Alliance Methodology of Alternative Schools:

The Emergent Process of a Collective Action Frame as an Umbrella

Abstract

Recent Japanese educational policy focuses on alliances between public education and non-school institutions. Previous research has posited that, on the one hand, the development of a common philosophy and purpose catalysed this alliance, while on the other hand this alliance risks assimilating non-school institutions into school education. This study aims to consider the possibility of an alliance that respects the diversity of each institution. Therefore, the study employs a methodology by which alternative school practitioners can develop an alliance with other alternative schools while respecting their diversity. I surveyed a network of alternative schools in Kansai. This survey consisted of semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and resource acquisition. This study focuses on collective action frames to explore this topic.

The findings are as follows. First, each alternative school exhibited plurality in their collective action frames. They differentiated and criticized other alternative schools’ frames. Second, alternative schools introduced other alternative schools to children and youth because they respected their self-direction. This is one advantage of an alliance that alternative school practitioners find has merit. However, the introduction of other institutions has meant that their schools were not chosen, which undermined the legitimacy of each school. Therefore, practitioners felt conflicted. Third, practitioners positively accepted their own imperfections. They reported that attempting to provide for all children in one institution was impossible and led to disadvantaged conditions for some children. Practitioners justified and continued the alliance with the frame of a “positive acceptance of imperfection” functioning as an umbrella.

This study highlights the potential of constructing a collective action frame that functions as an umbrella for alliances between culturally diverse institutions that guarantee the right to learn for those who have left or been excluded from Japan’s national public schools.