ABSTRACT
School as Learning Community (SLC), which is a philosophy of school reform proposed by Manabu Sato in Japan in the 1990s, has attracted many educators and researchers in Asian countries over the past 20 years. This chapter tries to explore the secret of the attraction of SLC by examining the origin of this philosophy historically and theoretically. The deadlocked bureaucratic educational system of Japan in the 1980s and 1990s was the background of the emergence of SLC. Teachers who faced several contradictions in school education after the oil crisis of the 1970s were seeking an innovative vision in order to reform it. SLC, which values the autonomy of teachers, was an answer to their pleas. On the other hand, the vitality of SLC is supported by three prominent theories: the theory of collaborative learning by Vygotsky, the theory of reflective practitioner by Schön, and the theory of democracy by Dewey. These theories have been transformed by SLC into a holistic vision for school reform along with three levels of dialogue: among students, among teachers, and between the school and the community. SLC is a hopeful vision for educators in the age of global change.
