教育の国家責任のあり方-学校選択制の分析を通して : テーマ設定の趣旨と討議の総括(まとめ,課題研究1)

抄録

It has been viewed as natural that the nation-state or government assumes important responsibilities for the content of education, the maintenance and supervision of schools, and the reshuffling of teachers in the school education system. In Japan too, however, educational reforms, which have decentralization and deregulation as their keywords, have been implemented from the latter half of the 1990's. For example, a new system in which the school district system was relaxed and parents can choose for themselves the school that their children might enter, began in 2000 in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo. Moreover, research into the Charter-School movement in America has been done rapidly in Japan recently. The government authorities, in part, have also prepared for an amendment to the laws in order to establish a Charter-School in Japan within two or three years. Under the "Nation-State's Responsibility for School Education," the theme of the subject of our research in the Japan Educational Administration Society, we did an historical analysis in the first year (1999), followed by comparative research of some countries in the second year (2000). This year (2001), as a conclusion for these three years of research, we attempted to analyze the meanings and problems of some of the policies regarding School-Choice. First, Shigeo Kodama (Ochanomizu University) introduced the theories of Bowles and Gintis, Brighous, Fraser, and Abowitz, in respect to public service in education. Next, Yoshio Ogiwara (Johetsu University of Education) stated that the Ministry of Education drastically switched its policy concerning the School-Choice System in December 1996, but that in practice the form after that continued to be a conventional one of direction and notification from the central government to the local government. Finally, Isao Kurosaki (Tokyo Metropolitan University) stated that it is important for people (the nation and residents) to respect various senses of values in order to form such school schemes in the present-day multicultural society and then carry out a School-Choice System. There were also many questions to the reporters on these arguments after the three presentations, but to our regret the discussion was on different planes throughout. Because we could not consider at what point the theories about this chiefly America-centered School-Choice System (School-Choice, Charter-School, Voucher system) would or could actually connect with the situation in Japan or not. Issues of educational deregulation and changes in public education will likely be opposed in the Japanese nation or amongst those with political power, to say nothing of academic societies. It is important to foresee clearly what will become of the relationship between the school and students/parents and how the community will change, by the reforms of deregulation such as was discussed here.