Children with disabilities in the Japanese school system: a path toward social integration?

Mithout Anne-Lise ()
Additional contact information
Mithout Anne-Lise: Department of Japanese Studies, Université de StrasbourgFrance

Contemporary Japan, 2016, vol. 28, issue 2, 165-184

Abstract: Japanese children with disabilities have traditionally been educated in special schools, specifically dedicated to one type of disability, and often isolated from the rest of society. However, in 2006, in the course of the general reform of education, special education was reformed to promote the principle of “inclusive education” – that is, education in mainstream schools along with non-disabled peers – and, in a broader sense, education meeting the needs of all children, regardless of their particularities in terms of abilities, command of the Japanese language, ethnic/social/family background, etc. This paper aims at assessing the results of this reform after almost ten years of implementation. To what extent has the 2006 reform contributed to improving the integration of disabled or less-abled children into Japanese society? Based on quantitative and qualitative data, the argument shows that it has achieved mixed results in practice, with large variations depending on the type of disability considered. The observed evolution can be interpreted as an extended individualization of pedagogy in mainstream schools, still enrooted in the framework of strong control processes. Even though new structures are created in order to meet everyone’s needs, the implemented approach remains based on a willingness to externalize difficulties, rather than the promised radical transformation of schools toward the recognition of a general diversity.

Keywords: education; disability; minority; integration; school (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/cj-2016-0009 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:conjap:v:28:y:2016:i:2:p:165-184:n:1003

DOI: 10.1515/cj-2016-0009

Access Statistics for this article

Contemporary Japan is currently edited by Florian Coulmas

More articles in Contemporary Japan from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().