Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > Japanese Government Policies in Education, Science, Sports and Culture 2000 > Trends in Educational Reform Section 1 1

Today, as we stand before the dawn of the 21^st century, Japan is seeing the rapid advancement of an aging society with a dwindling birth rate, the information society and internationalization. In addition, economic activities, which had been consistently increasing and developing during the postwar period, now have long been at a standstill, employment issues are worsening and other problems are emerging. Therefore, we are now said to be gearing toward a new phase of reform following the Meiji Restoration and the revival during the period after the Second World War. Consequently, bold reforms have been moved forward as existing systems are reviewed across various sectors of society, including politics, administration, finance and economic structure.

In the field of education, the cornerstone of all social systems, there is a need to move forward actively and swiftly with spearheading reforms befitting a new age while being based on the results of education to date.

Since the end of the Second World War, education in Japan has been conducted under the fundamental ideology of realizing equal opportunity in education, in which opportunities for education are equally assured in accordance with capability, aptitude and will, and regardless of birth, household income or class status. It has spread remarkably, promoted by the nationality that set great store by education and the improvement in income levels of the Japanese people to among the highest in the world. The remarkable dissemination of education itself has served as the engine for what we now can refer to as Japan's miraculous development.

At the same time, a dwindling birth rate, the trend toward nuclear families and the advancement of urbanization have led to a striking decline in the educational functions of the home and local community-which had always shouldered the responsibilities of teaching children how to behave with people, cultivating self-discipline and collective spirit, and passing on culture and traditions. Such circumstances have formed a backdrop against which various problems have emerged, including bullying, non-attendance at school and the worsening issue of juvenile delinquency. Moreover, school education to date has fallen into a form by which knowledge is one-sidedly instilled in students, thus leading to the neglect of education and activities that cultivate thinking faculties and an enriched humanity. In addition, with the excessive emphasis placed on equal opportunities in education, the concept of education in accordance with the essentially diverse individuality and capabilities of each and every child has not been taken into full consideration. These are many points upon which we must reflect.

On the other hand, if one casts a glance around the rest of the world, education reform has become one of the most important common challenges facing developed countries, and at the G8 Summit held in Cologne, Germany, in June 1999, education was raised for the first time as a major topic and active discussion was conducted.

In addition, in April 2000, Japan hosted the G8 Education Ministers' Meeting, with the Ministry of Education, Sports, Science and Culture (MESSC) taking the leading role. At this meeting, based on the common recognition among members that education had a role to play that is of decisive importance in the transition from a traditional manufacturing-based society to an information society, each of the developed countries discussed ways in which they could apply telecommunications technologies to education, and how international exchange through such means as exchange students could be expanded, among other topics, in the coming informatized and internationalized society.

Further, in July 2000, on the occasion of the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit Meeting, many subjects were raised that were relevant to education, and discussions took place on such topics as the support for education using IT in developing countries, the broad expansion of the scale of international exchanges and the challenge of bringing schools into an on-line environment.

In this way, education policies which have until now been considered as purely matters of domestic concern, have come to be discussed in an international environment. It is now important that future education policies be advanced based on an international viewpoint.