Educational disparities are one of the most essential issues surrounding education and equity. Previous research includes many empirical studies which have been conducted to eliminate educational disparities. However, the normative question “Why do educational disparities matter?” has not been carefully examined in empirical studies on educational disparities. This question can be answered based on the value of fairness. But what is fairness? Is it enough if a fair educational system is realized? Based on the above concerns, this paper examines the value of fairness, which is a normative assumption of studies on educational disparities. The paper confirms that the value of fairness behind the argument “educational disparities should be corrected” can be clarified and justified by luck egalitarianism, and clarifies the problems associated with pursuing fairness by examining Elizabeth Anderson’s critique of luck egalitarianism. Specifically, the paper focuses on the harshness objection and the humiliation objection. It shows that, even if fairness in education is achieved, it may not result in an ideal education for all, because it may leave some children in a harsh situation and humiliate them in the process of providing compensation through redistribution. The paper then discusses three values that should be added to fairness: fresh start, sufficiency, and respect. After that, it discusses why these values are important and what issues should be considered in future empirical research on educational disparities. The paper also presents suggestions toward examining the problems of meritocracy.

Using the contrast between “formal equality” and “equity,” this study employs Amartya Sen's concept of capability to illustrate the relational structure of the distributive principle behind Japan's education system and policies, as well as its problems. In addition, it presents a practical principle and measures for implementing an educational system and policies that emphasize equity. The results demonstrate that Japan's educational system and policies emphasize formal equality and distribute goods on the principle of equity only to some children with difficulties. Additionally, a growing demand for both formal equality and equity has emerged in recent years. The reality, however, is a reciprocal relationship where the majority of students are still expected to achieve a high level of functioning, while “diverse learning spaces” are expanded for those children who cannot keep up. This paper explains that to move beyond this situation and realize an educational system and policies that emphasize equity and guarantee capability will be possible by ensuring that the distribution of goods and services for children with difficulties benefits all children. This can be accomplished by adopting the philosophy of “caring educational administration.”

This paper focuses on the formation of the Rand Change Agent Study, characterizes it as the pursuit of school reform for “social equity” and attempts to demonstrate anew its significance.

First, the paper finds that “social equity” was among the main motivations for the Rand Change Agent Study. It was clear in the earliest report that the Rand Change Agent Study was motivated by criticism of “Colemanism”. The pursuit of “social equity” was also central to the “progressive agenda” of “open education”.

Second, there are differences between the views of the Rand Change Agent Study and those of the North Dakota Study Group regarding the decline of “open education”. The characteristics of the Rand Change Agent Study are clear—it studied the “implementation” of educational policy and created the concept of “mutual adaptation” through its formation, and continued to focus on the development of school reform for “open education” as a process of “implementation” in the midst of social changes that created the “progressive renaissance” and “backlash” against “sixties values”. The Rand Change Agent Study was an attempt to clarify how the “mainstream” could continue to move toward the “promised land” beyond the limitations of its experience with the concept of “mutual adaptation”.

This paper focuses first on the issue of measuring education. When we consider “education and equity,” we tend to quantify educational outcomes and compare these figures with others. While it is necessary to consider “equity” (or inequity) through comparisons with others, if we quantify the achievement of outcomes and evaluate the management of the organisation, we fall into a “metric fixation.” Next, the paper discusses the issue of meritocracy, presenting a perspective on abilities as social and communal rather than individual. Finally, it discusses the concept of “collaborative learning” as presented by the Central Council for Education Report of 2021. This report states the importance of respecting all others as valuable beings. In order to clarify the significance and value of the presence of others in educational relationships, the paper considers a certain high school discussion situation.

“Equity” in education cannot be realised by comparing personal figures on a particular scale. If we wish to realise “equity,” paradoxically, it is essential that we do not ask whether we are achieving “equity” through comparison with others. Being equally opaque to one another, being diverse, is essential for the realization of pleasurable “collaborative learning.”

The purpose of this paper is to explore ways to cultivate learners who can take part in inquiry, discussion, and action toward realizing an equitable society from the perspective of the SDGs and ESD. After confirming the importance of dealing with the concept of and the issues around equity with consideration of the mutual interdependence among all 17 SDGs, the paper notes that the “inclusive and equitable quality education” mentioned in SDG 4 is assumed to be achieved by the integrated improvement and organization of a variety of aspects, such as educational environment, policy, systems, budget, teachers, and competency development. Next, based on the importance of competency development of all learners through ESD, the paper demonstrates the potentials of objective-referenced assessment for ESD. Finally, the paper proposes a tentative idea on a set of objectives for lessons on equity from the perspective of ESD, as a useful way to develop school-based curricula of quality ESD at each school and to promote effective lessons on equity to prepare learners who can attain the necessary competencies and take part in inquiry, discussion, and action toward realizing an equitable society.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the current position and possibilities of teacher education for diversity in Japan, with reference to discussions on teacher education for diversity in other countries. To achieve this purpose, we pose the following two research concerns. One is the organization of international trends in teacher education for diversity and the clarification of their characteristics. The other is the clarification of the characteristics and challenges of current teacher education for diversity in Japan from the perspective of teacher education policy and practices in teacher preparation programs. In terms of the first concern, we focus on trends in discussions of teacher education for diversity in the United States and Europe, from which it is evident that teacher education for diversity is not simply about correcting the achievement gap in the context of educational equity but is designed to create an equitable and inclusive society. This is a rethinking of teacher education in relation to the state of society and has the potential to take the debate on attempting to ensure equity in the school setting one step further. Regarding the second concern, we focus on human rights education in teacher education and analyze the contents of human rights education syllabi in teacher preparation programs, finding therein a focus on the development of knowledge and understanding of individual issues related to human rights and the historical contextualization of issues. This means that human rights education in teacher preparation focuses on how to teach and promote human rights education in schools, so that teachers have few opportunities to consider the relationship between themselves and human rights, such as how they perceive human rights in society.

Teachers with gender stereotypes are particularly likely to engage in gender-biased teaching practices and to transmit biased gender norms to students. Examining teachers' gender stereotypes is important for understanding gender transmission in schools and gender inequality in educational attainments. Using data from a questionnaire survey of junior high school teachers in the Kansai area of Japan, this study empirically examines teachers' gender stereotypes, focusing on their gender role attitudes.

Using latent class analysis to examine teachers' gender role attitudes, the results identify three patterns (gender equality supporters, care-gender role supporters, and gender role supporters) in teachers’ gender role attitudes. The distinctive pattern is the care-gender role supporters, a group that rejects some traditional gender roles but is more likely to hold the gender stereotype that women are better suited for housework and childcare; this group is considered “potential” gender stereotypes. Furthermore, using a latent class multinomial-logit model, we test three hypotheses regarding gender, age, and teachers' subject. The results show that the hypotheses are partially supported and that teachers' gender role attitudes are influenced by the basic factors mentioned above, including the interaction effect. Based on these findings, we discuss the structure of teachers' gender role attitudes and suggest the importance of focusing on teachers with potential gender stereotypes.

Awareness of child safety issues has increased worldwide, particularly in developed countries. Several policies have been adopted, and the mandates for teachers' compliance have been reinforced as well. However, the definition of child safety tends to be ambiguous, and teachers face difficulties in collecting evidence on violations concerning student safety owing to the sensitive nature of the problems. This situation reveals the issue of imperfect and incomplete information, terms used to refer to the absence of information about other actors and the rules of the game. A school reform approach that originated in Japan, known as School as Learning Community (SLC), effectively addresses this issue. SLC was originally developed for re-establishing learning in school communities. This study aims to examine how SLC can reduce imperfections in and incompleteness of information in the framework through both internal and external collaboration.

This study aims to examine the impact of technology on education and the associated challenges, particularly in the context of the Global and Innovation Gateway for All (GIGA) school concept and the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on social equity. It amplifies the perspectives of educators, parents, children, local school boards, schools, and initiatives aimed at educating teachers and identifies the following four points. 1) The initial implementation of the GIGA school concept contributed in identifying tangible strategies to advance social equity, with the development of a foundational environment as the starting point. 2) An essential aspect is the consensus-building procedure to determine priorities for implementation toward the elimination of social inequities, ensuring a delicate balance between educational and economic considerations to address the concerns of those perceiving this inequity. 3) The GIGA school concept, through the proactive efforts of schools, has facilitated equal participation in learning for students considered socially disadvantaged. However, the concept is at risk of losing recognition for its support of the socially disadvantaged and consequently neglecting more crucial issues. The importance of evolving perspectives and raising questions regarding social equity has become increasingly apparent. 4) For the GIGA school concept to contribute to the actualization of social equity in the movement to revise the teacher preparation curriculum related to information and communication technology, it is important for teacher educators to understand the contextual knowledge of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and guide their students accordingly.

This study aims to clarify whether the early graduation system in Japan is socially equitable. Specifically, it ascertains whether socioeconomic, geographical, and gender disparities exist in the distribution of early graduation systems, specifically the system that allows gifted and talented students to graduate university in three or three and a half years.

Using an original, independently collected dataset, this study examines the association between the presence or absence of an early graduation system and social bias. The results show no association between the presence or absence of an early graduation system and geographical biases. Gender bias was also not associated with the presence or absence of an early graduation system after controlling for variables such as student demands and faculty system variables. However, there was an association between early graduation systems and socioeconomic bias after controlling for student demand and faculty system variables. Therefore, there is a socioeconomic bias in accessing gifted education at the university level in Japan.

This paper examines how public education can ensure equity and diversity by clarifying the “democratic aspects” that can be captured through school-community collaborative activities in Japan and the U.S. As a result of comparison and analysis, it is indicated that in both Japan and the U.S., these activities are conducted in the context of streamlining educational administration. In addition, the participation in school management of diverse people such as local residents, parents, and children is promoted in order to grasp their needs and achieve deliberation on an equal footing. In contrast to Japan, however, these activities in the U.S. put importance on providing health and educational services to disadvantaged families and children. Furthermore, they aim to change not only schools but also communities. Therefore, this paper suggests that “democratic aspects” encompassed by collaborative activities have multiple layers: (1) “compensatory-type” (status-quo satisfaction -oriented democratic aspects), (2) “participatory-type” (deliberation-oriented democratic aspects), and (3) “transformative-type” (status-quo change-oriented democratic aspects). In order to guarantee equity of education that ensures fairness and inclusion to all children, this paper clarifies the importance of having both activities that distribute educational and welfare services on a curve to disadvantaged children and families (compensatory-type) and activities that involve children themselves in the practice, leading to the transformation and creation of the world (participatory and transformative type). The types of activities described above do not necessarily set the transformative-type as the ultimate goal. The three types interact together and pave the way toward a democratic and equitable education that is open to all and respects the voices of minorities.

The relationship between time preference and high school students' career choices was analyzed using the cross-lagged effects model. A significant relationship was found between time preference in the first year of high school and educational expectations in April of the third year. Furthermore, time preference in the first year of high school was influenced by academic performance in the third year of junior high school. The hypothesis that educational expectations in the first year affect time preference in the third year was not supported. The fact that time preferences determine educational expectations indicates that high school students' career choices are based on certain sets of values. However, it is conceivable that time preference in the first year of high school reflects the degree of adaptation to education up through junior high school. “Career choices based on one's values” may in fact mean that those who have adapted to schooling expect to continue their education for a longer period.

This study clarifies the development process of inclusive education in England (London) with Disability Equality Training (DET) for non-disabled teachers and pupils. It focuses on the practices of graduates of special schools who are members of the Integration Alliance (IA), an organization of disabled people.

The shift in education policy from segregation to integration in the 1970s and 1980s influenced the development of the inclusion movement among people with disabilities and their parents, some of whom joined the IA and have been campaigning together since the 1990s to end the segregation of children with disabilities.

IA members provided DET to non-disabled teachers and pupils in mainstream schools to change their attitudes and practices towards inclusion. The training was delivered during Disability History Month or across the curriculum in each subject area. The training covered the history of discrimination, the concept of the ‘social model’ of disability, and the role of ‘allies’. Through DET, non-disabled teachers and pupils were encouraged to raise awareness of issues of exclusion and to work together for inclusion.

It is also found that inclusive education movements with non-disabled allies have been developed since the 1990s. Under the Labour government, the campaign grew and education policy shifted towards inclusive education. However, the current situation has deteriorated, and the IA's successor is still practicing DET in mainstream schools, as inclusive education requires the cooperation of non-disabled allies and the reform of mainstream schools.

This paper concludes that raising non-disabled allies through DET and campaigning together was important in achieving inclusive education. It shows, in comparison to previous research, that DET has played an important role in the process of making allies for inclusive education.

In the history of Japanese education, the “gender characteristics theory” that men and women naturally have different characteristics rejected not only the “gender equality theory”which came from Western Europe in the early Meiji era, but also the traditional “male chauvinism” of East Asia. According to the theory of gender characteristics, men and women were seen as having “equal value,” though not “equal rights.” This theory became the main educational philosophy of women's education when the single-sex school system was established in the 1900s, and likewise permeated society as a scientific theory in the 1920s.

After World War II, when gender equality became accepted, a coeducational system was introduced toward equal educational opportunities. However, the gender characteristics theory remained the basis for making home economics a compulsory subject for women, as the division of labor by gender expanded during the high economic growth period of the sixties and environs. Coeducation was a system intended for men and women to “respect” each other and “cooperate” (Article 5 of the Basic Act on Education), and gender differences in curricula in coeducational schools were seen as “reasonable” differences to ensure “essential equality” between men and women. Schools were also not considered places of gender inequality.

Elsewhere, women's universities and women's junior colleges were established after the war with the expectation that they would play a new role in training women to support the democratic society. However, they also inherited the pre-war vocational school curriculum centered on literature and home economics. When these colleges increased during the period of high economic growth, this prewar curriculum spread further, based on the gender characteristics theory. As a result, women's universities and women's junior colleges were criticized as contrary to gender equality. It was only after the 1985 ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the spread of gender equality that the gender characteristics theory was finally rejected.

Today, the raison d'être of girls' education is being questioned again. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women not only rejects the gender characteristics theory and fixed gender roles, but also defines “discrimination against women” as “discrimination, exclusion or restriction based on sex.” As the concept of gender spreads, the view that separating men and women is itself “discrimination” is also spreading. If women's education is to continue to exist, its raison d'être will depend on its ability to contribute to the elimination of gender disparities.

This paper examined the actual circumstances of the recent teacher shortage in public elementary and junior high schools in X Prefecture. Although teacher shortages had been reported, few previous studies had investigated them empirically.

With the cooperation of all five branch offices of the Board of Education, data were collected through three surveys: 1) a questionnaire survey in June 2021 of the branch offices, 2) three interview surveys in July 2021 of the administrative officers at the town level, and 3) a 2019-2021 visiting survey of the branch offices of X Prefecture and of four towns.

First, the actual amount of shortage as of May 1, 2021 was scrutinized by the questionnaire survey, clarifying the shortage into three stages. 1) Positions for 1,971 full-time teachers with tenure were unfilled as the first stage. 2) Teachers without tenure were subsequently recruited, still leaving 150 unfilled positions as the second stage. 3) Finally, part-time teachers were recruited, still leaving 115 unfilled positions as the third stage. 4) In the end, each school was required to manage by themselves. This survey also made it clear that the teacher shortage increased in each term because more and more teachers left work due to childbirth or illness, with no substitutes. This suggests that the design of the first national teacher shortage survey by the Ministry of Education in July 2021 should be redone, as it focused only on the condition of the first term.

Second, the paper disclosed that the teacher shortage had increased since 2018 in this prefecture. This was caused by multiple factors at micro/mezzo/macro levels at each stage. 1) There were three background factors for the first stage. (1) Although the numbers of teachers were strictly determined by national law, the government had made no improvements for 41 years. The local government had additionally decreased teacher numbers in order to prepare for a teacher surplus in the future, based on the declining birthrate. However, teacher demands were enlarged by the increase of children with special needs. (2) Administrators were reluctant to hire teachers with tenure. The risk of the prohibited surplus of teachers was multiplied because of the increased number of small and mutable special education classes. (3) The applicants for hiring exams decreased. Teaching itself was not as attractive as before. (4) Maternity leaves not only increased but grew longer. 2) The shortage in the second stage was caused by the lack of teachers without tenure. Few teachers were on the candidate list because most of them were already hired with tenure. 3) The shortage in the third stage was caused by the teacher license renewal system, which began in 2009. Many licenses were already expired.

Third, the effects of the shortage were examined, finding that teachers were compelled to overwork because each school had to cover 3.91 teachers' worth of absence as a team. The paper also found that 60% of current teachers had less than 10 years' experience, which is expected to have negative effects both on the quality of teaching and the professionalization of teaching.