2011 Volume 14 Pages 127-148
This paper aims to rethink high school and college collaborative learning policies and practices at the secondary school level in Japan as compared to United States policies guiding objectives, approaches, and practices, in order to reconfigure the current system and achieve desirable policies and practices needed to meet the goals of higher education.
The current Japanese collaborative learning policy was introduced to bridge gaps between secondary school and college level education, and to fix the deteriorating norms and practices of general education at the secondary and college levels. Even though collaborative learning opportunities became widespread, improper policy configuration resulted in weak incentives for high school seniors who participated in such programs. Thus, trivial issues such as the means of recruiting college students and the interference of commercial businesses in such efforts, now surround higher education.
In the United States, high school and college collaborative learning policies and practices have included elitist, pragmatist, and civic approaches to respond to the objectives of higher education: cultivating human resources in a knowledgebased society, producing a highly skilled labor force, and forming social capital. Each approach is characterized by distinctive features in collaborative learning styles, the links and channels between higher and secondary education, and standardization or customization of the collaborative learning program. The elitist approach is characterized by cultivating gifted and talented individuals to become future leaders and innovators in a knowledge-based society. The pragmatist approach developed college learning preparatory programs, such as the Advanced Placement program. The civic approach provides a similar curriculum to the pragmatist approach, but with an additional general college preparatory program; however, this approach gives a more underrepresented population access to higher education to promote social development and justice.
Japan must reconfigure its policies on collaborative learning at the secondary level to obtain maximum results in social development. The educational system must be set up as an enterprise which integrates elementary, secondary, and higher education into a unified whole. Collaborative learning programs at the secondary level should be offered to address overlap of student proficiency, complementary content among educational areas must be taught, and concrete learning outcomes must be implemented.
