Mizushima-Macmaster, M; (2016) Education for peace and democracy in the Literature and Language class: action researches in the Japanese Saturday School in London. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis is built around three pedagogical action researches relating to education for peace and democratic citizenship. These researches were conducted in three successive school years in the department of literature in the Japanese Saturday School in London (JSSL), with the collaboration of my departmental teaching colleagues and of the students in the senior division (15-18 years old), who we were teaching. They involved significant episodes of cross-age-group teaching and learning. The research questions are: 1) How could we, Language and Literature teachers of senior students, use Literature to develop effective curriculum and pedagogy units around the theme of war and peace? 2) How, more generally, could we develop and teach Language units that would nurture democratically-minded citizens who would become voluntarily and independently involved in society? The research draws throughout on the JSSL students’(atypical) experience of both Japanese and British life and education, and the thesis begins with points of comparison between Japanese and British society and education, bringing out Japan’s ‘seniority’ system and culture, its difficulty with its growing multi-culturalism, and its traditionally centralized education system. The first, and most prolonged, action research involved a sustained engagement with literature texts, approved for senior school use in Japan, to raise serious questions about war and peace, and more specifically about invasions of other countries. The second engaged the students in investigating Media reporting of wars and other matters to raise questions about the citizen’s news-consumer responsibilities. The third reflected on cultural differences between Britain and Japan and how we can ‘understand’ each other. It was helped by an extended session with a Japanese WWII veteran, who was famous for his reconciliation work with Japanese and British soldiers. The study uses a range of methods including a planning, teaching and research diary, semistructured interviews with teacher colleagues and students, student questionnaires and evaluations, and video records to track and evaluate: (a) the impact of the action researches on students (including the cumulative impact on students who experienced all three researches), and (b) the impact on teachers’ pedagogical development of working collaboratively and with cross-age-groups of students.

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