FUKUOKA PREFECTURAL UNIVERSITY

Main Site > Staff List > Human Development & Education

Yoko NAKATO (associate professor)

Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo (LLB), 1975;

Graduate School of Education, University of Tokyo, Master of Education, 1979.

Courses

1. Life-long education: This course provides an introduction to life-long education (mainly) in Japan, and focuses on theory, policy and practice.

2. Social education (adult and community education): This course provides an introduction to the theory and practice of adult and community education in Japan, including its underlying concepts, institutions and history.

3. The planning of adult and community education: This course introduces basic ideas and skills in planning adult and community education through practical demonstrations in class. Topics include the learning and educational needs of people in communities, educational institutions, and the formation of plans.

4. Women's issues and social education: This course provides an introduction to theory and practice relating to women's education. It also examines the relationship between women's issues and social education from an historical perspective and also provides a gender perspective to the theory and practice of social education.

5. Social education seminar: In this course, students explore whatever topic(s) or theme(s) they are interested in in the field of adult and community education. This then becomes the basis of their presentations and discussions. The visiting of facilities and/or groups related to social education is also required.

6. Women's studies: This course provides gender and interdisciplinary perspectives on social issues. Topics include gender roles, war and women, violence against women, institutions for women, and the women's rights movement.

Academic Interests

1. The re-examination of social education theory in Japan from a gender perspective

2. The re-examination of theories concerning rights in the field of social education from a comparative gender perspective

I have been conducting research in the field of women's education since 1976. My primary interest is how women can recognize discrimination against them and empower themselves in both their learning and education through the support of administrative or public systems. I believe this is an inherent right and have been conducting research on related practice, history, policy and legislation in Japan. Now I would like to look into theories of social education from these perspectives.

The Japanese constitution stipulates that education, including the education of adults, is a human right. Under the constitution and laws relating to social education (the legal term for adult and community education), there are now almost 20,000 Kominkans (community based learning and cultural centers) in Japan, more than the number of junior high schools. With the support of the municipalities, citizens and social education workers are developing adult education at these centers. Nevertheless, since the trend towards privatization beginning in the mid-1980s, national and local governments have been reducing expenditure on adult education. The principle of adult education as a human right is therefore under threat. In the 1990s, the Japanese government started to reform the education system, and now the government is revising laws and regulations which used to embody and protect the principle of the right to education.

This transformation regarding public adult education policy affects women more than men. In short, women are being deprived of their right to education. They are being discriminated against, and therefore need to learn how to eliminate discrimination against them and improve their lives. They cannot take advantage of the costly learning opportunities far from home offered by the new policy as an alternative to free education opportunities in their communities. Their average wage is about half that of men and they are bound to their family roles even if they work outside the home. Recent government policies and legislation should therefore be critically evaluated, modified and reworked from a gender perspective.

In order to ensure this, the rights theory of social education should be re-examined and elaborated upon. According to Japanese social education theory and practice, the so-called "freedom of social education" has been a critical issue for almost 50 years because of the history of our social education policy and pre-war administration. But even now, the concept of "freedom of social education" is not theoretically clear, which I think is one of the reasons we are unable to realize the right to education. By comparison, the rules and policies we find in Japan are unheard of in international discourses on the right to adult education. Why and how this situation has developed needs to be studied in a comparative way, not only to elaborate upon the theory of the right to social education, but also to make international discourses on the right to education more meaningful in Japan.

Other Information