Many countries are struggling to reconcile greater flexibility in school choice with the need to ensure quality, equity and coherence in their school systems. This report provides an international perspective on issues related to school choice, especially how certain aspects of school-choice policies may be associated with sorting students into…

This paper deals with an overall changing trend witnessed in public schooling in Japan, known as educational reforms. Through looking at recent reforms in Japan, with an international trend in view, the author first summarizes educational reforms as waves of liberalization that have changed the post-war fundamental principle of Japanese education.…

This literature review on school choice analyses the impact of choice schemes on students and on school systems focusing on equity. Reviewing the evidence can be difficult, as the literature is often fragmented and inconclusive, and the political importance of this research often results in high-profile attention given to individual studies rather…

By treating the household as a primary unit of analysis and social production, this article considers the mutually influential ways in which migrant families shape the educational pathways and experiences of Brazilian children living in Japan. Through an ethnographic exploration of relations between parents, children and their working siblings I…

International schools and schools offering curricula and qualifications that are not those designed and delivered by the state are increasingly common in many countries. They offer parents an alternative to national schools and the normative education they deliver. This article compares five research exercises conducted in Switzerland, Japan,…

This article examines equity in national systems of education in terms of differences in student outcomes, as measured by mathematics achievement scores on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003. The author uses four measures for assessing equity in student outcomes: (1) the strength of the relationship between student…

School systems aspire to provide equal opportunity for all, irrespective of socio-economic status (SES). Much of the criticism of recent school reforms that introduce accountability, autonomy, and choice emphasizes their potentially negative consequences for equity. This report provides new evidence on how national features of accountability,…

Examines origins and potential effects of liberalizing reforms in Japanese secondary education in light of British experiences with policies such as local school management and school choice. Argues that Japanese reform involves necessary diversification of curriculum and pedagogic practices, but administrative shifts toward deregulation and…

Identifies three directions in the field of education reform in Japan that are in mutual opposition: (1) State Bureaucratic Control, (2) De-regulation and Marketization, and (3) Participation and (Local or School) Autonomy. Analyzes the process and mechanism of the opposition and compromise among these directions through three case studies. (CMK)

Eight papers discuss the public choice model of education in an international context and the implications of choice for parental involvement in schools. Perspectives/dilemmas in the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Israel are considered. Conflicting views of schools as service organizations and schools as commonwealth organizations are…