Inequality and injustice in education have been viewed from the perspective of social justice. Since the emergence of John Rawls's "A Theory of Justice," social justice issues have attracted the attention of social and political philosophers. Theoretical consequences of social and political philosophy have been actively incorporated into…

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…

This descriptive case study examined how teaching practices were evidenced in Grade 1 classrooms in two different cultural and educational contexts, Finland and Japan. Teachers' teaching practices were video-recorded in 53 classrooms in Finland and six classrooms in Japan and rated with the Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure by trained…

This article presents the findings of a mixed-methods study measuring the efficacy beliefs of Japanese English-as-a-foreign-language teachers regarding student engagement, instructional strategies, classroom management, and lesson planning. The study sought to identify relationships between levels of self-reported efficacy among these teachers and…

This book explores alternative approaches to foreign language education in a context which is traditionally dominated by English-only approaches, and widely viewed as highly monolingual. It examines the grassroots classroom practices of teachers and their assistants involved in plurilingual education in the first longitudinal research of its type…

Background: Individuals pursue teaching careers for numerous reasons, such as for instrumental or prosocial purposes. Aims: This study examined the personal (instrumental motivation) and social (prosocial motivation) utility of teaching as predictors of teaching quality in terms of clarity of instruction, classroom management, and cognitive…

This longitudinal study examined the effectiveness of a progress monitoring method, namely the Multilayer Instruction Model-Progress Monitoring (MIM-PM), which is a word reading fluency measure. It was used from 1st grade onward to predict the overall reading achievement of students in elementary school by tracking their reading achievement over…

Sociocultural theory (SCT) is a powerful basis for exploring and guiding L2 (second/foreign language) learner development. For the most part, however, the focus of classroom SCT-L2 has been on single activities, for example, teacher mediation of learners' writing process or peer scaffolding. In this paper, we expand on these studies, building on…

The current study explored the relationship between test-based accountability and teachers' involvement in school-level decision-making and classroom autonomy, examining how this varied by country, specifically in the United States, Australia, South Korea, and Japan. Additionally, the study investigated whether this relationship differs based on…

In Japan, school teachers experience mental health issues, leading to absences or leave from their duties. While extended working hours significantly contribute to this problem, diminished self-esteem has emerged as the primary causal factor. Reduced self-esteem is frequently correlated with diminished self-efficacy across multiple facets of…

This paper focuses on how Taneichi Kitazawa, a leading progressive education practitioner, received the concept of democracy, and reconsiders the meaning of democracy in Japanese progressive education, conventionally considered within the framework of early modern Japanese political ideology. Kitazawa, having gleaned the idea of "common…

In this paper we use novel data to test the direct and indirect paths between teacher self-efficacy and student outcomes. This includes how teacher self-efficacy is linked to student, teacher, and expert rater views of lesson quality. Our results illustrate how the link between teacher self-efficacy and instructional quality is sensitive to how…

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain Japanese elementary teacher development experiences in teaching physical education (PE). Participants were eight elementary classroom teachers (six males and two females) (within their first five years of teaching) teaching PE for the first time in Japanese elementary schools. Data sources…

This quasi-experimental, mixed methods study explored student perceptions of class climate before and after implementation of a two-week social and emotional learning (SEL) intervention in elementary classrooms in Japan. The sample consisted of 131 second and third grade students. A one-time SEL lesson focusing on offering kind words to peers was…

Purpose: This paper aims to discuss the significance of teacher authorship ("jissen kiroku") developed during "jugyo kenkyu." Specifically, it explores the structural conditions of "jugyo kenkyu" that enabled the flourishing of "jissen kiroku." Design/methodology/approach: To find how "jissen…