Against the contemporary background of international and national commitments to citizenship education for social justice, this paper examines and compares the subject, aim and extent of social justice in citizenship education behind official rhetorics in Japan and China. It develops a three-dimensional framework of social justice to analyse,…

The subject of computer science (CS) and computer science education (CSE) has relatively recently arisen as a subject for inclusion within the compulsory school curriculum. Up to this present time, a major focus of technologies in the school curriculum has in many countries been on applications of existing technologies into subject practice (both…

This article examines Japanese education system especially relevant to the school curriculum, which might support Japanese high performance in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), mainly through Japanese policy documents. The Japanese education systems have been constructed by the local context of society and politics,…

Through the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Initiative, states and territories have collaborated in the development of a common core of standards in English Language Arts and mathematics for grades kindergarten through twelve that are now being adopted by states. Designed not only for the purpose of providing strong, shared expectations, the…

To support the review of the National Curriculum, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was commissioned by the Department for Education in the spring of 2011 to produce a report detailing curricular arrangements in a number of high-performing educational jurisdictions. The principal source of information for this report has been…

History praxis can transform perceptions of the "other" by reshaping ideas about events transpiring between groups. Nevertheless, peace education research has rarely examined history teaching. This article addresses the potential for teaching peace through history teaching. After laying out a conceptual framework for understanding the…

This article examines the goals and consequences of an educational reform introduced in all Japanese schools beginning in 2002. The Integrated Studies (IS) programme was designed to increase teacher autonomy and to augment student interest in learning. The reform has the potential to alter significantly the way education is organised and delivered…

Compulsory moral education has been included in the Japanese national curriculum since 1872. Recent demographic trends have created an unstable society, and with the increase in heinous juvenile crimes, urgent demands are being made for a more effective program. Japan's Education Reform Plan for the 21st Century has as its second major strategy…

Japanese, Germans, and Britons value the study of foreign languages, art, and music and favor long school years, state-supported preschool activities, and homework. Examining other nations' curricula is a valuable exercise that helps U.S. educators question the cultural values embedded in their own education system. (10 references) (MLH)

In this paper we examine challenges of Japanese teachers' professional development which points to the essential change in in-service teacher training programs. Emphasis is placed here on an integrated model for professional development that should be deliberately designed to assist teacher training to construct an understanding of the spirit of…