From “National Education” to “Democratic Education”: A History of Discourse on the Educational Labor Movement in Postwar Kyoto

Abstract

This study aims to reveal the process of the formation and evolution of the theory of the educational labor movement in postwar Japan. While recent studies of teachers’ unions have discussed the Japan Teachers’ Union (JTU), this study focuses on a local case in Kyoto and considers transnational political contexts and the recognition of local leaders and some intellectuals through a historical analysis of discourse on documents of labor union. This analysis reveals two major points. First, in Kyoto, the theory of education movements used “national education” as a key phrase, developed from the late 1950s to the early 1960s through the cooperation between the Kyoto Teachers’ Union (KTU) and some intellectuals. These constituents constructed a theory of educational movement, referring to Soviet pedagogy and speeches of Chinese communists. The theory, integrating educational and labor movements, is unique and different to JTU’s theory. The Kyoto Education Center, founded in 1961, attempted to spread KTU’s theory through official bulletins and booklets. In response, several teachers discussed new curricula and methodologies of teaching. Second, the key phrase of KTU’s theory changed to “democratic education” in the early 1970s. Leaders and intellectuals of the KTU attempted to develop further local social movements in Kyoto by providing new programs based on the Constitution of Japan and the Fundamental Law of Education. In addition, the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) criticized the Soviet Union and China in the 1960s and came to have a new democratic policy in the early 1970s. The actions of the JCP most likely affected educational movements and labor movements.