The Study of the Policy-Making Process in the System for Designating Teachers as Inadequate

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe the relationships among actors in the field of educational administration in Japan. To do so, I examine the policy-making process in the system for designating teachers as“underperforming." Specifically, I scrutinize the period from the convening of the Special Council on Education in 1984, to the revision of the Teacher Licensing Law and Law for the Special Regulations Concerning Educational Public Service in 2007.

The following 6 points are conspicuous:

1. Radical policy proposals cause divisions between the actors, preventing the proposals from being realized.

2. Local governments can effectuate systems more easily than the central government can.

3. If the political actors in the central government want to establish a new policy, they would be better to seek the cooperation of the administrative actors.

4. There are active relationships between the central government and the local governments and among the local government themselves.

5. When trying to establish precedents, the central administrative actors work on the local governments in a roundabout way.

6. To establish a policy, the central actors tend to get the actor of outside authority involved.

With these 6 points as a framework, I consider the relationships between some of the actors who were involved in establishing a system for recognizing teachers “with insufficient teaching ability." Then I illustrate the relationship as a conclusion.