The Evaluation of the Educational Policy Process and its Problems(Reconsidering the Autonomy of Educational Manegement)

Abstract

After the government change to FDP (Free Democratic Party) in 2012, the process of the educational policy making in Japan is changing. The educational committee of FDP shows the guidelines at first. Then the educational committee of the minister president discusses the contents of the FDP committee. After that the central educational committee in the educational ministry can make detail concepts. That means the central educational committee will have less power than in the past. After World War II, the concept of check and balances by the layman control and the professional leadership was imported in the educational administration from the U.S. to Japan. The educational committee law was built in 1948, but because of the much power of the educational board, the law was quitted and the new law was built in 1956. The change of local educational administration law in 2014 will bring a new relationship between the governors/ mayors and the boards of education in each prefecture/ city. The educational policy evaluation is developing not only in the state level but in the local level. In 2001 the Japanese Parliament regulated the mid-term policy evaluations. The educational ministry makes a report of self-evaluation and a new policy plan every year. In addition to such policy evaluation activities the cabinet must decide a five years educational policy plan. In the local level most of the prefectures and cities are evaluated by themselves every year. The educational policies must be evaluated since 2008. The problems of the policy evaluations are developing of the indicators, which must clarify the results and the effects of the educational policies. In many countries the Evidence-based policy making is a popular tendency. In the educational policies the results of the standardized tests are used for the evidences of the educational policies.