Globalization and Japanese Exceptionalism in Education: Insiders' Views into a Changing System(Routledge Research in International and Comparative Education)

Globalization is the most common overriding characteristic of our time, with societies all over the world struggling to change their educational systems to meet what are perceived to be the needs of globalization. This book provides an insider's account of how the Japanese educational system is trying to meet that challenge while placing the developments in a larger international context. Distinguishing itself from other books in the same genre, this volume (1) brings in the diversity of insiders‘ reactions concerning globalization reform in education, while placing such actions in the larger international context, and (2) covers a wide span of education (elementary to higher education) and shows how the globalization reforms as a whole are affecting Japanese education. With a focus on insiders’ accounts, this book brings in information that is little known outside of Japan. It also links globalization processes in Japanese society, school education and higher education, accounting for similarities and differences across educational levels, providing insight into the multifaceted processes affecting the Japanese education system. Chapters include: From High School Abroad to College in Japan: The Difficulties of the Japanese Returnee Experience The University of Tokyo PEAK Program: Venues into the Challenges Faced by Japanese Universities Why Does Cultural Diversity Matter? Korean Higher Education in Comparative Perspective

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Notes on contributors Part I. Setting the Stage Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. "Exceptionalism" in Japanese education and its implications Chapter 3. Japan’s challenge in fostering global human resources: policy debates and practices Chapter 4. Global citizenship education in asia Part II. Globalization and the multicultural challenge in Japan Chapter 5. From high school abroad to college in Japan: The difficulties of the Japanese returnee experience Chapter 6. Breaking in or dropping out?: filipina immigrant girls envisioning alternative lives in a globalized world Chapter 7. Transition from university to work in Japan: Approaching expectations of international students Part III. Case studies in meeting the global and multicultural challenge Chapter 8. The University of Tokyo PEAK program : Venues into the challenges faced by Japanese universities Chapter 9. Developing human resource for multicultural coexistence society: A case study of gunma university-gunma prefecture cooperation project “multicultural community advancement officers certificate program” Part IV. The issues revisited Chapter 10. Why does cultural diversity matter? Korean higher education in comparative perspective Chapter 11. Globalization or anglicization?: A dilemma of English language teaching in Japan Chapter 12. Japanese schooling and the global and multicultural challenge: Globalization from below Index

About the Author :
Ryoko Tsuneyoshi is a professor of comparative education at the Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo. She is the present head of the secondary school attached to the Department of Education (2016-2017), and the former Director for the Center of Excellence in School Education (2013-2015). Ryoko Tsuneyoshi earned her Ph.D. at the Department of Sociology, Princeton University. She conducts cross-cultural comparisons of schooling through fieldwork, and she has also written extensively on multicultural issues. She was an executive board member of the Science Council of Japan, and is on the executive committee of the Intercultural Education Society of Japan and the Japan Educational Research Association.

Review :
"Long a model for scholars and policy makers around the world, the Japanese education system is undergoing dramatic change to keep up with a globalized world. This volume presents how these changes are shaping Japanese education a host of levels, from the expansion of English education at the university level to the increasingly multicultural classrooms. The contributors are also on the front lines of policy reform and their insights provide an understanding of the changes in Japan, but also provide a framework for broader challenges facing all educational systems in the 21st century." - Christopher Bondy, Associate Professor of Sociology, International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan "A uniquely coherent and well-grounded analysis of the ‘globalization’ craze gripping Japan’s educational debate. This volume takes readers beyond the often misleading rhetoric of policymakers, examining the capacity for change, its actual extent and, in some respects, its desirability." - Edward Vickers, Kyushu University