抄録
The purpose of this paper is to clarify assembly activities in the process of. educational policy-making in local government. It will be examined through analysis of inner association and assemblies' bulletin from 1983 to 1988. We will deal with three prefectures (Kyoto, Osaka and Hyogo) and three designated cities of the national government ordinance (Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe). The paper consists of the following three sections,(1) the position of inquiries on educational problems in the process of educational policy -making, (2) the characteristics of inquiries on educational problems, (3) the differences in activities reflecting the party to which each member of the Assembly belongs. In part one, this paper examines the important and special position of inquiries on educational problems among the assembly's various inquiries. This will be made clear through the following two surveys. (1) More than half of the local government assemblies proposed inquiries concerning education, as high as 80% in Hyogo Prefecture. (2) The inquiries answered by the Superintendent of Education were strikingly high compared to secretaries of other bureaus, such as Public Welfare, etc. In part two, this paper will clarify the next three issues. (1) In local government assemblies, members of the assembly often propose inquiries concerning policies on high school and school construction, which are issues the local government has strong control over in decision-making. (2) For representative inquiries, the members of the assembly often propose inquiries related to the interests of their constituency. (3) The number of inquiries on education increases when the local government is coping with the national policy on education and when the local government is experiencing serious educational problems. In part three, this paper will clarify the next two issues, (1) compared to major parties, minority parties propose inquiries on education more often, (2) the number of re-inquiries which in many cases indicate opposition, is closely connected to the political situation of local governments. From the above mentioned analysis, we argue that we cannot ignore the critical role of the assembly in the process of educational policy-making. We also conclude that we need to analyse the strategies of popular control of educational administration.
