日本终身学习政策的特征和动态平衡过程的社区——基层自治组织变革与居民学习

当前的日本社会处于结构大变革时期,这种变革使日本出现社会的流动化,价值观的多元化、个别化及人与人之间关系的孤立化等,致使日本难以维持一直以国家为中心的单一社会,而向多元化、分散化的社会转变。伴随社会发展的这种趋势,并不要求国家从政策上提供生活保障,而是要立足人们生活的"当地",力求探索出通过居民自治来实现多元生活保障的有效方法。"当地"的人们需立足生活的"社区",在与他人的联系中,使自己不断成为行使权利的主体。在"社区"中促进这样的权利主体形成的是学习活动,而这正是当前日本政策所追求的。即探讨以"社区"为基础构成的新社会的存在方式,即"学习"的新的形态。     

DEVELOPING CURRICULA FOR GRANDPARENTS IN JAPAN

The purpose of this study was to determine how three generations view the contribution and needs of grandparents in Japan. A sample consisting of 239 grandparents, 266 parents, and 274 grandchildren from, urban and rural areas completed the Grandparent Strengths and Needs Inventory (Strom & Strom, 1993). Grandparents reported more satisfaction, success, and involvement in teaching than was observed by parents or grandchildren. Grandparents experienced greater difficulty as well as frustration and saw themselves as less informed about their role than was reported by younger people. Significant main effects were generation, grandchild gender, grandchild age, generations living together, frequency of grandchild care by the grandparent, and amount of time the generations spent together. Implications for building curricula and guidelines for program development are identified.     

The search for a new role of liberal education in an age of globalization: the challenge of transferable skills to liberal knowledge at Japanese colleges and universities

One of the tasks facing Japanese colleges and universities is to implement a continuum of effective educational programs in order to properly respond to the impact of globalization. Effective university educational programs are needed to construct a new higher education system for nurturing transferable learning skills and cultivating hope for the future among our youth. First, the present tasks of Japan’s just and caring society in an age of globalization are discussed in relation to the changing mission and role of our higher education. Second, the nature of liberal knowledge required in an age of uncertainty and polarization is examined with regard to the changing roles of undergraduate and graduate education and the drifting lifestyle of the Japanese. Third, the role of the generative and transferable type of knowledge and skills is explored with specific reference to John Dewey’s theory of reflective inquiry in precarious situations. The need for cultivating the mindset of “collaborative inquiry” is also emphasized for the education of hope among our youth. The purpose of this article is to propose that the search for the generative and transferable type of learning and inquiry in higher education will lay a foundation for preparing our youth for the challenges of the knowledge society and participating in the construction of a new type of just and caring community in our country.     

市场原理对日本大学改革的影响——以日本国立大学为例

从20世纪80年代开始日本就提出国际化、信息化、高度化、多样化等高等教育的发展目标,90年代中,国家放宽各种设置基准,在各大学中相继成立新学部和新学科,并导入美国式的各种教育方法,改善教育管理的效果。从2004年起,国立大学和公立大学法人化制度实施后,政府和大学开始摸索新的管理运营方式,各国立大学在国家的指导和支援下进行着各种经营管理的改革实验。虽然引入了以英美大学为原型的新的管理体系,但各大学仍保持着日本式的运营方式,各方面改革的速度也并不一致。基于竞争原理的大学改革已逐渐渗透到大学各机构,未来的10年,日本大学的管理运行方式将有可能发生巨大的变化。     

Changing grassroots communities and lifelong learning in Japan

Japanese community is falling apart. This is caused by the combination of two problems: on the one hand, people are feeling their existence to be less and less stable and their reality is being shaken; on the other hand, the sense of values in the society is becoming more and more diversified and fluid. In the background of the two problems are three issues facing society: the rapidly declining birth rate and aging and dwindling population; the prolonged economic depression and destabilised employment; and the destruction of communal ties among inhabitants due to change in grassroots communities and the increasing isolation of individuals comprising the so-called no-bondage society. What is attracting more and more attention by policymakers addressing the two crises is lifelong learning. Challenges facing lifelong learning in Japan do not simply mean the acquisition of competency as often discussed in Western countries. More importantly, they are about how we can link learning activities to the formation of a new community. What is required of us is to seek how we can build up a community that creates a constant equilibrium by being dynamic, ensures the lifestyle of community residents by changing itself and recognises their human dignity. ‘Learning’ no longer means distributing rights to education through a uniform system like school education. Now, it means the style of residents' existence to create a new community. There, ‘learning’ has become the government's critical task in the field of residents' autonomy.     

Learning cities in East Asia: Japan, the Republic of Korea and China

Lifelong learning cities emerged in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s; in the Republic of Korea in the 2000s and 2010s; and in China mostly from 2000 onwards. They were a countermeasure to the increasing challenges of global as well as post-industrial uncertainties at the turn of the century, when cities were trying to find governmental instruments to engage in cultural processes, community building and personal development as the new way of urban life. Learning was perceived to be a panacea to solve the social problems occurring in overwhelming processes of modernisation and industrialisation. The authors of this paper assert that the practice of and research on learning cities, especially in the East Asian region, need to go beyond the technical rationalities which are guiding government tools, and explain the realities to which they are meant to be applied. In order to do this, the authors investigated three separate but inter-connected scenes found in Japan, the Republic of Korea and China, revealing that the learning city is a phenomenon which reflects complex social dynamics and the interaction of many minds. While the cases in this region are distinctive, they do share some common characteristics. The authors place these within what they term a “community relations model”, which they contrast with the “individual competence model” which is usually found in initiatives of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and schemes implemented in the area of the European Union (EU).     

通过国际合作网络 建立世界一流大学——21世纪日中友好中的大学的使命与作用

在当今高等教育日趋国际化的形势下,日本高校积极推动与世界上各地区的高校间的多元交流,共同探索新世纪中高等教育发展的各种问题。其中,如何推动与以东亚地区为中心的亚洲各国间大学交流的问题已成为人们所瞩目的焦点。今后,中日大学之间如何进一步推动实质性交流,提高研究教育交流成果等问题,是需要中日两国大学所共同关心的迫切课题。