Musical Instruments in Japanese School Education: Ideas, Policy, and Reality

At the last meeting of the Study Group on Musical Instruments in Lisbon (2019), my discussion focused on teaching and learning musical instruments in Japanese schools. I reported about the musical instruments applied for educational purposes from a historical perspective. Examining the introduction and development of instrument education in music classes revealed that various musical instruments have been used as teaching tools. On the one hand, some of them are a reinvention or an improvement of already existing musical instruments. On the other hand, cultural and socio-economic factors always play a vital role in adopting and mastering musical instruments in formal education. In this paper, as a follow-up study of the topic, I will give due emphasis on the musical instruments recommended in the educational guidelines. Consequently, I will examine their organology and the ideas behind applying specific musical instruments in school education.

Critical Corpus Analysis of ALTs’ Online Discourse

Thousands of non-Japanese nationals work as assistant language teachers (ALTs) in schools throughout Japan. To better understand ALTs’ teaching contexts and motivations, the researcher created a corpus of online discourse about ALTs and used corpus software to identify and analyse key words in context. He also asked questions from critical discourse analysis to examine the relationship of these key words to ideology and power. The findings were that while the discourse often described poor employment conditions and problems for ALTs working in Japanese schools, the discourse itself may also be contributing to the reproduction of these conditions. This is because it seemed to both stigmatise ALTs as fundamentally unprofessional and suggest that ALT positions can be a step towards other types of employment in Japan. Such discourse may encourage people to become ALTs and tolerate poor conditions in the short-term instead of engaging in collective actions to make long-term improvements. 日本で外国語指導助手（ALT）として働く外国籍労働者は何千といる。ALTが働く環境と動機付けを理解するため、筆者はALTに関するディスコースのコーパスを構築し、コーパス分析ソフトを用いて文脈中のキーワードの特定と分析を行った。また批判的言説分析を用いて、抽出されたキーワードとイデオロギー及び影響力の関係を検証した。結果、ディスコースにはALTの劣悪な労働環境と日本の学校で働く上での問題が多くみられた一方で、ディスコース自体がこうした状況の再生産に寄与している可能性が示唆された。ディスコースにより、ALTは基本的に高度な専門性を必要としないというスティグマを形成しうることに加え、ALTは日本で他の職を得るためのステップとなりうることが示唆されているようであった。このようなディスコースは長期的な状況改善のための集団的行動を起こすのではなく、ALTが短期的に現状に我慢することを促している可能性がある。

Network for Supporting Education of Foreign Children During Covid-19: Language Assessments as a Tool for Promoting Community Integration

The rising number of foreign residents in Japan has caused the number of children with foreign backgrounds in Japanese schools to increase. The present Japanese education system does not adequately support children whose mother language is not Japanese, and their educational problems have turned into social issues. We have conducted an action research project in collaboration with several schools and one university to determine how to develop a support system through online media that would soften the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that language assessment is the key to driving the project and sharing the results of the assessment analysis with all project participants works effectively to promote collaboration between schools, families, and the university.

The Introduction of School Library Coordinators to Assist Teacher Librarians: A Grass-roots Challenge for Local Government in Japan

This paper discusses the role of the School Library Coordinator, a post created by Kawasaki City, Japan local government, in accordance with the legislated introduction of teacher librarians into all Japanese schools. It is difficult for teacher librarians to play the roles of both teacher and librarian simultaneously. They are expected to play the central role in school libraries, to support pupils’ spontaneous learning activities as well as to foster pupils’ imaginative minds.Teacher librarians are also expected to coordinate schools, families and communities to promote pupils’ reading activity by the Basic Plan to Promote Children’s Reading Activity. Kawasaki City local government introduced School Library Coordinators to assist teacher librarians and to complement their onerous duties in schools and society. Although this paper’s research and analysis indicates that Kawasaki City’s innovation of School Library Coordinators has been successful, it is noted that there is potential for more efficient performance by library coordinators in collaboration with teacher librarians.

Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions About a Course Including Conversation Practice with Teacher Training Students from Abroad

This study aimed to identify pre-service teachers’ views and experiences after participating in a compulsory communication course including impromptu conversation practice with exchange students as well as to make recommendations for future courses by understanding their views through their prior experiences. Their past experiences are extremely likely to influence their ability to communicate with assistant language teachers (ALTs) in Japanese schools especially in relation to impromptu conversations. Thus, in 2019, a communication course was developed for first-year pre-service teachers that included impromptu conversation practice for three lessons with six teacher training students (TTSs) on MEXT scholarships and two exchange students. After the course, Japanese students completed a survey and the results indicated that due to the conversation practice many students grasped a better understanding of their language ability, gained motivation to communicate with foreigners, and most students felt three or more lessons are suitable for such practice. The results underscore the need for classes focusing on impromptu conversation practice to better prepare pre-service teachers to work with ALTs. 本研究は、交換留学生と即興で行う会話練習を含む、必修のコミュニケーションコースを受講した教育実習生たちの経験や見解等を調査し、その調査結果から得られる教育的示唆を明らかにすることを目的としている。教育実習生たちの事前の学習経験は、実際の教育実習で彼らが外国語指導助手（ALT）とコミュニケーションをとることができる能力、特に即興でやりとりすることができる能力に、きわめて大きな影響を与えると予想される。それゆえ、筆者は、2019年に交換留学生2人と日本の文部科学省（MEXT）の資金援助を受けている教員研修留学生(TTS)6人が参加する3コマ（1コマ90分）の会話レッスンを含むコミュニケーションコースを開設し、同コースに参加した1年生の教育実習生27人に対して調査を行った。その調査結果によれば、留学生との会話練習は、多くの学生に自分の言語能力をより良く理解させ、外国人とコミュニケーションを図ろうとする意欲を向上させるものであった。また、大分部の学生は3コマ以上の会話レッスンが適切であると感じていた。この調査結果は、ALTと将来一緒に授業をする教育実習生のレベルを向上させるためには、即興で行う会話練習に焦点を当てたクラスが必要であることを強く示している。

Research on home economics teacher training curriculum that approaches general-purpose skills by focusing on the essence of the subjects

Home Economics is a mandatory subject in Japanese schools. While the subject teaches valuable life skills, few understand the significance and the science behind this important topic. Professor Akiko Suzuki from the Graduate School of Our Humanities and Social Sciences at Hiroshima University, believes in the value of developing and teaching Home Economics in schools to prepare the children of today for the challenges of tomorrow. Akiko has been working on the curriculum for training Home Economics teachers at the University. In such an uncertain global environment, with the home becoming the centre of not only family life, but also work life, Home Economics is even more important than ever before. Suzuki believes that, through this work, her team can have a big impact on improving and supporting teacher training to provide students with lifelong skills and competencies.

Introduction

The authors explain their motivation for editing this book and how their backgrounds influenced the direction the project took. They also give a brief overview of the themes, research methods, and the contributing authors. The book aims to answer the following questions: How can non-Japanese or mixed-race Japanese children navigate their identities in school? How can a single father fit into the predominantly mother-dominated culture of schools? How do children fare in Japanese schools overseas? What issues exist for parents whose children have challenges? How can third-culture children navigate family culture, religion, and different school cultures? How can intercultural parents cope with the demands of homework when they are not fluent users of Japanese? How can intercultural parents cope with minority culture and language? What can intercultural parents do when schooling in Japan is not the best fit for their children?