ABSTRACT

Twenty-first century geopolitics and economic globalisation calls for an equivalent transnational sharing of professional expertise and commitment if authentic education in the interests of young people and communities is to be sustained. Historical research on progressivism also underlines the importance of individual agency. Children writing for a purpose, writing as a way of engaging critically with their own lives and surroundings, were the project of many different experts and teachers such as Enosuke Ashida, Tadayoshi Sasaoka and Yoshio Toi, and also the regional network in the Association of Northern Education that included Ichitaro Kokubun and Toshitaro Murayama. This chapter summarises the impact of political vicissitudes on educational reform and innovation. Enthusiasm for progressivism in Japan in the 1920s, centred on the 'Eight Educational Propositions', continued to exist underground from the late 1930s through the nationalist period. Progressive schools today prepare a variety of talented individuals for modern society, bringing qualities of strength and flexibility to Japanese society.