ABSTRACT
In 1908, Nara Women's Higher Normal School was established, the second of its kind in Japan following Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School. Yukinori Sanada, the first director, incorporated group-based teaching as the newest educational practice, and began researching its use. Takeji Kinoshita, who succeeded Sanada in March 1919, developed an original learning programme known as 'Nara learning methods' that included integrated and independent learning. His programme of child-centred education, known as liberal education during the Taisho era, attracted progressive leaders from around the world, visiting Nara-jo Fusho to observe and advise teachers. This chapter examines the way Kinoshita developed and implemented his ideas, and the impact they had in their contribution to progressive education in Japan, at the same time taking into account the distinctive type of institution in which the ideas were tested: an elementary school attached to a normal school.
