ERIC Number: EJ932509
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0218-8791
EISSN: N/A
Mixed Messages: Discourses of Education in Policy Speeches to the Japanese Diet
Rear, David
Asia Pacific Journal of Education, v31 n2 p129-142 2011
This paper will examine how Japanese education policy was articulated discursively from 1996 to 2010 in the semi-annual speeches of prime ministers to the Diet. It will identify three distinct discourses within these policy statements: a progressive discourse emphasizing the rights of individuals; a neo-liberal discourse of social independence and multi-tracked schooling; and a moral conservative discourse of patriotism and social conformism. In the 1990s, progressive and neo-liberal discourses held sway. Discursively, they were centred on key phrases such as "kosei jushi" ("respect for individuality") and "sozosei" (creativity), which were employed in a strategically ambiguous way to satisfy both progressive and neo-liberal demands. In the 2000s, however, right-wing politicians began to push a moral conservative agenda, which emphasized not the rights of individuals but their subservience to the wider needs of society and state. With neo-liberalism backed by powerful business interests, policymakers had to find a way to reconcile these two conflicting viewpoints discursively. They did this by binding the concept of individuality to traditional notions of Japanese identity and national citizenship, creating a hybrid discourse that attempted to blur the fundamental difference in ideologies. (Contains 1 table.)
Descriptors: Political Attitudes, Ideology, Speeches, Position Papers, Discourse Analysis, Politics of Education, Educational Policy, Policy Analysis, Civil Rights, Patriotism, Social Behavior, Self Determination, Socioeconomic Influences, Change Strategies, Educational Change, Social Change, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Japan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A