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Education policymaking is traditionally seen as a domestic political process. The job of deciding where students will be educated, what they will be taught, who will teach them, and how it will be paid for clearly rests with some mix of district, state, and national policymakers. This book seeks to show how global trends have produced similar changes to very different educational systems in the United States and Japan. Despite different historical development, social norms, and institutional structures, the U.S. and Japanese education systems have been restructured over the past dozen years, not just incrementally but in ways that have transformed traditional power arrangements. Based on 124 interviews, this book examines two restructuring episodes in U.S. education and two restructuring episodes in Japanese education. The four episodes reveal a similar politics of structural education reform that is driven by symbolic action and bureaucratic turf wars, which has ultimately hindered educational improvement in both countries.
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The Politics of Structural Education Reform Routledge Research in Education Series Editor, Editor’s School 1. Learning Communities in Education Edited by John Retallick, Barry Cocklin and Kennece Coombe 9. Spatial Theories of Education Policy and Geography Matters Edited by Kalervo N. Gulson and Colin Symes 2. Teachers and the State International Perspectives Mike Bottery and Nigel Wright 10. Balancing Dilemmas in Assessment and Learning in Contemporary Education Edited by Anton Havnes and Liz McDowell 3. Education and Psychology in Interaction Working with Uncertainty in Inter-Connected Fields Brahm Norwich 4. Education, Social Justice and Inter-Agency Working Joined up or Fractured Policy? Sheila Riddell and Lyn Tett 5. Markets for Schooling An Economic Analysis Nick Adnett and Peter Davies 6. The Future of Physical Education Building a New Pedagogy Edited by Anthony Laker 7. Migration, Education and Change Edited by Sigrid Luchtenberg 8. Manufacturing Citizenship Education and Nationalism in Europe, South Asia and China Edited by Véronique Bénéï 11. Policy Discourses, Gender, and Education Constructing Women’s Status Elizabeth J. Allan 12. Improving Teacher Education through Action Research Edited by Ming-Fai Hui and David L. Grossman 13. The Politics of Structural Education Reform Keith A. Nitta The Politics of Structural Education Reform Keith A. Nitta New York London First published 2008 by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2008 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Nitta, Keith A., 1972– The politics of structural education reform / by Keith A. Nitta. p. cm. — (Routledge research in education ; 13) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-415-96250-6 1. Education and state. 2. Educational change. I. Title. LC71.N58 2008 379—dc22 ISBN 0-203-92974-8 Master e-book IS