Policy Change in Moral Education: Working Through the Ministry of Education

Moral education (dōtoku) was revised outside of the regular curriculum revision cycle, two years before other subjects. The new moral education places greater emphasis on teaching for patriotism and the subordination of individuality for the good of society. It converted moral education classtime into a designated subject. In concrete terms, this requires syllabus planning, the use of an approved textbook, and assessment for moral education. This significant reform was driven not by the Ministry of Education (MEXT), as most curriculum matters have been, but by a supra-cabinet council under the leadership of the prime minister. The reform changed the content of the course of study, but also exposed new tensions in the policymaking process, the examination of which provides new insight into the role of the Ministry of Education. This chapter examines how policy unfolds both before and after its written form is promulgated. It considers how policy changes as it is translated into practice, as teachers, school administrators, members of the boards of education and textbook publishers work through the Ministry to mediate policy. Rather than closing the discussion on how moral education is enacted in schools, this chapter aims to illustrate some of the complexities of policymaking, to question the perceived internal coherence and omnipotence of MEXT, and to encourage studies that look beyond written policy and towards the interaction between policy and practice