Minority Education in a Japanese Language Class at a Public Junior High Night School: Power Relations between Teachers and Students

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Other Title
  • 夜間中学日本語学級におけるマイノリティ教育の試み―教師・生徒間の権力の関係に焦点を当てて―
  • ヤカン チュウガク ニホンゴ ガッキュウ ニ オケル マイノリティ キョウイク ノ ココロミ : キョウシ ・ セイト カン ノ ケンリョク ノ カンケイ ニ ショウテン オ アテテ

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Abstract

<p>Power relations between teachers and minority students are noticeably imbalanced, especially in schools within the public education system that are oriented towards the dominant culture. From the viewpoint of intercultural education, this study details an investigation of Japanese language education in night classrooms at a public junior high school with a focus on power relations between teachers and students. The purpose of the present study was to elucidate factors that reduce technologies of power inherent in this relationship; a relationship that can be found even within the relatively peculiar situation of public junior high night schools. Results from my investigation yielded three factors. The first factor is the positioning of the teacher. Teachers with knowledge and skills occupy the central position of authority in a classroom. The second factor is the way in which teachers cope with “resistance” from students. Teachers have the intention of suppressing “resistance,” but this suppression is in itself an effect of the existing power relations in the classroom. The third factor involves the evaluation methods used by the teacher. Although evaluation of knowledge or skill level encourages some students, it can also act to marginalize others. This study details changes in students’ “learning” related to the existing power structures functioning within the school system. An advantage of this study is its originality; a critical ethnographic approach was chosen so that the author’s own teaching experience could be documented and analyzed. Due to the fact that authority was relinquished by the author (the teacher) to become involved in the study, the changes observed in students’ “learning” also served as a means of liberation and enabled the teacher to temporarily relinquish their position as a member of the social majority and participate in the learning process along with the students.</p>

Journal

  • Intercultural Education

    Intercultural Education 38 (0), 130-144, 2013-08-31

    Intercultural Education Society of Japan

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