For almost 80 years, post-war Japanese moral education has adopted a dual-process structure, which states morality is taught through two processes: one through all aspects of school education and the other through a special moral education class. The necessity and effectiveness of this structure were theorised by Eijiro Inatomi. However, it has…

Reconceptualizing intervention and change in conversation analytic perspectives, this volume not only illustrates actual, rather than imagined, ways of conducting CA-informed interventions in a variety of teacher-training contexts around the globe but also documents the impact of such interventions on teacher development. "The contributors to…

This article analyzes Malaysian and Japanese educators' reactions to a mathematics lesson observed by a subset of researchers. The main aims are to reveal the cultural scripts about mathematical learning that are held by, but often invisible to, members of a culture; and to address educators' conceptions of teaching mathematics across cultures.…

This article, which is related to a longer piece to be published in 2023, starts from the point of view that, despite some issues, there may be borrowable ideas in how South Korea and Japan developed their education systems, especially at the outset of their modern periods of educational development. However, in the popular press, and even among…

This study investigates the characteristics of Japanese primary school mathematics lessons that adopt a problem-solving approach. We argue that these characteristics are reflected in three key aspects: collective teaching and learning, the lesson as a "drama" (i.e., its structured flow), and the focus on mathematical knowledge. In this…

This study highlights research trends and teaching methods in inquiry-based learning in Japan's elementary school curriculum of the "period for integrated studies" by conducting a scoping review of existing literature. Thirty papers that focused on teaching methods for inquiry-based learning were reviewed, and five subthemes were…

The author of this article demonstrates how the unified approach to answering economic questions employed in modern quantitative macroeconomics research can be taught to undergraduate students using the Solow model. Through an application to post-WWII Japan, students get hands-on experience with (1) documenting empirical facts, (2) developing a…

How children participate in democracy has shifted toward more communicative, networked, and creative models than before. In political science and political theory, however, surprisingly little is understood about what if anything children can contribute to democracy and how they would do so. Traditionally, children have been considered as mere…

Bansho (Japanese board writing) is becoming an area of interest among researchers and educators as it could serve as an asset to make a searching inquiry into teaching. This study aims to identify the variations of bansho styles in Japanese schools and draws its data from 10 lessons from a primary school in Japan. All lesson observations were…

The perception of the teacher as the authority in the classroom is deep-rooted in education yet this notion seems to contradict the fundamental values of democratic education. Schools grant teachers an abundance of authority and decision-making power. The pedagogical implications of how teachers use this power in the classroom are not…

This article presents a case study of the innovative Japanese film education project Children Meet Cinema, through aspects of an interview with its founder Etsuko Dohi, placed within a wider discussion of the project's pedagogical approaches. In particular, the article details the innovative manner in which Children Meet Cinema has invited some of…

This paper reports on part of a larger study of critical language pedagogy (CLP) in university EFL classes in Japan. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, we examined the philosophies, approaches, pedagogic choices, and adaptations of nineteen self-identifying critical pedagogues. Here, we focus on the theme of student receptivity to the…

This study explores the Yamanoko Program, a forest education initiative in Shiga, Prefecture, Japan, to examine how outdoor environmental education approaches can offer a transformative perspective on educational culture, fostering respect for and interconnectedness with more-than-human agency. The study aims to inspire discussions on…

Sozo Kurahashi's (1882-1955) theories, formed from his profound respect for children, have influenced Japanese early childhood education and care (ECEC) practitioners for a long time. They also have influenced the national ECEC curriculum in Japan, which emphasizes the need for a rich environment where children can actively learn and play rather…

In Japanese higher education, there is a notable shift in learning assistance. It is transitioning from merely providing remedial help to fostering comprehensive student success. This study examines learning assistance in Japanese higher education, which was restructured in the 1950s following the American university system, through comparison…