Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century

111); but there is no reference to the threat posed by Japanese consumption habits
to various aquatic species. Here, therefore, discussion of global environmental
problems appears somewhat divorced from consideration of the economic
challenges facing Japan or the problematic aspects of its developmental record.
By contrast, a competing Tokyo Shoseki text features an extended two-page
discussion of the 2011 nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima, inviting students
to consider what caused it, how it was handled, and lessons to be learned (pp.
182-3). This includes some analysis of the historical context (post-war Japan’s
energy policies), the effects of the disaster itself and subsequent developments
in energy policy in Japan and globally. It then invites students to discuss an
appropriate energy policy for Japan in the light of various factors, both economic
and environmental. There is thus considerable variation in textbook treatment of
environmental conservation, pollution and related issues.
Generic Skills, Integration and Diversity in Curricular Reform —
Rationales and Implications
Encouragement of more project work and autonomous learning is a prominent
feature of curricular documents across East Asia. Even if official rationales for
such reforms are often instrumentalist and economistic, if operationalised in
schools they might stimulate critical investigation and debate in ways conducive
to furthering the sustainability agenda. So is there much evidence of this
happening?
The idea of the teacher as
an exemplary authority
figure within the classroom
and outside it is strongly
entrenched within the
profession, while modelling
moral ‘correctness’ remains
central both to teachers’
professional identities and
to the vision enshrined in
official documents
Instructive here is the experience of Japan,
which pioneered autonomy-oriented
curricular reform in the East Asian context.
Since the reforms of 1998 (implemented
from 2002), textbooks have featured
more exercises or questions calling for
‘investigation’ or ‘discussion’. However,
these are generally ancillary to the main text,
which continues to supply a conventional,
authoritative narrative. Moreover, many
— perhaps most — middle school teachers
remain uncomfortable with attempts
to transform them into ‘facilitators’ of
autonomous student learning, for both
ethical and practical reasons (see Cave, 2016; Bjork, 2011, 2016); discomfort
heightened by the contradiction between what prominent educators see as a
‘relentless attack’ on public schools and teachers, and the government’s rhetorical
espousal of autonomy (Fujita, 2010, p. 49). As in China (Bakken, 2000; Kipnis,
2011) and Korea, the idea of the teacher as an exemplary authority figure within
the classroom and outside it is strongly entrenched within the profession, while
modelling moral ‘correctness’ remains central both to teachers’ professional
identities and to the vision enshrined in official documents. Mounting concerns
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Chapter 3: East Asia