抄録
This paper explores how to build adaptive and sustainable school organizations in response to the pressing challenges facing Japanese education today—declining student populations, budget constraints, teacher shortages, and rising absenteeism. Despite the system’s inertia, individual schools and educators across the country are initiating change. Sapporo Shinyo High School, where the author served as principal from 2021 to 2025, offers a case study in organizational transformation grounded in a clear vision and continuous learning.
Located in Sapporo, this private high school faced severe enrollment and financial difficulties in the mid-2010s. Reforms began under Principal Yutaka Arai and were continued by the author, who focused on embedding sustainability into the school’s structure. A key initiative was the creation of the "2030 Vision" and a renewed school mission: to be "a school for those who challenge themselves and forge their own paths, " with an emphasis on diversity, inclusion, and co-creation.
Drawing from Peter Senge’s concept of the "Learning Organization," the school cultivated a culture of reflection, dialogue, and shared leadership. Monthly "Nakatsuhi Circles"—open staff dialogue sessions that replaced traditional faculty meetings—became a central mechanism for building trust, aligning around the vision, and fostering psychological safety. These dialogues contributed to a culture that could adapt and grow beyond any single leader’s tenure.
Curricular innovation was another pillar of the transformation. Students designed their own schedules under a flexible credit-based system, choosing courses aligned with their interests and future goals. This autonomy was supported by diverse learning formats, including independent study, project-based courses, and external experiences like internships. The school’s approach—described as a "learning buffet"—aimed to develop students’ self-direction and respect for others.
The school also implemented the house system, which replaced traditional homerooms, enabling cross-grade mentoring and collaborative learning. Students engaged in multiple overlapping communities—houses, clubs, project teams—through which they developed leadership and social-emotional skills.
These reforms were not meant to position this high school as a unique outlier, but rather as a model that other schools might adapt. By openly sharing both successes and failures, the author hoped to support educators across Japan in taking their own first steps toward change. Ultimately, creating schools that can keep evolving—"changing to remain unchanged"—is essential for them to remain places where future generations can truly belong.
