The aims of this article are to reveal historical problems of educational articulation, to clarify the concept of articulation, and to develop fundamental principles of articulation in educational reforms in Japan. Among the various definitions of articulation, I adopt the following 1929 definition in the seventh yearbook of the National Educational Association: “adequate relation of part to part of the educational system which makes for continuous forward movement of students.”

 First, I point out the necessity of research on articulation, followed by a discussion of the challenges with articulation. I conclude the article by developing the fundamental principles of articulation from a perspective of child development.

 The research on articulation for educational reforms is necessary for the following purposes: (1) to understand the education system holistically, (2) to prioritize children's point of view in their development, (3) to shift the concept of articulation from an issue of entrance examinations to one of the entire educational curriculum and teaching methods, (4) to consider both continuous and non-continuous aspects of articulation, and (5) to consider educational transition from the perspective of children's right to learn.

 The challenges with articulation can be categorized into three aspects; structural, content, and operational. Articulation can be also considered through three types of relationships: vertical articulation, horizontal articulation, and diagonal articulation, which is the relationship between school and society or home.

 Based on these conceptualizations of articulation, I developed seven fundamental principles. The structural aspect involves openness and choice, and the content aspect involves standardization, personalization, and individualization. The operational aspect involves affinity and collaboration.

 Finally, I point out the importance of policy and administrative articulation through open communication among policymakers and administrators, and the urgent need for more research on articulation to inform educational reforms in Japan.

 Topics of discussion about the curriculum and instructional methods for continuity and liaison between high schools and universities are confined to university entrance examinations, experience in the first year of university, and individual fields of study. I identified issues of continuity and liaison from the viewpoint of curriculum study, including learner experiences. I discuss the imbalance in the high-school official curriculum, lack of system continuity and liaison, and continuity and discontinuity of learning experiences. Each of these points has a close relationship to intention, implementation, and stages of achieved curriculum.

 First, I organize the basic information on continuity and liaison and summarize the research trends according to subject. “Superification” such as the Super Science High Schools (SSH) and Super Global High Schools (SGH) designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), is included. Next, I identify the imbalance in the official curriculum, the gap between curriculum and evaluation, and the partial continuity of learning experiences. All are based on the diversification of the curriculum.

 The movement toward continuity and liaison led by the national educational authorities became evident in the late 1990s. Its 30-year history has moved, as the university entrance rate rose, from the contact point phase of early admission to university to the contact line phase with consistency in the school system considered, and continues to widen toward a contact surface phase.

 The discussion in this paper reminds us of the increase in the percentage of students advancing to high school and the circumstances triggered by it in the past. The percentage exceeded 60 in the 1960s in Japan. This is similar to the percentage who go to university and junior college today. Today's situation is a variation of the process of the spread of upper secondary education. Therefore: What have the last 70 years of upper secondary education in Japan meant?

 When fewer students proceeded to university and junior college, the gaps experienced by those who graduated from high school provided a rite of passage into adulthood, although the method was controversial. Recently, university freshmen have been ridiculed for being immature and seeming like “freshmen who require remedial study” or “high school fourth years”. Immaturity can be recognized as a result of weakened or changed rites of passage as well as smooth continuity and liaison. On the other hand, lowering the voting age from 20 to 18 (June 2016) is a new gap. In the not very distant future, the end of secondary education and the start of higher education will be the day of coming of age.

 As continuity and liaison advance, the question connected to educational contents and methods must be answered — What should be taught in high school? The standpoint of curriculum study that includes the experience of learners is thought to be effective.

 In Japan, the number of high school students applying for university education has remained at approximately 50%. As a result of the poor functioning of selection in university entrance examinations, enabling a smooth transition from upper secondary education to higher education constitutes a problem. Since the late 1990s, various measures have been examined and implemented while there has been severe social criticism of university education. However, there is one common element identified as the basis of this diversity: the “good intentions” of everyone involved. However, good intentions, in all probability, do not always bring about desirable results. In this paper, through an analysis of a questionnaire survey targeting university and high school students, which was carried out by the Research Division of the National Center for University Entrance Examinations, we examine what kind of results have been achieved by efforts and considered “good” by those involved, toward developing articulation between upper secondary education and higher education.

 In this article, we analyze four concrete questions. First, do current university students face difficulty in their university study? Second, how can we understand the relations between the difficulty and the practice of learning? Third, to what extent do high school students acquire the practice of learning? Fourth, how can we understand the reasons why middle-class high school students, in particular, cannot master the practice of learning?

 The following three points have been observed from the results. First, probably as a result of significant accommodations, based on “good intentions,” by the university staff, current university students feel interested in and are able to advance learning while thinking that it will be useful in the future. Second, in contrast, students are not necessarily learning with motivation; this situation has thus prevailed since high school. Data analysis revealed that 70% of middle-class high school students, in particular, only studied for 30 minutes a day in the first half of their time in high school. Third, the good intentions of those involved are also visible in the context in which a majority of the students currently have not been able to acquire the practice of learning during their high school education. In other words, various measures that focus on personality and aptitude for high school students whose aim is entrance into university at times distance high school students from learning.

 In addition, in this article, we examine several points on which to focus when considering the conditions of articulation between upper secondary schools and higher education.

 The International Baccalaureate is drawing attention as the reform of the connection between upper-secondary education and higher education continues in the global era. This article discusses the impact of IB on Japanese education. To this end, I conducted interviews with school administrators, teachers and students at Article One schools registered as IB schools in Japan. Firstly, IB can be a good way to nurture “new abilities” in the global era. Secondly, IB can give its students useful passports to both international and domestic universities. On the other hand, IB could divide the IB students from the mainstream students. Also, IB could involve Japanese universities in international competition. Parents' educational expectations and financial condition may influence students' access to IB and universities abroad.

 This paper discusses acceleration programs in the field of gifted and talented education in the United States, in order to clarify the characteristics of gifted and talented education in the United States through typologically analyzing its diversity with respect to articulation.

 The discussion first clarifies the significance and issues inherent in acceleration programs themselves, based on changes in the principles governing gifted and talented education. The discussion then categorizes the acceleration programs employed in articulation between high schools and universities into two curriculum types (“full acceleration” and “partial acceleration”), and classifies articulation forms into four types (“advanced standing,” “integrated,” “overlapping” and “partial advanced standing”), while explaining the systematic characteristics of each. In addition, the discussion considers the development of full and partial acceleration programs at the stage of articulation between high schools and universities, focusing on their relationships with a series of educational reforms intended to improve basic academic skills from the 1980s on.

 The results show that, while implementation of the “advanced standing” type of full acceleration programs targeting gifted children in the narrow sense had been impeded by educational reforms, “overlapping” partial acceleration programs were expanded into the general education system accompanying changes in the principles within gifted and talented education, and the diversity and scale of the expansion of the programs were remarkable. However, amidst these changes, “overlapping” partial acceleration programs became recognized as a method for promoting smooth educational articulation, and in addition to the future goal of talent development, a variety of other roles and functions were added to current acceleration programs, such as lowering the university dropout rate, etc. Furthermore, “integrated” acceleration programs were affected by market principles in educational reforms, and the “partial advanced standing” type of acceleration programs have been affected by the remarkable advance of Internet technology.

 The aforementioned analysis shows that, amidst a series of educational reforms, gifted and talented education in the United States underwent a major transformation exceeding the previous framework of special education for a small number of gifted children, and the analysis clarifies that the focus of articulation between high schools and universities changed from “advanced standing” articulation to other articulations centering on “overlapping” articulation.

 The purpose of this study is to examine the process of transition from vocational education to higher education in England by analysing the results of a case study of further education colleges, which are the main institutions of vocational education for 16- to 18-year-olds.

 In England, the GCE A level plays the principal role in determining the academic route of students, and acquiring approximately three subjects at A level has been considered the traditional requirement for progressing to higher education. On the other hand, the number of participants joining vocational courses for level 3 qualifications has increased significantly since the implementation of the policy of widening participation in higher education in the 1990s. The policy of expanding educational opportunity beyond the age of 16 through providing vocational education also aims to expand participation in higher education via vocational routes.

 Due to this political policy, studies examining whether vocational qualifications are perceived to be equal to academic qualifications in the process of transition to higher education have been required. This study examines the parity of esteem between vocational and academic education through analysing the pattern of transition from vocational education to higher education.

 In this study, I focused on the nature and extent of academic drift within vocational education. Academic drift implies the following: (1) an increase in the number of learners pursuing academic qualifications; (2) the uptake of academic practices at the expense of vocational contents and practice. From these two perspectives, a case study was conducted. The results of the study are discussed as follows.

 First, for students who were not able to achieve their expected results through academic routes, college staff attempted to suggest vocational education courses as an alternative route toward higher education. Assessment by course-work, a different method from traditional academic assessment, was effective in encouraging these students to adjust to studying in vocational courses.

 Second, three variations of the patterns of transition from vocational education to higher education were found: progression by (i) pursuing only vocational qualifications, (ii) pursuing a combination of vocational qualifications and A-levels, and (iii) studying in vocational courses after finishing A-level or AS-level courses for top-ups of UCAS points. These patterns were the result of an inflow of learners from academic to vocational routes with the aim of progressing to higher education. At the same time, this inflow triggered a weakening of the relevance of vocational education to work. Therefore, it was possible to interpret these patterns of transition as forms of academic drift in vocational education.

 These results suggest that the parity of esteem between vocational and academic education and the widening participation in higher education through the vocational education route have been accompanied by the transformation of vocational education at the secondary level as an unintended consequence.

 The purpose of this study is to consider the role of authority in education by looking at the concept of “authority” in Hannah Arendt (1906-1975). For this purpose, the study focuses on her theory of violence, which discusses the relationship between authority and violence.

 There are abundant studies on the issue of authority in education. However, the understandings of the concept of “authority” that these studies hold are so diverse that it is difficult to examine them in comparison. In this context, Arendt's theory of violence may offer us a clue; she distinguishes the concept of authority from the concept of violence or of power as the introduction to her argument, and then raises the importance of authority in education. The significance of her argument and of the concept of authority, however, has not been sufficiently recognized. The main reason for this seems to be the lack of further detailed discussion: Arendt does not make clear why authority is valid in education, nor what role it undertakes to play, despite the indication of the importance of authority. This paper, then, focuses on her theory of violence, and aims to consider the significance of authority in education and its role in relation to violence and power.

 In order to achieve the goals above, this study is divided into three parts. First, it begins by examining what violence education involves, by looking at Arendt's criticism of modern education. This consideration shows that violence in education comes not only from outside but is also contained in education internally. Second, the study clarifies Arendt's concept of “authority” in comparison with “violence” and “power,” based on her theory of violence. With this analysis, it is revealed that authority not simply restrains violence but maintains and enlarges it at the same time. Third, and finally, the study considers why education needs authority, and furthermore, what role authority is assigned in education. This section shows the complex relation between authority and education. Namely, authority assumes the responsibility of an absolutely “new beginning,” which is also termed “natality” in Arendt's vocabulary. By taking this responsibility, authority contributes to the conservation and increase of power, withstanding violence in education.

 School choice policy is designed to expand parents' options. In theory, under the conventional public school system, parents are only able to choose from either the neighborhood school or a private school, but with a school choice policy, they can select from a wider array of options: the default neighborhood school, a private school, or a non-default public school within the district. Theories suggest that school choice policy would in fact exacerbate social stratification and decrease diversity within schools. However, empirical evidence is scarce, especially in the Japanese context. Using a unique dataset of junior high school students' parents in two districts of Tokyo, the present study examines the relationship between parents' school choice behavior and their socioeconomic status (SES), as well as their attitude toward their children's education. The Hausman test shows that the structure of parents' school choice is non-hierarchical. As well, a multinomial logit model estimating parental choice based on an array of decision factors shows that choosing private or non-default public schools is associated with higher parental SES and higher educational aspirations for their child. Despite limited generalizability, the study has some important implications as to the potential challenges of school choice policy in solving the issue of the gap in the quality of public education services.