Teacher Internship and the Culture of Teaching in Japan

Japan's teacher internship was a hotly debated political issue for three decades until the legislature finally approved its implementation in 1988. The aim of this paper is to explore how the culture of teaching mediated the implementation of the government‐sponsored teacher internship. The data presented in this paper come from ethnographic research conducted in 1989 with a focus on three elementary public schools in Tokyo. Our findings suggest that the culture of teaching measurably influenced the administration of internship in the first year. As a result, internship became ineffective if measured by the Government's expectations. This paper argues that the Government's reform, of teaching is bound to be ineffectual without classroom teachers’ active support for it.     

Theodore Brameld's culturological vision: profile of a reconstructionist

Theodore Brameld was a visionary philosopher of education and a prophetic reconstructionist. He devoted his career to reconceptualizing education so it could serve as an agent in building a democratic social order. He saw education as grounded in culture; its study required a partnership among anthropology, philosophy, and education, from which he defined philosophy as an effort of culture to become conscious of itself and undertake sustained explorations of the relationship between education and culture. As a methodological framework Brameld formulated and practised the theory of anthropotherapy whereby research is guided by normative consideration.