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…

In 2007, the Japanese Ministry of Education revised the Education Law to pave the way for the introduction of a teaching license renewal system in 2009. The reform required all teachers to complete at least 30 hours of training in specially tailored university courses as a prerequisite for renewal of their teaching licenses every 10 years. In late…

Globally, one in three students are now enrolled in private higher education institutions (PHEIs), with the total reaching almost 70 million enrolments. This pattern is similar across a highly diverse Asia: more than 35% of students are enrolled in the private sector, and around 60% of higher education institutions (usually much smaller than their…

This article brings together literature and perspectives that have evolved during the last decade on issues of social and emotional aspects of learning in a digital age. This topic points to some core challenges and worries of contemporary social developments within digitalized societies, and ways of perceiving future developments of how we…

This study aimed to clarify teachers' perspectives regarding the future of schools by identifying the impact of COVID-19 on school education through a survey of teachers' attitudes. Our research covered an overview of the impact of COVID-19 as of autumn 2021 and teachers' attitudes towards school redesign in the same period, and we investigated…

Three years after Japan integrated "programming" into all elementary school subjects, questions remain on how policy is being put into practice in arts education. This article examines the current state of "programming" - activities addressing a local version of computational thinking - in music, with a focus on Japan's pending…

As arguments for the liberalization of education grow more heated, how are we to approach Japanese schools as a community? This paper clarifies the basic concept of the "small schools" theory typified by the METI "Future Classrooms" (functionalist and individualist reorganizations), and organizes the relevant points of debate.…

This piece argues that the aversion of academic researchers to utilizing 'Japanese-ness' has become a major obstacle, restricting the potential contribution of Japan's educational research community to global debates. It argues that until research on Japan recognizes, embraces, and elaborates Japanese-ness it will lack originality and vitality. As…

We are living in and beyond two massive changes in the world, both of which must be addressed by education, the caretaker of memory. First is the geological era of the Anthropocene--a crisis of nature and mankind, a fundamental geo-trauma. While climate change is a reality which we are belatedly just beginning to understand as we increasingly…

The purpose of this commentary is to: illustrate the challenges that Japanese advertising education faces; find the possible causes for the difficulties faced; and consider potential solutions to overcome the challenges and prepare students for a fast-paced global workforce.

Because of the high social relevance of an economics education, many countries now focus on the enhancement of economic competencies in schools. International results show strong deficits in basic economic knowledge, especially for students in upper secondary education, who usually enter higher education. Furthermore, it is not clear what effects…

The centrality of atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japanese collective memory has been often perceived by the country's neighbours, i.e. the People's Republic of China and South Korea, as a pillar of the country's (alleged) "victim consciousness" and amnesia in regard to the suffering inflicted on others. For this reason, the…

In this short invitational essay, I discuss how a series of accidental incidents during the pandemic facilitated my reflection on the implications of COVID-19 for teaching and learning at universities. It recognizes the global health crisis as a catalytic moment to rethink the 'business as usual' of university education and develop renewed…

In this globalization-focused era, the demand for globalized engineers in the creation of borderless societies is increasing. Despite the initiatives by the Japanese government to promote internalization through increasing the intake of foreign students, the exposures gained by the Japanese students from these programs are minimal. For years,…

The careful use of online learning can achieve a variety of goals in sustainable education, such as providing access for students, particularly in times of crisis, as well as providing them with opportunities to study interdependently. Also, it gives them the opportunity to develop thinking skills and awareness to become active in working towards…