“Local Pedagogy” in Japanese Middle Schools:

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  • 公立中学校における「現場の教授学」
  • コウリツ チュウガッコウ ニ オケル ゲンバ ノ キョウジュガク
  • ──学校区の階層的背景に着目して──
  • Focusing on the Socio-Economic Backgrounds of School Districts

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Abstract

<p>The aim of this paper is to examine the concept of “local pedagogy” in two middle schools in relation to the socioeconomic background of their school districts. Further, it aims to clarify the impact of social class culture on the “consummatorization of schooling.”<BR><BR>I selected two middle schools located in a single city, and continued fieldwork research for two years in the first school, which I have called Kitachu, and for four years in the second, Nanchu. There is a relatively large number of middle-class students at Kitachu, and Nanchu has a large number of working-class students.<BR><BR>At each school, the teachers understand that their students and their parents have special characteristics. Students of Kitachu are careful about human relationships and often negotiate with the teachers, and the requirements of their parents toward the school are sometimes stiff. At Nanchu, the students are friendly, honest and compliant toward authority, and their parentsʼ demands for accountability are not strict.<BR><BR>Based on teachersʼ understanding of their students and parents, the teachers construct a different “local pedagogy” in each school. In, Kitachu, the teacher-student relationships are not close and teachers avoid coercing students or giving them orders. By contrast, in Nanchu, the teachers tend to take the initiative and teacher-student relationships are very close. In other words, a “consummatorization of schooling” is taking place in Kitachu, but not in Nanchu.<BR><BR>These differences can be understood as follows. First, post-modern changes such as marketization and contemporary rules about human relationships began to spread especially among middle-class people. As a result, there are differences between social classes regarding how they bring those values into schools.<BR><BR>Second, “local pedagogy” in Japanese school is constructed through compromises between teachers and their studentsʼ class cultures, thereby facilitating the “consummatorization of schooling.”</p>

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