Abstract
This paper clarifies the significance of the agora in Eiichi Mochida’s view of parental participation in public education politics. A focus is placed on the relationship of the agora with mothers’ learning activities that spread around 1970 from the Federation of Kokubunji Municipal Elementary and Junior High School Parent-Teacher Association （PTA） to outside of the PTA.
The Federation’s study meetings were led by many mothers. The education commissioner’s recommendation was the beginning of petitions and pleas in public education politics. Moreover, the mothers who took part in these study meetings eventually launched the Association of Education Thinking of Kokubunji in 1973.
Even before joining these new educational movements, Mochida was already responding to the reality of Kokubunji. In 1969, he was in charge of the community center education class, and served as an instructor for the educational research circle in which the mothers participated. Mochida recognized the significance of the agora not only in the PTA but also outside of the PTA, such as in community centers and circles, and found opportunities to innovate local education through the learning activities outside. Thus, through his activities with mothers, Mochida embodied the theory of direct parental participation in the public education politics.
Keywords: Eiichi Mochida, Parental Participation in Public Education Politics, Agora, Outside of the PTA, Mothers’ Learning Activities
