Education and National Identity in the UK and Japan

This third seminar in the 2010 series, States in Change: National Identity in the UK and Japan, explored the impact of education on national identity and the role of the school system and ‘informal education’ in shaping national and social values. Debates on citizenship education and the teaching of history are ongoing in Britain and Japan and provide windows into both societies. Our speakers addressed these themes as well as politics and education, multiculturalism and global citizenship in considering the relationship between national values, socialisation and education in the UK and Japan.

Summary

Professor Osler, primarily focusing on England’s historical context in her talk on education and national identity, began by stating that the massification of state-funded education in Britain (and Europe) in the late nineteen century, at a time when nationalism was at its apogee, led to it becoming a nationalist project. Hitherto there’d been little focus on national identity in Britain. This patriotic focus continued into the twentieth century though the influence of groups such as the League of Nations espousing pacifism, a minority view, did surface following the First World War.

Nationalist education continued post-1945 yet less explicitly; the celebration of Empire Day, for example, was dropped and the emergence of visible minorities, such as the Caribbean and Indian communities in urban areas post-1945 led to the celebration of multiculturalism through music and festivals in urban schools. In turn, the introduction of the national curriculum by the Conservative government in the 1990s, with its nationalist overtones, aimed to foster a strong sense of national identity. The English syllabus no longer encompassed work by Caribbean authors, for example, as it became narrower in scope.

Though the Labour Government made ‘citizenship’ teaching a legal requirement in 2002, more out of a concern with the fragility of British democracy and apathy than with national identity, its introduction coincided with a more mainstream concern about identity – a desire to find or restore a sense of national identity from within the long-standing diverse nations, cultures, religions and ethnicities of the UK. The 9/11 terrorist attack in the USA, the 2005 London attacks and the consequent new concern with terrorism and resurgence of Islamophobia resulted in a renewed emphasis on British history and democracy in order to bolster ‘national’ cohesion. The murder of the black teenager, Stephen Lawrence in 1993, the police mishandling of the enquiry and the labelling of British society as institutionally racist, also meant that schools were, moreover, expected to address racism and violent extremism. A different focus has emerged since 2008, with a new emphasis on ‘identity and diversity’ (Ajegbo report) and, in a return to the nineteenth century stance, British history was to act as a tool in fostering national identity and help correct the trend of disaffected youth.

In conclusion, Professor Osler finished by saying that though the role of schools is important in maintaining a national identity which is inclusive of all, her own research shows that many young people have multiple, flexible and emergent cosmopolitan identities as they increasingly draw on global cultures. Some, of course, possess narrower and more ethnocentric identities, making them vulnerable to extremist views and people. Curriculum innovation is often misguided and can be counterproductive, said Osler, when the views of young people are not even taken into consideration.

The next speaker, Dr Peter Cave, went on to highlight issues which have attracted attention and controversy in recent years in focusing on Japan’s education system.

As with Britain, said Cave, education in Japan has been used historically to shape national identity and has been done, probably, in a more dramatic and purposeful way in Japan. Similarly to nineteenth century Britain, Meiji Japan (1868-1912) used education to create a modern state. Education was also important in inculcating loyalty to Emperor in the run up to the Second World War and vital in reshaping Japanese national identity once again after 1945 in order to make a ‘democratic and peaceful Japan’.

Cave went on to say that there has been increasing activity on the part of those who may be described as nationalists, on the conservative side of the spectrum in the last twenty years. While some conservative nationalists regard increased selfishness, antisocial behaviour or excessive individualism as dangerous there have also been four notable triggers in recent years which account for nationalist activity – the ‘comfort women’ controversy of the early 1990s and the Japanese government’s ensuing apology, threats to conservative political dominance beginning with the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) loss of the 1993 General Election, perceived moral decay (classroom indiscipline, compensated dating) and the changing security and economic context given the rise of China.

The nationalists have long felt that something must be done to promote patriotism through history teaching, the use of nationalist symbols (national flag and anthem) and the Fundamental Law of Education (FLE) all of which Cave spoke about in more detail.

History teaching has attracted much attention, said Cave, because the Japan Society for History Textbook Reform and offshoots produce textbooks expounding a nationalistic view which have been approved by school use by the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT), causing an international outcry. In reality not many (1% of the market share) schools are using these textbooks. Perhaps more significant is the reduced coverage of controversial topics such as that of the comfort women and the Nanjing massacre in some mainstream textbooks as a result of textbook companies hoping to avoid controversy.

In the early 1990s MEXT stipulated that the flag and anthem must be used in school ceremonies, despite some public resistance. Renewed pressure was applied in the late 1990s and now almost all schools display the flag and sing the anthem. In Tokyo, teachers are disciplined for not standing to sing the anthem at ceremonies and a number of court cases are ongoing as teachers see this as an infringement on the freedom of thought.

The FLE, drawn up in 1947 during the American Occupation, had also been focused on by the conservatives. In 2000, the National Commission on Education Reform was set up in the wake of moral panic and in 2006 FLE revision was passed including references to tradition, culture, patriotism and loving one’s country.

Cave concluded by saying that it is hard to predict future prospects, which are dependent on the political party in power, as the political future is uncertain. What is apparent is that there is a revised FLE and that nationalist populists such as Hiroshi Nakada, former mayor of Yokohama and Hiroshi Yamada, mayor of Suginami-ku, Tokyo have become prominent.

The chair, Dr Starkey, concluded by commenting on the political battleground that is education and national identity, the fact that young people are often non-conformists and have sources other than schools from which to learn and observe, rather than being swayed by government initiatives.

The questions and comments which followed the seminar were lively and covered all manner of issues ranging from a comparison of British and Japanese approaches to the teaching of history, the fact that British history textbooks include a wealth of documents and varied perspectives to promote critical thinking, the fact that speaking the ‘lingua franca’ doesn’t preclude Britons from insularity, the fact that there is more insecurity about national identity in England than in Scotland, whether there are demands within the UK to add more references about the dark side of British history to the textbooks, and the fact that the teaching of national identity is a long-term project dependent on more than just the national flag and anthem and is a subject of controversy and disagreement.

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