ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on reform from the 1980s through to the turn of the century, to analyse the transition from Yotoriyama's first stage to the second stage of neo-liberal reform: the shift from simple deregulation of public education to performance-based allocation. It begins by considering the emergence of a neo-liberal agenda for education through the establishment of the Ad Hoc Council for Education (AHCE), which greatly affected subsequent governmental advisory councils on education reform. The chapter continues with an analysis how the proposed reforms were implemented. Although the 'Six Reforms' had great impact on public education, realising the proposals of AHCE, their influence was seen not only in the implementation of individual education policies. National administrative reform and decentralisation, as part of the 'Six Reforms' agenda, heavily affected the continuing process of change in the new millennium.
