Jenny Ozuga, a well-known educational policy researcher, expressed concern about a trend in educational policy research which presents detailed pictures of specific issues, but gives little consideration to broader issues such as the creation of a "bigger picture". Having expressed this concern, the author moves on to examine why such a trend is currently prevalent. The lack of a "bigger picture" seems to stem from apparent paradoxes or contradictions underlying the educational policy and the reform: contradictions between New Conservatism and New Liberalism, two different strands of New Right Ideology. Critically studying an attempt to draw a "bigger picture" which emphasizes competition among autonomous individuals in the education market, the author tries to provide an alternative which focuses on the state control of education by means of a firm grasp of various evaluative criteria. The former picture not only misconstrues an essential aspect of the reform and the policy, but unintentionally accepts its logic. The same is also true of "detached analysis", which claims to be "objective", but is often based on pluralistic theory. Rejecting that approach, the author instead suggests that those who study educational policy make clear their own value positions and criticize educational reform and policy without failing to engage in self-criticism.

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The Federal Republic of Germany comprises 16 Lander. The "Basic Law", the Federal German constitution, prescribes that Lander have the fundamental responsibility for education. The federal authorities are granted limited powers, such as the right to enact outline legislation with regard to general principles involved in the higher education system, scientific research, and so on. Each Lander makes educational reforms in primary and secondary education. Various reforms are mediated by the Standing Conference of Lander Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs. The Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Technology, the Lander, the Wissenschaftsrat, and the Conference of Rectors and Presidents of Universities and Other Institutions of Higher Learning play important parts in the reform of higher education. In Germany, the harsh fiscal situation, dynamic trends in the population, and other factors influence the educational system. Consideration is being given to the reform of the school system, including the retention of the Hauptschule, the improvement of the quality of upper level in the Gymnasium, the coordination of the educational systems between the territory of the former East Germany and West Germany, the expansion and enhancement of higher education, and so on. Recent educational developments in Germany are analyzed according to the following outline: Preface 1. Educational administration and finance (1) Responsibilities and administration in education (2) The opposition between the federal ministries and the Lander concerning the enhancement of higher education 2. Primary and secondary education (1) The traditional tripartite system (2) Upper-level reform in the Gymnasium (3) The number of years in school necessary for obtaining the allgemeine Hochschulreife (4) Curricular reform 3. Higher Education (1) The enhancement of the Fachhochschule (2) The reduction of the duration of study (3) The evaluation of educational activities 4. Teachers (1) The shortage and surplus of teacher (2) Teachers in the territory of the former East Germany Conclusion

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This article aims to clarify the characteristics of French educational reform and its development in the 1980s. First, I analyze the keynote of the Socialist Party's educational policy and make clear the following points: (1) Savary, the Socialist Party's first Minister of Education, carried out a restructuring of the college (junior high school) aimed at systematizing educational activity on the basis of each child's ability or personality. This reform was the starting point of that of the present day. (2) Chevenement, the party's next Minister of education, enforced a radical reform well known as "80% objectif", which was aimed at doubling the number of bacheliers (people with a baccalaureat). Two main points underlay this reform. One was the economic necessity, at that time, of France s fostering a number of talented person in order to catch up with the United States of America and Japan. The other was the adaptation of educational level to the industrial structure, i.e., increasing the number of middle-class workers. This plan was largely accepted, causing a drastic change in the direction of the party's educational reform. After this time, educational reform was focused on "quality" as well as "equality". In the second part, I clarify the details of the enactment of the "new educational law" proclaimed by Jospin, The Socialist Party's fourth Minister of education, in 1989 and analyze the circumstances of its enforcement. Consequently, I point out the following six matters as this law's strong points: -The reform of primary education, the reorganization of the grade system, and the creation of the "cycle", which includes the abolition of redoublement (the repeating of a grade, hence, failure). -The modification of the orientation system in the junior high school increased autonomy for pupils and students. -The increase in pay and improvement of labour conditions for teachers and the creation of an IUFM (University Institute for Teacher training), in which every kind of teacher is trained. -Emphasis on a new concept of "educational community". -The encouragement of school autonomy and the promotion the idea of the "projet d'etablissement (school project)". In the last part, I indicate the characteristics of these reforms under the new educational law: 1. "Quality", as an objective of the reform, is pursued from the viewpoint of substantial equality. 2. Respect for the personality of the child is at the core of overall reform. 3. The motivating factor of the reform is "participation" and "self-control and evaluation".

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Some educational reforms have occurred in the 1990s in Sweden. Firstly, decentralization and deregulation of responsibilities of state to each commune have started. Each commune has obtained large responsibilities of schooling and then it has transfered some parts of them to each compulsory basic school and upper secondary school. Head teacher has been able to try school management at his/her discretion while school voucher and free choice of school were permitted. Secondly, new curricula of upper secondary school have started in 1994. All programmes were unified for three years. Vocational education programmes were graded up. Thirdly, the reform of universities and university colleges has started in 1993. They have great self-government, for example selecting of applicants for admission. A new allocation system of resources from government to each university and university college in accordance with student voucher and educational achievement was introduced. These have aimed to educate many young students who will work under the international circumstances.

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On November 1, 1993, the new Treaty on the European Union, known as "the Maastricht Treaty" came into force, and the European Union (EU) was established. In Article 126 of the treaty, education was fully recognized as a responsibility of the European Community (EC) for the first time since the establishment of the EEC in 1958. Under the new treaty, the Community is now taking the role of supporting and complementing the member states' actions in the field of education in order to develop the European dimension in education, respecting their cultural and linguistic diversity. Since 1995, with the revision of the programmes in education and vocational training, cooperation in the field of education among the member countries has become more and more active. Exchanges of student and teachers are to be expanded, and the importance of the educational information network is increasing. From the point of view of comparative research on educational policies, it is most interesting to observe and analyze the commitment of the EU to improve the quality of education in a situation where three dimensions-the transnational Europe, the nation-states, and the regions-are coexisting, and the transition towards a borderless community and decentralization in each nation are simultaneously occurring. Such an approach is especially meaningful in considering how the system of education and the curriculum should be restructured in order to cope with the internationalization of the society and the economy and to construct a peaceful world after the end of the cold war between the United States and the former USSR. The aim of this article is to give a precise understanding of the competency of the EU in the field of education and the meaning of various projects and actions concerning education and vocational training implemented by the EU, and thus to construct a basis for analyzing the influence of the transnational measures of the EU toward educational reform at the national level in the member countries. First, the change of competency of the Community in the field of education is described by analyzing the text of the treaties concerned. Secondly, an outline of new educational and vocational programmes of the EU implemented in 1995 is introduced to indicate the concrete change. Thirdly, the process of introducing the idea of lifelong learning as a key to improving the quality of education and vocational training in Europe is made clear, and the prospect of the development of lifelong learning in the context of Europe is made clear.

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This paper tries to reveal the problematic area which the study of public educational labour needs to confront anew, through analyzing the movement of normative consciousness in the school personnel group in the situation of putting the "futoko" phenomena in question and coping with them. In order to argue the future plot of public educational labour, policy arguments on the subject of publicity aiming at the meaning of micro educational acts are requested. In such a context, the writer argues the necessity to introduce a viewpoint of questioning prearranged meaning and communication of educational acts into the study of public educational labour. A study on public educational labour from this new viewpoint connects with educational policy studies in such a context. In the study of public educational labour in Japan, it has been considered possible for us to recognize the circumstances of public educational labour and to present the condition of future possibility of public educational labour, when the study is based upon logic of universal validity. Logic of universal validity has not been examined concerning its homology with the concept of labour and education in modernity. However, the view above mentioned is reflected as a deficient supposition, if we take account that we cannot acquire the recognition of circumstances of public educational labour without pursuing the mechanism of meaning connections concerning public educational labour. In this paper, the writer examines a condition to reveal the possibility of public educational labour, supplying a deficiency of logic of universal validity with logic of communication in which diversity is brought to life. The writer presents in this paper a basic viewpoint of educational acts coping with the "futoko" phenomena to grasp again logic of diversity and logic of universality in new relationship and to joint both of the logic. The viewpoint focuses on the following: understanding about new meaning of educational acts supporting the growth of individual child is able to be formed by communication in which radical critique and reflection on prearranged meaning works out.

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Until recently, the studies in history of education have mainly focused on the formal education in schools. It resulted that the educational opportunities and learning styles of majority of women in countryside have almost been ignored in the academic research fields. This paper focuses on the process, backgrounds and intentions of organizing the local female youth into some supervised groups in the villages, from 1910s to 1920s in Japan. The popular name given to such groups was "SHOJOKAI", literally 'the club of virgin, or unmarried young women'. There are roughly three patterns in the organizing process of "SHOJOKAI": (a) Female of elementary school graduates or members of dress-making groups, organizing themselves by the leadership of schoolmasters or so; (b) younger members of local women's groups becoming independent from the body and setting up new groups or divisions; and (c) newly organized on the purpose of compensatory education, campaign for improving lifestyles, and women's moral education. The number of such groups nationally increased just after the Russo-Japanese War (especially in 1908), and also around the period of setting up the Central Office of "SHOJOKAI" in 1918. As the Ministry of Education was not interested in the national organization of female youth at that time, the Ministry of Domestic Affairs went ahead. However, it should be kept in mind that what we call Shojokai Policy was not clarified in the official paper until 1926. Instead, they gave chance and some responsibility to the Guest Officer, Fujio Amano to utilize his ability and energy to report on the local Shojokai situations and to set up the leading organization. Amano himself was a teacher and leader of youth groups in his home village, and at the age of 25, had been invited to work for the Ministry. He insisted that "SHOJOKAI" should be organized in each villages, in order to prevent the young women from suffering from the influence of the city culture and lead them to be 'Good Working Wives and Healty Sound Mothers of the Country'. He wrote three books and many articles on magazines to announce his ideas and the practical plans to start up "SHOJOKAI"'s activities. In his educational intention and practice, the existence of other sex youth groups itself was found to be very effective. And the slogan 'Work toughly, gently and honestly' was clear in expressing what was expected to Japanese young women after the World War I. He also put much emphasis on how the young lived and felt in their everyday s lives. "SHOJOKAI"s were later reorganized into "JOSHISEINENDAN" (Local Youth Groups for Females), which led Japanese young women to work for their community and also for the pursuit of Japanese national policy (especially the one for invasion of China).

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Since the Ministry of Education introduced Moral Education into the Course of Study in 1958, the Ministry has carried out various policies to promote moral education. For the enforcement of these policies, the Ministry of Education has appropriated the budget for moral education since 1963, and the budget summed up to 3.8 billion yen. The question to be discussed is where the budget for moral education has achieved good results or not. The aim of this paper is to clarify moral education policy, measures of the Board of Education, and countermeasures of each school to them. In order to do this study, we have made investigations into three primary schools. From this study, we may reasonably conclude as follows: (1) at the formal aspect, moral education policy has been accepted and permeated in each school; (2) a general plan of moral education, curriculum planning of moral education and the number of yearly school hours are well-arranged; (3) there is, however, a gap between the formality and the actual condition, for more emphasis is placed on the basic subjects than the enforcement of moral education. It is a problem to be solved that the budget for moral education should reflect upon not only the formal aspect but also the real aspect.

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"Cleveland Plan" was a turning-point of American board of education. It proposed and produced an educational administration system, which has School Council as a legislative body, School Director and Superintendent as executive bodies. School Director performed as a business branch. He (She) was hoped, as a private firm administrator, to purchase goods, to make contracts and etc.. And Superintendent, as a supervisor, was to visit schools, advises teachers as a senior teacher. It separated rigitly legislative power from executive one. It also separated business power from educational one. The Plan delegated rigidly limited power to these two professional officers. By these separations and limitation, lay people (School Council) could control professional nature and their powers effectively. But soon, lay people denied this system, by fear that professionals would have too much power. The new system had a Superintendent as an executive head of the board of education, which was delegated whole power of execution, By this, lay people lost control over the nature of professional branch and his (her) power.

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