Yasuki OHNO

Since the 1990s, the concept of "Governance" has become widely known and has been often discussed in many fields including public education. Contemporary public education reform policies basically include the restructuring of relationships between teaching professionals and other stakeholders. It should be noted that, in fact, some education policies do not take into account the "professionality of teaching" very much; thus, there is a possibility that teaching professionals will be seen as comparatively inferior to other actors. It is therefore important to consider the position of teaching professionals within the new school governance structure and replace it, taking into account the concept of "professionality of education."...

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the position of "professionality of education" should be reconsidered in recent school governance reform by analyzing two cases, "Kan-min ittai-gata Gakkou" in Takeo city and "Community School" in B city. Since the 1990s, the concept of "governance" has become widely known and has been often discussed in many fields of our society. Its original meaning is that control of public institutions should be shared with various stakeholders. Thus, contemporary public education reform policies include as its base the restructuring of relationships between people in the teaching profession and other stakeholders. It should be noted that, in fact, some education policies take the "professionality of teaching" lightly, so there is a possibility that those in the teaching profession will be seen as comparatively inferior to other actors. We must consider the position of those in the teaching profession within the new school governance structure, and replace it following the concept of "professionality of education." We studied two different types of new local policies. The first is "Kan-min ittai-gata Gakkou" in Takeo city, and the second is "Community School" in B city. In 2015, Takeo city became affiliated with Hanamaru-gakusyujuku, a private tutoring school, and introduced Hanamaru's teaching methods into public schools. In contrast, B city changed all public schools to "Community Schools" in 2012; prior to the city policy, several elementary and junior high schools had jointly founded a community school in 2010. There are two main findings from this study. First, non-teaching actors are likely to stay away from the field of teaching expertise, and there is the possibility that the "Professionality of Teaching" will not be perceived as inferior. However, the second finding is that teachers' awareness of "Professionality of Teaching" may tend to focus too narrowly on minor issues. Thus, we should focus on the distance between "Professionality of Education" and "Professionality of Teaching," which occur in the governing process of public schools and communities.