In Germany, tuition fees in higher education institutions were abolished in 1970. The federal government adopted a policy of expanding higher education, and the number of new and enrolled students continued to increase. From the mid-1980s, against the backdrop of deteriorating educational conditions, a move towards collecting tuition from long-term students began to gain momentum. The federal government revised the Framework Act for Higher Education in 2002 and stipulated the provision of free tuition, but in 2005, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that it was unconstitutional. Since then, some states have introduced a system that collects tuition from all students, including long-term students. However, it was abolished due to a change of state government and opposition from students, and it has remained so to this day. In light of this situation in Germany, we will examine who should bear the costs of higher education.

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Homeschooling in a broad sense implies not only educational opportunities where parents solely provide formal education for their children who do not go to school at all. In the United States, homeschools and schools are involved in various ways. The article aimed to review such homeschooling systems in the U.S. and to suggest the issues to be explored. There are some systems or programs, such as dual enrollment and assistance programs, to offer some public support for homeschools run by parents. Schools or public agencies, in some cases, run homeschools by themselves. Through examining these homeschools, I find two theoretical types of homeschooling: one as“exit”from schools, and the other as“extension”of schools. Both types of homeschools require consideration of measures to evaluate input or outcome. In addition, the“exit”type of homeschools raises the issues of what actors other than schools can properly provide compulsory education and of what tasks these providers undertake. When more than one person or institution provide compulsory education for a child, it should be made clear how they are collectively accountable for education. Finally, I offered some policy recommendations for the revision of compulsory education system in Japan.

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As many as 20,000 foreign school-age children of elementary and junior high schools may not be receiving a school education at all in Japan. The foci on educational policies for foreign children are about to change from Japanese language education at elementary and junior high schools to a more comprehensive approach. To reduce the number of out-of-school foreign children, there is a growing debate about implementing measures to help those currently not in the education system to enroll in school. Many experts say that studying at ethnic schools should be recognized as compulsory education. However, when discussing whether or not to accept studying at ethnic schools as compulsory education, their educational quality is rarely questioned from the perspective of academic achievement. It is necessary to clarify the legal status and the criteria of ethnic schools. In this respect, the criteria which we need are not those required for“ethnic schools”but for“the place where children study.” In other words, through the problems of out-of-school foreign children we should rethink fundamental questions about why and what to learn at schools, and why children attend schools.

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The theme of this paper is the ‘critical point’ of school education, especially from the view point of ‘ICT’ .Thinking of the relationship between education and ICT, we usually have two viewpoints. One is ‘learning about ICT’ , and the other is ‘learning by ICT’ . Concerning the former viewpoint, this paper is focusing on the programming education of elementary school, which becomes the compulsory program from the year 2020 in Japan. This can be an opportunity to review the framework of existing ‘subjects’ . On the other hand, concerning the latter viewpoint, this paper is focusing on the ‘digital text.’ By the ‘digital text’ , the concept of teaching materials may change from ‘real’ objects to ‘virtual’ objects. And, this paper argues that the ‘digital text’ may change the concept of ‘school’ or ‘class’ from ‘the real’ to ‘the virtual.’ Finally, this paper discusses the argument that, thinking from the viewpoint of ICT, ‘education’ or ‘school education’ can become the ‘critical point.’

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Higashinaruse Junior School has embraced local practices. We have been making use of its features in educational activities as follows. 1. Enhancement of partnerships between primary and junior high schools. This reinforces a co-operative foundation between staff at both schools. 2. Greeting Morning Campaigns. 3. Studentsʼ Orchestra. 4. Career internships at institutions within the village. 5. Chorus Contests. 6. Poster Sessions. 7. Criticality Contests. 8. English Camps. 9. Study Orientations. 10. Haiku Gathering. The primary foundation of our education is an environment in which students can learn freely, supportively, and co-operatively for their prospective development. Our target is to maximize the potential of all students by creating an environment where they can accept the faults of others with harmony and unity. The central focus of school management is to create a systematic education with a smooth linkage from primary school to junior high school for studentsʼ mental and physical development as well as their educational accomplishments.

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In Gojome primary school, the collaboration between school, family, and community has taken a great role in effective educational activities. This has been achieved by not only the collaboration of local firms and people but also by the enhancements of all educational levels from nurseries to junior-high schools. Also, we have introduced school assessment and disclosed school information for better management. Volunteers from local communities have been engaging in holistic activities such as teaching rice farming, reading picture books, supporting school lunches, and miscellaneous school maintenance. From the aspects of regional revitalizations, students have been participating in regional events like sannai-bangaku, local rituals; bon dance events; tanabata edourou festival; and setting up booths at morning markets. Children today are surrounded by video games and multimedia at home like the children in urban areas. We believe that it is a school responsibility to create opportunities to link them to the local communities. We expect that these opportunities will deepen children’s knowledge and understanding of their local society, hence, these activities would develop their local identity so that they can reminisce about their hometown after graduating from school and becoming adults.

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The population is aging globally, Japan is number one in the world as of 2010. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research estimates that Japan will have an aging rate of about 40% in 2060. In Japan, which is an advanced aging country, Akita Prefecture stands out as having an especially high aging rate. It is called an aged advanced area. The Tohoku region used to contain a relatively large number of third-generation households. However, The Social life statistics index since 1990 makes it clear that the number of elderly single households is increasing in Akita Prefecture. This means that there is a wide range of changes in the family, and it must be considered as a rapid social change. In this paper, we consider issues concerning the relationship between the community, schools, and children, based on the current situation of local communities, families, and schools in Akita Prefecture, taking an example of the process of rehabilitation activities and maintenance of an aged small hamlet: “ a marginal hamlet ”.

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After the Akita case report, we first report the current situation and issues of the relationship between the Shizuoka area and its schools. Next, with the possibility of the extinction of the region, we will consider what to do with the future region and schools, and what kind of practice the teachers should do from the perspective of ESD. Based on my experience and reflections, I propose the “Basic Framework for Intrinsic Practice of Schools and Teachers（ESD × PLC）”. PLC is understood as “in-service　teacher education” in Japan, but it is a concept (idea) to be reconstructed with the role of ESD and future universities in mind. The “basic framework” is a framework in which schools and teachers practice internally, but the “ecological teacher agency” is used as the basic theory by taking advantage of the OECD key concept of “teacher agency”.

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In the neoliberalism since Thatcher, measures for education and welfare were reduced, the gap of wealth and poverty was expanded, and poverty increased. And the humane solidarity in society was torn up, and our collaboration decreased. Blair of the new Labour Party positioned social equity as one of the foundational policies, and tackled poverty etc., positively. However, as the important core of Blairʼs policies, the ‘Workfare’ idea always pierces through. That is, it is “welfare-to-work” , and is the breakaway from welfare dependency. Therefore, as a result, the incentive function to labor surpasses the original idea of “Every Child Matters” . And the idea changes its function into digging up persons able to work. “Every Child Matters” valued considering the needs of the individual person as a special thing. In order for this policy idea to be effective, formal school education needs to be improved notionally simultaneously and a competition principle must be overcome. The “extended school” is one of these important attempts.

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The aim of this paper is to study education reform, making a study of education welfare, giving attention to the “transition from school to society” of people with handicaps. First, I explain the relationship between education reform and education welfare. Second, I introduce the policy of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture about lifelong-education for people with handicaps. Third, I consider subjects for “transition from school to society” . On the whole, I explain that education welfare is related to education policy by the creation of new educational value, not only equality of opportunity.

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The Purpose of this paper is to consider whether the Japan teachersʼ Union could have had an influence on the Law for the Special Regulations Concerning Educational Public Service Personnel （LEPS） when it was being enacted. To approach this question, I used the JTUʼs internal records. To analyze this question, I took three analytic views （section 2）: (1) what the JTU thought of the relationship between the National Public Service Act and the LEPS; (2) whether the JTU was able to find a route that would reflect its opinion about the LEPS; (3) whether the JTU was able to obtain information on the Law for the LEPS. In this way, I summarize how the JTU fought for the LEPS（section3 and 4）. I found that the JTU did not have as much impact on the LEPS as the JTU expected. But the JTU could gain an effective means for future struggles, by building connections with parliamentarians through this fight.

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the commitment of Senior Specialists for Curriculum and School Inspectors in revising Course of Studies, focusing on elementary social studies in 1958. Previous studies indicate the existence of Senior Specialists for Curriculum and School Inspectors, but donʼt reveal their concrete involvement in revising Course of Studies. The findings of this study are as follows. First, it is clear that School Inspectors submitted a draft revision independently of the Senior Specialists for Curriculum and took a strong initiative in revising Course of Studies as needed. Second, this paper indicates that the Senior Specialists for Curriculum and School Inspectors committed the revision process with not only their specialties but also their interests and preferences. Regarding their interests, it is clear that they resisted the abolition of their own subjects making full use of their specialties in order to avoid losing their jurisdictions. About their preferences, it is revealed that they justified their validity using their specialties in discussing concrete contents of the draft revision.

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The school choice policy of Osaka City introduced in 2014 has gotten attention as a large-sized implementation case of school choice in a government-designated city. While the demographical return into the urban areas is increasing the gap of the number of pupils among the wards, this article examined the influence of such regional contexts on the rates of utilization of school choice. The analysis shows how the tendency of pupil decrease of each ward influences the utilization of school choice. Especially, the wards with have a steep decline in the number of pupils could have many “acceptance spaces” for school choice, and so this situation activated the utilization of choice. On the other hand, in the ward with a large increase in the number of pupils in the urban central area, the school choice was not functioning effectively because they couldnʼt prepare enough “acceptance spaces.” Also, the wards with a large pupil decrease are the socioeconomically disadvantaged ones. So, the active utilization of school choice in such wards implies that the school choice can impose large negative influence on the management of the schools in these wards.

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