Project/Area Number |
17K14019
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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| Keywords | education achievement / PISA / pedagogy / Japanese education / East Asian model / culture / self / ontology |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The research has progressed extremely well this year. I have published 10 papers, of which 6 were in major international journals. I also published a co-edited book. In addition, I published several blogs to disseminate findings more widely. These books and papers include the following: (i) High School for All in East Asia (Routledge), (ii) Stereotypes as Anglo-American Exam Ritual? Comparisons of students' exam anxiety in East Asia, American, Australiam, and the United Kingdom (Oxford Review of Education), (iii) In Favor of Japanese-ness: Future Directions for Educational Research (Educational Studies in Japan: International Yearbook); (iv) Is Exam Hell the cause of high academic achievement in East Asia? The case of Japan and the case for transcending stereotypes (British Education Research Journal), (v) Borrowings, Modernity, and De-Axialization: Rethinking the Educational Research Agenda for a Global Age (book chapter), (vi) Towards an Original Contribution based on 'Asian Education'? A Review of Existing Theories of Educational Expansion (book chapter), (vii) Will SDG4 Achieve Environmental Sustainability? (Arizona State Working Paper) In addition to these papers, I was invited (full expenses paid) to two major events, where I presented the work: a conference on global learning metrics at Arizona State (USA) in November 2018; a EU-Doctoral Training Seminar in Cyprus in March 2018. At Kyoto University, Graduate School of Education, I led a major symposium called A Japanese Model of Education Culture in a Global Era? Retrospect and Prospect.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
I have been able to produce more papers than I imagined. In terms of publications and presentations, the project is progressing much more smoothly than I expected. However, I have not had sufficient time to extend the project to more places in East Asia. In particular I need more time for research in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. These trips were postponed because my schedule was too busy. However, I will extend to China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong in this coming year. I hope that I will have sufficient time to conduct field research there, and publish some results before the end of the project.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
As stated, the main purpose for the project in the final year is to extend beyond Japan. In April I will attend a small symposium at the Education University of Hong Kong entitled Revisioning East Asian Education. There I will look for collaborators and look at possible field sites (originally it was envisaged that I could collaborate with colleagues in Korea, but it has proven difficult to get contacts and overcome the language issues so I have shifted to Hong Kong). In May, I will go to Shanghai for two weeks to work with colleagues at East China Normal University. We are planning to do a Special Issue of the English-journal East China Normal Education Review on the topic of East Asia's role in the current global debates in education. In June and probably again in August I will go to Taiwan to continue on-going research with colleagues there. Thus, my focus in the final year to determine the degree to which the findings in Japan approximate findings elsewhere in East Asia, as well as build partnerships for future research.
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| Causes of Carryover |
I originally planned to attend another conference related to my research in February 2019. However, I was asked by the Graduate School of Education at Kyoto University to lead a 2-week trip of students to visit Hawaii for internationalization events. This meant I could not attend the conference. Therefore the 1700000 was remaining in my account. In the next year I will use this money for fieldwork and conference visits related to the project, specifically trips to Hong Kong and Shanghai to extend the project to China.
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