2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Study on the characteristics of education policy changes in contemporary Japan : from a historical and analytical perspective
| Project/Area Number |
15530495
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Educaion
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| Research Institution | Joetsu University of Education |
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Principal Investigator |
OGIWARA Yoshio Joetsu University of Education, Department of School Education, Associate Professor, 学校教育学部, 助教授 (70242469)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2005
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| Keywords | education reform / education policy / educational administration / policy content / policy form / ministry of education / central council for education policy / 文部科学省 |
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| Research Abstract |
Although there had been repeated attempts to execute drastic changes of Japanese education policy in the 1970s,1980s and 1990s, substantial changes were realized for the first time in the second half of the 1990s. Why did the changes occur not in the 1970s or 1980s but in the late 1990s? This study aimed to explain this question using a framework in the form of a distinction between content of the policy and its form.
Policy content is defined by the relationships linking discursive categories such as institutional concepts, agencies and subjects. These category relationships represent power relations on the basis of which a particular policy is formulated. Policy form is concerned with the modes of legitimate communication that convey and realize category relationships incorporated into policy content. In line with a change in external power relations, the content of education policy has actually changed since the late 1990's as a result of new forms of policy-making that enable the Ca
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binet to exert stricter control over Ministries.
This study also focused on internal factors within the Ministry of Education that enable it to change its former policy. The study distinguished between the Minister's Secretariat (MS : ‘kanbou') and other bureaus (‘genkyoku') such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau. These two types of units entail an organizational difference in responding to a demand for changes. The main role of the MS is to exercise a comprehensive coordinating function over various bureaus in the ministry (‘kanboukinou') and thus the MS is more flexible to adapt to policy change than the other bureaus. The research showed that it was not until the late 1990s that the MS properly performed its coordinating function relying on its high status among the bureaus as well as its reinforced organization structure. It can be concluded that the MS's function inside the Ministry was an important determinant of the policy changes during the same period, which were not explained solely by external, governmental forces. Less
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Research Products
(9 results)
