Teaching about International Responsibilities: A comparative analysis of the political construction of development education in schools

In the post-1945 world, the international community has come to recognise the potential of education as a vehicle for promoting world peace. Development education emerges as a medium for such education. This article begins by exploring the idea that as the international position of a nation improves, it tends to become more conscious of the need to instruct its population about new international responsibilities and tries to put this concept into practice, especially at school level. Theorisation of the factors of context for the introduction of development education into schools is attempted on a comparative bases. The article then analyses the case of Japan. It argues that despite the fact that the factors of context for the introduction of development education were present in the mid-1980s, the introduction was delayed in Japan.