The Impact of PISA on the Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse in Primary and Secondary Schools in Japan: Based on Bernstein's Theory of pedagogic discourse

<p>The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of PISA on school education in Japan. To understand the impact of PISA on curriculum policies and practices, this paper refers to Bernstein's theoretical frameworks, that is “pedagogic codes” and “pedagogic device.”<BR><BR>In the 1990s, the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture （at that time） implemented curriculum reforms aimed to cultivate “zest for life” [Ikiru-chikara]. The pedagogic discourse which regulates this reform is characterized by weak classification and framing, and has resembled competence models of pedagogy presented by Bernstein. <BR><BR>However, the nationwide controversies about the decline in academic achievement lead to a transformation of pedagogy. This has especially been triggered by the PISA shock. To deal with concerns over the decline in academic achievement, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology （MEXT） released a document named “Encouragement for Learning” [Manabi no Susume] in January 2002. In this document, MEXT has showed that zest for life consists of three components; solid academic abilities （including a variety of knowledge and skills from the basic to the applicative level）, richness in humanity and a sound body. They have emphasized that enhancing academic ability means cultivating a zest for life which enables children to survive in an era of uncertainty.<BR><BR>This heralds a change in the curriculum policy towards enhancing solid academic abilities. MEXT has carried out a national assessment of children's academic achievement since FY2007, the strength of classification and framing values have become stronger in pedagogic discourse and practice, and the pedagogy of schooling has transformed itself from competence models to performance ones. In the 2000s, the new pedagogic discourse, named “pedagogic Janus” by Bernstein, regulates curriculum reforms. On the one hand, the new pedagogic discourse emphasizes enhancing academic abilities similar to the functional literacy which can be found in PISA literacy. But at the same time, it aims to cultivate a zest for life as before. Bernstein has presented arguments about variations of two fundamental pedagogic models, and we consider that the new pedagogic discourse resembles a “generic mode,” that is, a type of performance model which disguises itself as a competence model.<BR><BR>Regulative discourses which dominate the pedagogy of schooling consist of three components: the discourse of equal opportunity, encouraging academic competition, and the herald of hyper-meritocracy. The regulative discourse of encouraging academic competition for the global economy has held a dominant position among competing regulative discourses. It brings on the deprofessionalization of teachers, intensification of their work, and fierce academic competition without relevance to learning.</p>