Career Education as Social Investment Strategy ?

: Finding Clues in “Career Education Theory of Rights”

Abstract

Focusing on “career education”, which has been promoted as one of Japan’s most important education policies since the 2000s, this paper critically examines this philosophy’s use of activation―to encourage each person’s “social and occupational independence” through the development of “basic and general skills”. Then, based on the concept of “career education theory of rights”, we propose the necessity of an educational theory that aims to form a society as a safety net on which people can be “dependent” as well as develop individual skill for “independence”. In order to put this theory into practice, we applied the concept of social activation, which emphasizes social solidarity rather than economic benefit, and developed practical discussions related to curriculum and class management in elementary and secondary education. Based on the above discussion, we suggest that career education is needed to build a social and human model on which more people can become “independent” = “dependent” as a theoretical basis for education, and that there are limits and possibilities to the role that education can play as a social investment strategy.