Educational Approach in UK and Japan - Assignment Example

Educational approach in UK and Japan Contents Part 3 Section one - Broad issues in cross-national perspectives and international education 3 Section two – describe and comment upon the political and cultural context of UK 4 Section three: describe and comment upon the educational context of UK 5 6 Section four: describe and critique the educational issue 7 Part 2 8 Comparison of the above issues in context of Japan 8 Section one –Broad issues in cross-national perspectives and international education 8 Section two – Describe and comment upon the political and cultural context of Japan 8 Section three: describe and comment upon the educational context Japan 10 Section four: describe and critique the educational issue comparison 11 References 12 Part 1 Section one - Broad issues in cross-national perspectives and international education The nature of the world is changing and the term “global” is associated with every smaller aspect in our lives. The growth of international education is greatly been associated with the evolution of social media, development of infrastructure of information and communication technology, even environmentally in relation to the natural resources that are being shared amongst the nations, in economical context such as finance, monetary economics and international trade, and even through political terms such as foreign affairs, regulation system and international relations (Wiseman, 2005). In the recent years there has been tremendous growth in the international studies majorly because of the factor of increase in demand of the students who possess the intercultural competencies and are aware about the global trends, more of mobility of the students in the transnational context, enhanced opportunities in terms of exchanges in cross cultural context and network, learning and research establishment across the globe. The changes that are taking place across the globe enable more number of opportunities to the students that is facilitated through intercultural communications and global mobility. The major issue related to the international education is the quality of higher education that is being offered by the countries. The quality matters simply because of the factors such as there is a very strong linkage between the educational policies and the performance of a national economy (Baker and Wiseman, 2009).The citizens and the government is more concerned about the fact as to what works the best in the process of learning and teaching as they are more focused towards the outcomes of learning such as skill development, knowledge, behaviours and competencies. In countries such as that of UK there is growing trend of monitoring the learning outcome of students in cross national as well as national context. The evaluation scheme of the government focuses on how effectively the students in the country learn different aspects that would be beneficial in life so as to be at pace with the rapid changing world. The major factor that is greatly affecting the educational system in UK is high demands due to society diversification majorly due to cultural change and migration, and higher sensitivity in terms of group and individual identities that majorly relates to cultural, regional, and national, gender, regional and ethnic classifications. These trends are inseparable from the educational aspect of the country and often results into broader issues such as that of racism, violence and discrimination that adversely affects the learning environment of the country (Baker and Wiseman, 2008). Section two – describe and comment upon the political and cultural context of UK The political framework of UK is based on the foundation of democracy. This has resulted into people enjoying their freedom with significant rights. The parliamentary function of the country facilitates formation of parties who sets their own policies and values that are then presented in the electoral forum. The parties which are selected form their government and implement their regulatory measures in the country. However the UK government does exercise a lot of flexibility in the system so that the best of practices can be incorporated in the system. It is stated that UK is a parliamentary democracy that possesses a constitutional monarch. The constitution of Britain cannot be framed into a single document as that of other countries as it comprises of combination of practices and law that cannot be enforced legally but is critical in terms of functioning of the government (Baker and Wiseman, 2005).The political framework of this country comprises of conventions, stature law and common law. The constitution is so designed that it does possess the flexibility to adapt to any changing situations in the context of politics. The major national objective of the country is to design a unique place of their own across the world and to enhance the factor that their economic, political and cultural aspects would be far better and larger than any other country across the globe. The culture of United Kingdom is closely knitted with the pattern of symbolism and that of human activity. The country has been stated as “cultural superpower” simply because it comprises of wide sets of cultures such as that of Scotland, Wales, England and North Ireland. The culture of this country comprises of technology, music, art, sports, science, etc. The law however remains the same for all the citizens and it does not depend on any wealth or status factor. There are ten core values that can be stated as critical aspect of the country such as law, crown sovereignty in Parliament, pluralist state, private property, personal freedom, institutions, and stable society, world that speaks English, history, and the British character (Baker and Wiseman, 2007). Section three: describe and comment upon the educational context of UK From the post-war period, there have been several attempts to reform the UK education system and make it more productive and contemporary. The array of reforms that have been attempted over the last 5 decades is quite extensive, and recently the UK especially England and Wales are leading world’s education. The education standards of UK over the years have been exemplary to rest of the world. The country spends less amount of money for their education system. Modern day schools of UK have become more accountable towards education. Participation for secondary education has been increased. Number of schools in UK has increased considerably. In UK a child related ethos has clearly dominated the educational systems. It talked holistic and all round education, individualization and children care. In 1980’s budget allocation for education increased and UK Government started taking control over the education system. Education started to reflect government’s political, economic and social agendas. Due to government control centralization took place in the whole education system. Education became more standardized. It was one of the most centralized education systems in the world. Currently the country has given significant stress on modern economical and social structure and technologies in their educational system. The country has become one of the most attracted global destinations for education. Human values ethics moralities are being taken care of in UK educational system. The educational structure of UK has five different phases. Those phases are Early Years, Primary, Secondary, Further education and higher education. Early year education is focused towards preschool activities. The main goals of primary education are delivering basic numeracy and literacy among all students. Foundations for science and mathematics are given in this phase. It is a very important phase where standard of education rises. In the next period students of UK go for more specializations. It comes after the compulsory secondary education. Higher education is generally post graduation courses. UK’s political environment is very much stable. It has a clear reflection on its educational system. Country is politically and economically very sound; its technical environment is also very modern and contemporary. Culturally the country is also very advanced. All these factors are very much prominent in their educational systems. Section four: describe and critique the educational issue Here in this section of the study one issue will be discussed. Over the years different educational experts of the country are saying that UK’s national curriculum has been deviated from its core subjects. It has concentrated towards some of the unwanted courses. It is a huge issue that the modern UK educational system is facing. In this way young futures of the country are not getting proper knowledge about international understandings, heritage of UK and national understandings (Florian and McLaughlin, 2008). In this way young UK people are losing their analyzing capabilities. Course structures are getting more and more monotonous. This problem is creating a serious matter of poor understanding related to international situation. As the education system is deviating from the core subjects so foundations of the young British people are getting weaken. Young British students are not becoming aware of their own culture and history so they are struggling to grasp international developments. It is reducing competitiveness of British students and is failing to pursuit excellence. Absences of proper courses are making a big gap between British students and other students. Number of schools and colleges are increasing but proper core subjects are missing. Due to the scarcity of proper core subjects young British minds are failing to apply what they are learning. Students are getting degrees and certificates but they are facing acute problems in future careers. Students of UK are not finding any similarities in their working fields with their educational courses what they learned during their studies. As the foundations of student are not strong, so they are lacking in innovation skills and creativity. Problem solving abilities are getting hampered. Students are not capable of thinking out of the box. It is a serious problem and this issue is very rightly fitted with political aspects. As when government changes in the country often their political views are transmitted into the whole education system. Courses and educational policies often changes according to the nature of the Government (Machin and Vignoles, 2005). It is a major issue the country is facing for longer periods of time, sometimes it is very prominent and sometimes it is in dormant situation. But undercurrent is always consistent in the educational system of the country. Part 2 Comparison of the above issues in context of Japan Section one –Broad issues in cross-national perspectives and international education The international education aspect of UK has been greatly affected by the diverse cultural sets in the country. This similar issue has gained no importance in Japan as the diverse culture that has been witnessed in UK due to the trend of globalization has not affected the educational system of this country. The broader issues of this country remain in the areas of frequent earthquakes and under developed educational infrastructure that restricts the opportunities to the cross national students in terms of educational approach. The allocation of resources is not appropriately done by Japanese government which limited the scope of higher education in the country. This in turn has resulted into more number of students migrating to other countries for higher education which in turn greatly affects the economical performance of Japan (Baker and Wiseman, 2006). The educational approach of this country faces the major threat in the form of unstable society and tight regulations of the government with less of flexibility unlike that of UK. However the cross national perspectives that results into violence in the educational field like that in UK cannot be observed in context of Japan. Section two – Describe and comment upon the political and cultural context of Japan The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy that comprises of majorly three essential branches that are executive, judicial and legislative. The legal system that is followed by the Japanese government is totally based on the framework of civil law systems of Europe. The political atmosphere of UK is far different in relation to that of Japan. The political conditions in UK are more of democratic by nature where all the people do show their willingness towards a particular party and expresses their opinions through voting. However the scenario is not the same in context of Japan though this country was once ruled by kings but the tradition has now shifted to political parties. The long lasting rule of LDP or Liberal Democratic Party clearly indicates that citizens of this country are not subjected to any form of change and they prefer to be under authority or control. In the rural areas of this country more number of people is deprived of their basic rights and they are highly controlled by the ruling country. The country does not display a scenario of stable society like that of UK which gives all its citizens liberty to enjoy their freedom. The nature of politics of UK can be compared to distributed approach where more number of people is involved to frame decisions but in case of Japan more importance is given to decision making that is centralized by nature. The national objectives of Japan are to excel in all possible fields with the support of innovation and ne technology. The national objectives of both the countries differ due to the aim of the political leaders in the respective countries. However the similarity lies in the areas that both the countries are focused towards excelling across the globe and gaining importance (Wiseman and Silova, 2010).The culture of both the countries are very different as Japan has citizens having different traditions, are more conservative, possess different delicacies and their linguistic capabilities also differs from that of UK. Section three: describe and comment upon the educational context Japan Japanese educational context is very much dissimilar with UK education context. In case of UK educational concept is not free from political influences whereas Japanese educational system is much more independent of political influences (William and Noblit, 2008). In case of UK students, they are being taught their courses but in case of Japanese students, they are being taught about different study habits i.e. the ways through which they should study a subject is much more significant. Modern attitudes are there in the UK education systems. It is similar in Japanese case also. But in terms of educational productivities Japanese educational system is far ahead of British educational system. Structures of British educational system are much more conservative in nature. Japanese educational structures are not that much conservative but very much effective. Values and ethics are given equal importance in case of both the countries educational system. UK’s education system has five phases but Japanese educational system has four phases (Masood, 2007). Those phases are elementary school, junior high school, high school and university. Both education systems of UK and Japan are very much focussed towards economy related education. In case of technical education Japanese students are ahead of British students. Political situation of Japan is pretty stable. Economically the country was facing some problems in recent past but due to its educational systems and culture of indomitable spirit has taken back the economy of the country in right direction (Duke, 2009). Innovation is there in the blood of Japanese people and they are far ahead of British people in this aspect. It is very much evident in their educational system. Section four: describe and critique the educational issue comparison In the section four of part one, a specific issue related with UK educational system has been discussed. In this section of the study a comparative analysis will be done between UK and Japan (Ishikida, 2005). As there is very less political influences in case of Japanese educational system, so the issue which discussed in the case of British educational system is missing in Japanese educational system. Core subjects in Japanese educational system are very well taken care of. Core subjects are given highest priority in the Japanese educational systems. In depth analysis are provided about those subjects. It is a very serious advantage of Japanese education system. It helps them to stick to the basics during the time of contingencies. It strengthens their foundations and motivates them to innovate and create new things. Problem solving abilities of Japanese students become very high as their knowledge are more practical and effective. Core courses are very much contemporary and appropriate for international understandings. Their heritage and culture related knowledge is making them more and more global players. Different core subjects of Japanese educational system are making its future generation much more competitive in comparison to British counterparts (Park, 2013). Different educational courses and subjects are providing more practical knowledge to Japanese student. It helps them to apply it in the practical world. These entire factors are very properly suited with the Japanese nature of indomitable pursuit for excellence. 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