(1) Since the late 1990s an approach to education has developed called evidence-based education (EBE), suggesting that practices, policies, and research in education would dramatically improve if education were based on scientific evidence. This approach has many critics. This paper attempts to give a clear overview of the complex field of EBE and of evidence-orientedness in education. First, there is a discussion of the divergence in the functions of evidence in education (2). To consistently interpret these divergences, the paper discusses evidence-based medicine (EBM), the model for EBE (3), as well as the philosophical-historical context of the concept of evidence (4).
 (2) In education, evidence has power not because of its genuine credibility but rather because of its political-rhetorical effectiveness. This effectiveness, especially its restriction of the professional judgment of teachers, is addressed in the critical discussion of EBE. Regardless of its basic legitimacy, the critique of evidence remains inadequate because it depends on ethical demands made of the teaching profession and does not take seriously the credibility of evidence.
 (3) In the EBM, the role of the clinical professional was one of the main themes of discussion. In the original idea of EBM, evidence was considered a supportive basis in order that clinical judgment might meet its responsibility. During the development of EBM, however, the quest for evidence was channeled into a system of accountability leading to a standardization of clinical judgment. Why has the structure of evidence been so distorted? Mainly because of the conditions under which evidence is produced : in circumstances totally separated from the lived world in which responsibility is indigenous.
 (4) In the deepest layer of ”evidence,” we find the meaning of self-evidence (Evidenz, évidence). This is why the call for evidence has a strong rhetorical effect. Cartesian philosophy and modern concepts of experimental sciences concur in the dismissal of the lived world as a source of evidence : Evidence is reserved for mathematical arguments or experiences in experimental settings. Edmund Husserl sharply criticized this dissociation of modern sciences from the life-world (Lebenswelt). Instead, he found the source of evidence in the life-world. Following this phenomenological conversion, we can find the source of evidence for educational activities in the life-world, especially in the learner’s experiences of learning.
 (5) The relationship between education and evidence cannot be grasped in simple ways such as “evidence underpins education” or “evidence undermines education.” The field of evidence is split into two opposite directions: evidence from modern science and evidence from the life-world. Modern science emphasizes the accountability of educational practitioners, while the life-world emphasizes their responsibility. But even the latter does not directly underpin the education practice. It is true that education can only find confirmation in the learner’s experiences of learning. However, experiences of learning can occur independent of education. Education cannot rely on evidence directly. Due to the lack of any firm evidence, education is forced to be free. Free space for educational judgment is not an ethical postulation but rather a structural condition of education.

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 In the field of education, evidence means an objective ground for setting or judging an educational policy, plan or method, as an effective means to attain a given political end or educational objective. Evidence-based education has been regarded as a decisive device to pursue the accountability and improve the quality of education by connecting educational researches to educational practices and policies.
 Evidence-based education in the UK and the USA, however, has been criticized for distorting the essence of education and the nature of educational practices through its use of evidence-based medicine as a model, and for dismissing the hermeneutical or holistic traditions in educational methodology and the autonomy of the professionals engaged in research or practice. But these criticisms do not seem to be accepted by those who believe in the possibilities of education and believe that its possibilities can be realized by operating evidence-based education rationally. It may be quite difficult to overcome evidence-based education under these circumstances.
 In this article I consider the above explanation accounting for espousal of evidence-based education to be not so much a variety of truth as the tale, which is provided, with some political interests, for those who intend to acquire the competencies or skills to survive in an era of uncertainty. I pay attention to the consequences brought about recursively by the execution of evidence-based education in the historical-social context which has called for evidence-based education itself. In other words, I take notice of the unintended political or ideological functions that the tale as an organized meaning system performs as the result of repeated and reflexive retelling in that context.
 It is important to notice that the notion of evidence-based education has emerged in association with changing views on education. As the education that I call Education II (modern education) is separated from Education I (education as an ongoing process of call-and-response with the world) in accordance with the rising of commodity exchange and merchandization, the former turns to education to satisfy learners’ needs or desires, which is a prerequisite for evidence-based education. Furthermore, the execution of evidence-based education, under the present conditions of commodification, merchandization and the transformation of scientific research, has gradually reversed the relation between education and evidence. When education is seen as what can be evaluated with evidence, a new type of education emerges, which I call Education III. Education III, which reduces teaching and learning to visible operations, is very adaptable to interdisciplinary research, hybrid business and the globalized society. But when evidence for accountability turns from the grounds for judging the level of achievement into the proofs of having attained the objectives, the purpose of education tends to become the constructing or disguising of evidence necessary therefor, impoverishing education and leaving it vacuous.
 In conclusion, evidence-based education has changed the nature of education, making the acts of teaching and learning superficial and moving toward depriving education of its substance. Moreover, some branches of educational research may be absorbed into interdisciplinary ones, and in turn the theories of education may be abandoned.

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 The purposes of this paper are as follows: (1) To clarify the current structure of issues around evidence-based education by systematically discussing the controversies around it and the relevant political and social contexts, such as structural changes in educational systems; and (2) to show how we should respond to significant questions raised in regard to evidence-based education, striving to create an ideal image of teaching profession, accountability systems, and educational research, while avoiding the standardization and marketization of education.
 First, I sketch the development of evidence-based education. I summarize the main ideas of evidence-based practice and policy in the field of medicine. Based on the statements of D. H. Hargreaves, I clarify the claims of proponents of evidence-based practice and policy in the field of education. These include claims about the need to make teaching a research-based profession and to increase the practical usefulness of educational research. Additionally, I organize the discussion on evidence-based education and clarify some critiques, including criticisms of applying the causal model and the technological model to education, the danger of an overemphasis on efficiency and the omission of questions of value, and the important role of “knowing in action” in professional judgments.
 Second, I describe ways of integrating technical knowledge and quantitative/scientific evidence with the qualitative/practical judgments of teachers. In the field of medicine, the importance in professional judgments of elements beyond quantitative empirical evidence, such as clinical expertise and patient values, has begun to be reevaluated. As a result, the integration of evidence-based medicine and narrative-based medicine has begun. As judgments in classroom practice are situational and complex, causal and technical knowledge has a limited use. Although qualitative and experiential knowledge should be prioritized in the process of classroom interaction, quantitative and empirical data play the larger role in decision-making at the macro policy level, where the framework of the educational system is decided.
 Third, I describe the structural change of educational systems and the development of standards-based reform, which forms the political and social background of evidence-based education. I explain the problems that structural change has brought about in educational practices. Currently, the decision-making of educational professionals is required to be not only educationally effective, but also easy to understand and transparent. The pressure of accountability in this search for transparency tends to lead to the standardization and marketization of education, which in turn contributes to the de-professionalization of the educational profession.
 Finally, I propose a design for a system of educational objectives and assessment which would integrate the democratic governance of education with the autonomy of the educational profession while avoiding the standardization and marketization of education. Many opponents of evidence-based education completely deny the validity of standards-based education and accountability. However, in the United States, there are some attempts to reconstruct standards-based education and accountability systems to accomplish equality and democracy rather than to strengthen competition and bureaucracy. The new accountability system (1) should be designed around the actual learning process of children in the classroom and the situational complex judgment of professional educators and (2) should emphasize local democratic school management through the participation of parents and local residents in the decision-making about their schools.

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 The main objective of this article is to examine, in the era of Evidence-Based Educational Policy and Practices (EBE), neither what is evidence for educators, nor what researchers contribute to education, but how educators should respond to EBE.
 It seems that we should pay attention to the motivations and attitudes of educators confronted with EBE. In the conversation between traditional educational research and neuroeducational research, which is representative of EBE, some researchers investigate how educators receive neuroeducational knowledge both quantitatively and qualitatively. This research shows that most educators are motivated to use that knowledge in order to avoid justifying their own practices. As Paul Standish claims, this means that EBE may undermine the professional faculties of educators.
 Therefore, focusing on the debates on intellectual virtue in virtue epistemology, I suggest that we shed light on the ethical traits of educators confronted with EBE. Virtue epistemology is emerging as one of the approaches to epistemic issues. Virtue epistemology is characterized by a shift in focus from properties of beliefs to the intellectual traits of the agent: from what is required for something to be knowledge to what is required for someone to know better. Although this person-based epistemology would have many implications for education, very few attempts have been made at considering the implications for educators making use of knowledge about education.
 It is helpful to distinguish two main groups in virtue epistemology: virtue-reliabilism and virtue-responsibilism. Both try to resolve the Gettier problem. Gettier demonstrates that the concept of knowledge as justified-true belief is insufficient through scenarios in which, though three criteria for knowledge (justification, truth, belief) seem to be met, most of us would not think the result is knowledge due to epistemic luck.
 Virtue-reliabilists, by arguing that a belief is justified if and only if it is produced by a reliable belief-forming process, add a new condition for knowledge: the knower’s faculty or intellectual virtue characteristic of that process (adequate memory, hearing, reasoning, introspection). However, virtue-reliabilists are in agreement with traditional epistemology when they presume that a main issue of epistemology is to get to the truth. What they characterize as intellectual virtue is, therefore, merely a means for the attainment of the truth.
 In contrast to the virtue-reliabilists, the virtue-responsibilist Linda Zagzebski emphasizes the character of the knower. In accordance with Aristotle’s ethics, she claims that intellectual virtue is not merely a means but an intrinsic part of knowing successfully. We estimate highly someone who is open-minded, intellectually courageous, impartial and so forth, even if he or she fails at knowing something. This means that the motivation or attitude toward knowing something virtuously is more valuable than getting to the truth.
 Zagzebski’s argument provides an alternative view on what is required of educators in the era of EBE. It is true that accurate knowledge about education may be involved in effective education. However, the most important question to ask first is what kind of motivation or attitude is required for educators to know better, or to become intellectually virtuous.

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 The purpose of this paper is to clarify the various meanings of the word “evidence” through reading meeting records, etc. of actors concerned with education policy.
 When problems were raised with the Koizumi administration’s efforts to reduce compulsory education expenses drawn on the national treasury, “evidence” was used by the Central Council for Education in a special session on compulsory education to mean that which verified the policy. The same word has similarly been used by committees promoting “regulatory reform,” and the same intention can be seen in its use here by the Central Council for Education.
 In the “University Reform Execution Plan,” this word is used as the “conditions” set in advance by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, thus meaning that the degree to which these conditions were met would be evaluated with a PDCA cycle, and the result would be tied to budgeting.
 In documents of the Council on Economy and Fiscal Policy, “evidence” is used to mean the “results” of a policy evaluation by PDCA cycle, in that that “evidence” would quantitatively and objectively show the social impact of a policy via data, etc.
 When viewing documents of the Ministry of Finance, “evidence” is proposed as a “condition” placed on education policy, which is a departure from the meaning of “results” which had previously been used in regard to expenditure cuts.

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 The purpose of this paper is to explain the placement process for full-time teachers according to the educational policy of a City Assembly. The author observed the introduction of the policy for full-time student guidance teachers in Minoh City, Osaka, and considered how educational policy has changed in the City Assembly. Through examination, the author discovered how the Assembly participates in the educational policy process.
 In Minoh City, the educational policy of the majority of the City Assembly has been different from that of the political party of the mayor since the election in 2005. The mayor advocated promoting class size reduction during his mayoral election campaign, but the assembly is opposed to it and focused on placement of full-time student guidance teachers. The mayor, lacking a majority in the City Assembly, could not introduce evidence of the effects of class size reduction reform, and the placement of full-time student guidance teachers was confirmed.
 The change in policy is important for this case. Through consideration of this, the author came to the following conclusion.
 Participation in educational policy by the City Assembly is possible, and it is even possible to completely change an existing education policy into a totally different thing. In this case, the City Assembly was able to change the class size reduction policy to the policy of placing full-time student guidance teachers.

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 There are numerous documents created by people through practices in workplaces, communities, small groups and so on. In the 1950’s in particular, people made their own experience records with their circles of friends. Studies of adult and community education have been paying much attention to these documents, to which the researcher’s interest and perspective are crucial.
 The purpose of this article is to point out three discussion points about research using these documents.
1) There are tense relations between people and researchers, documents and research. People and their documents sometimes oppose research or look at it from the opposite perspective. The reason why common people began to write their experiences was to take back the self as a subject of representation instead of a subject to be written.
2) Due to consideration of relation between facts and practice records, more than one practice may be recognized when writing about practice records. Plural perspectives make it possible to draw the image of each practice.
3) The act of writing invites various meanings and affects to the writers, from oppression to liberation. The practice should be read within its context.
 It is important for us to be able to read documents with sufficient understanding.

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 The purpose of this paper is to examine the risks and benefits of evidence in educational practice.
 A few decades have passed since we began to consider evidence-based approach as a new and important factor for our research and practice. In particular, evidence is being called for more in the study of education than in other academic fields because discussions on education have involved less scientific ways of thinking.
 G. H. Guyatt’s editorial “Evidence-Based Medicine” (1991) is the first article that advocated the necessity of the evidence-based approach. It should be specially mentioned that he paid attention to critical appraisal as one of three skills required of clinicians using evidence-based medicine. Our research and practice should be based on not only evidence itself but also the skill of careful examination of evidence. Otherwise evidence will turn from friend to enemy.
 Though this paper emphasizes the need for evidence in the same manner as other articles which encourage the application of evidence-based approach, I would like to start from an awareness of some disadvantages of evidence. The evidence-based approach is needed. That is why we are required to have numeracy, which means the skill of scientific and critical thinking in using numbers as well as the basic skill of arithmetic.
 In order to think carefully about risks and benefits of evidence, I focus on “school safety” as the optimal topic, for three reasons. First is the “absence of evidence”. There have been few references to evidence in the field of school safety practices. Rather, practices are often derived from sensational events. In our daily life dangers are unlimited; however, resources for prevention are limited. In order to implement more effective prevention, we have to order those dangers according to evidence.
 Second is the “risks of evidence”. Evidence related to safety or accidents tends to have dark figures. Especially under circumstances where evidence is believed to be very valuable, even though a certain statistic may include a lot of hidden cases, people are not aware of them and misunderstand the actual state. What is worse, sometimes politics proceed on this basis. Statistics of bullying in schools are shown and closely examined as an example.
 Third is the “benefits of evidence”. Once we take a scientific and critical approach to evidence, we may discover the problem itself and find answers to why it occurs. This will result in actual safety. The problem of judo deaths in schools is illustrated: how it was discovered with evidence and how cases have been reduced.
 Because evidence has impact enough to change society, it is necessary to refer to it carefully. This attitude will lead to actual problem-solving.

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 In modern industrial society, pedagogy has regarded human growth and development as self-evident, taken knowledge, values, and other social resources for granted, and found the evidence for its own significance between the distribution and transfer of those resources and people’s growth and development. However, the structural changes of society have now brought us to a point where the embodiment of our being, or time and space, is denied, human growth and development have been made ambiguous, and the formation of a consistent self is inadequate: the very grounds of pedagogical studies are being undermined. Here, we are urged to review the task that precedes the methodology for pedagogical studies in approaching its objects: the stance on the object taken by the researcher who develops such methods and applies them to the object.
 When focusing on an object and giving it meaning, we have already learned the physical techniques tailored to finding and defining the object that way. We pick up and approach the object based on these physical techniques, but, in the process, we incessantly reshuffle and recompose these techniques, creating our selves as an existence relative to the object and restructuring the relationship as our own living environment.
 This is related to the nature of the words we use. Words belong to the group I belong to. The words I speak are given predefined meanings, but actually the meaning of my words materializes only after they have been uttered. Marked with the identity of my own body, my words break the spell of the predefined meanings, and lead me to express my own self. Moreover, since my body has the universality of the species to which I belong, my self-expression continually restructures my group as we incorporating me. By keeping me in the space between the me who is speaking words and the group, that is society, I belong to, words continue transforming society into us. This is what leads us to change society and turns me myself into the actor of my own life.
 This way of my being is also expected from the researcher in his/her approach to the object. That is what we might call positionality or stakeholdership.
 What we must consider now is a way for the researcher to approach the object in which, while involved with the object, the researcher sees the object itself grow and change into an actor as the researcher does.
 Such an approach leads us to activities that, in the relationship between the researcher and the object, constantly change the researcher into a new being and describe the object through self-reflection and relationships. There, the object itself becomes something that has the researcher’s self-generation/transformation built in. This way of being of the object is itself people’s way of forming their selves; in other words, it is learning, life, and the relationships people develop among themselves, or society.
 Developing himself as an existence relational to the object, the researcher becomes an actor who keeps developing and changing himself into a new self.
 This very activity is learning itself. It is in this activity that pedagogical studies must find the new evidence of their significance.

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 This report considers the start of kaigai shugaku-ryoko (overseas school trips) in modern commercial schools.
 The educational activity known as kaigai shugaku-ryoko started at local commercial schools of the Meiji period. Why did local commercial schools start these overseas trips? I focused on the commercial schools of Kumamoto and Hakodate to consider this problem.
 There are two reasons why I focused on these two schools. The first reason is the relationship with the travel expenses. Both schools’ kaigai shugaku-ryoko were achieved through the strong support of the local business world. The second point is related to geographic location. Both schools were established in cities adjacent to harbors which were hubs of foreign trade. It is thought that these regions had reasons for sending the students of commercial schools abroad.
 I analyzed the association between the regions’ awareness of issues to deal with and their kaigai shugaku-ryoko. As a result, the historic background of the beginning of kaigai shugaku-ryoko became clear.

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