The roles played by a common language and music education in modernization and nation-state building in Asia

Nationalism is a product of the modern era and is closely linked to the development of capitalism. In a highly mobile industrial society that emerged in modern Europe, people needed to communicate via a common vernacular language, and the speakers of said language gradually formed a sense of unity. The vernacular was then adopted by the government as a common written national language, in its attempt to establish official nationalism, and propagated through a newly established education system (Anderson, 2006). In Asian societies, which skipped this process, the creation of nation was not a result of modernization, but was instead a part of modernization from the very beginning. Asian nations had to face a gap between modernization, which required them to imitate Western values and systems, and the formation of a nation, which in the West was based on existing linguistic peculiarities that distinguished certain members of society from others. The primary aim of this paper is to explore how Asian governments from different backgrounds dealt with this gap. In particular, this paper focuses on music education in schools across Japan, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan, and argues that the availability of a common language, the change in power holders, the populace’s identification with the government and the historical timing influenced Asian governments’ decisions regarding official nationalism

Development education in Japan : a comparative analysis of the contexts for its emergence, and its introduction into the Japanese school system

Abstract\ud This thesis is in two Parts. Part One consists of Chapters One to Four.\ud Chapter One establishes a definition of the term 'Development Education' as\ud it will be used in this thesis. Chapter Two is a comparative analysis of the\ud socio-political contexts within which Development Education is normally\ud created, and introduced into schools. Chapter Three analyzes the social\ud context of Japan and notes the emergence of Development Education in the\ud 1980s. Chapter Four contrasts governmental intervention in the introduction\ud of Development Education in some countries with the absence of such\ud intervention in Japan.\ud Part Two consists of Chapters Five to Nine. Chapter Five moves the focus\ud to Development Education in the Japanese school system and examines the\ud lack of progress in inserting Development Education into the Japanese national\ud curriculum. Chapter Six contrasts this situation with the example of Life\ud Environment Studies, which were introduced into the postwar Japanese\ud curriculum. In Chapter Seven, the thesis reviews four small scale experiments\ud with Development Education in schools in Japan and Chapter Eight asks why,\ud with the same National Curriculum, Development Education was introduced\ud in these schools and not in others. Finally, Chapter Nine summarizes and\ud concludes the thesis.\ud Thus within the two Parts of the thesis, there are three main themes. The\ud first theme is a comparative investigation of the socio-economic and political\ud contexts which increase the possibilities for the introduction of Development\ud Education in schools. The comparative investigation includes Japan. The\ud second theme is concerned with the difficulties of changing school curriculum\ud in Japan itself. The third theme is the investigation of the micro-politics at\ud school level which may make possible the introduction of Development\ud Education in Japanese schools

日本とイギリスのカリキュラム改革に関する一考察

　An extensive curriculum reform has been experienced in Japan and England in the 1980s and it is still going on right in to the late 1990s. This paper explores several issues regarding the curriculum reform in Japan and England. 　Firstly, the paper clarifies that for both countries, the curriculum reform in the 1980s was a turning point for redefining their curriculum policies. In Japan, the reform meant changing emphasis upon education from uniformity to individuality. Diverse talents of individuals particularly in the field of natural science were to be seriously taken into account for the nation\u27s future economy. Hence more diversity in school curriculum. Concerning pedagogy, child-centred approach rather than subject-centred approach therefore was welcomed. The reform in England was somewhat different from Japanese one as policy makers were desperate to strengthen basics in 3Rs. They tried to get rid of child-centred approach and re-introduce subject-centred approach instead. The emphasis was on memorisation rather than creativity. In order to introduce this change, the Government gave up loose control over school curriculum which had been a feature of English education since 1944. 　Secondly, some similarities and differences of their change in educational policy are discussed. A similarity is that both countries tried to adjust their school curricula to emerging globalisation and media-rich society. Another similarity is that education for the talented children was given the most priority in both countries. In Japan, early entrance to universities was discussed so that talented children could start their studies in specific fields earlier. In England, Tory policy makers decided to terminate the idea of comprihensive secondary schools and to maintain grammar schools for the most able students who would not go to public schools.　Despite these similarities, the policies which these countries made for their curriculum reform were different. While Japan tried to move away from traditional ways of teaching based on clear subject boundaries toward integrated learning and child-centred approach which gives more flexibility in the selection of subjects England introduced more strict curriculum control with an emphasis on traditional subjects and pedagogy. 　In addition, the paper explains the difference described above with the theory proposed by Ronald Dore which concerns "the Diploma Disease". As Dore analyses, contexts preceding to the curriculum reform in these countries were different. Japan\u27s attempt was to change the catch-up mode which had been maintained throughout its drive to catch up with industrially advanced countries since the Meiji Restoration. Japan\u27s inability to break through into the new dimension was caused by its outdated educational system which failed to produce creative human resources which would be needed in the coming century. On the other hand, the problem in England was that able middle class children were not sufficiently given opportunities to develop their talents and join the club for social leaders. Hence educational system and curriculum which would enable such children to compete with public school students were needed urgently firstly to enter universities and subsequently in to the society. 　In concluding remarks, the paper stresses that curriculum reform in general is influenced by social contexts in individual countries. Even though Japan and England introduced the curriculum reform in the same decade, their approaches were different because their needs for the reform were based on their various existing situations. This implies that educational policy is conditionally correct but not all

英国ナショナルカリキュラムに見られる「多様性」の認識 ―Citizenshipを中心として

A new subject termed "Citizenship" will be introduced into England\u27s National Curriculum from the year 2002. At secondary level it will be a statutory subject. Why the state is introducing "Citizenship" now and who are regarded as "citizens" in the time of globalization and the changing of the role of the state are the main concerns of this paper. After a brief discussion of the nature of globalization and cultural divergence, the paper focuses on the English context of the introduction of "Citizenship". The "Citizenship" curriculum is closely examined in terms of the state recognition of diversity. This paper argues that the "diversity" recognized in the National Curriculum refers not to the diversity of the things to be learned but rather diversity among the learners themselves. In concluding remarks, the paper points out that in the field of education, the state no longer sees its role as defining and promoting one national identity but seeks the least common denominator that is acceptable to every member of society

ノルウェー学校教育課程に見られる地球市民の視点

Norway revised its National Curriculum in 1997 as part of a thorough educational reform. Since Norway is a world leader in terms of the policy and practice of education aimed at promoting better international understanding and moreover shares some features with Japan, how it interprets recent social, economic and political development in the new National Curriculum is worthy of study. The paper briefly introduces the term "Education for International Understanding" and the rationale for studying the Norwegian curriculum. The content of the Curriculum is discussed in terms of raising awareness of global citizenship

総合的な学習と国際理解教育

The new national curriculum, which adopted the Period of Integrated Study, was implemented in all Japanese schools in 2002. Since Education for International Understanding was listed by the Ministry of Education and Science first among three other areas such as the environment, information, health and welfare, many schools are now trying to organize their own curriculum to put Education for International Understanding into practice. This paper argues that despite such effort by schools, Education for International Understanding in Japanese schools still has problems both at the policy and practical levels. At the policy level, the narrow interpretation of Education for International Understanding, which was the view held by the Ministry of Education and Science before the revision, still exists. This view lacks global perspectives and potentially encourages ethnocentrism instead of international understanding. At the practical level, since many schools concentrate so much on devising a child-centered approach, they seldom pay attention to why, in the first place, they need to adopt the approach. They also seem to have little interest in finding out why they are encouraged to include areas such as Education for International Understanding and environment in the Period of Integrated Study. In order to test the argument, this paper examines criticism against Education for International Understanding in the early 1990s and practices in the 2000s under the new curriculum

Group cognitive behavioural therapy (GCBT) versus treatment as usual (TAU) in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disease that affects the quality of life (QOL) and social functioning of sufferers. Visceral anxiety is currently considered a key factor in the onset and exacerbation of IBS, and cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) targeting visceral anxiety is thought to be effective. However, access to CBT is limited due to the lack of trained therapists, the substantial time required for therapy and the associated costs. Group CBT (GCBT) may solve some of these problems. We have therefore planned this trial to examine the efficacy of GCBT for IBS. Methods: The trial is a two-armed, parallel group, open label, stratified block randomized superiority trial. The study group will consist of 112 participants (aged 18–75 years) with IBS (Rome-III or IV criteria). Participants will be randomly allocated 1:1 to (i) the intervention group: ten-week GCBT plus treatment as usual (TAU) or (ii) the control group: waiting list (WL) plus TAU. The co-primary outcomes are the change in IBS severity or disease-specific quality of life from baseline to week 13 which is 1 month after the end of treatment. The efficacy of GCBT for IBS will be examined through mixed-effects repeated-measures analysis. Discussion: GCBT, if found effective, can address the issues of the shortage of therapists as well as the time required and the costs associated with individual CBT. Clinically, the findings will help make effective CBT programmes accessible to a large number of distressed IBS patients at lower costs. Theoretically, the results will clarify the relationship between IBS and psychological stress and will help elucidate the underlying mechanisms of IBS. Trial registration: UMIN, CTR-UMIN000031710. Registered on March 13, 2018