“Research on & ‘Leadership Education’ for a Gender-Equal and Multiculturally Convivial Society—Based on a Cross-National Analysis of Single-Sex Education in Secondary Schools and Universities”
Key questions
- What kind of “Leadership Education” would a society based in gender equality and multicultural conviviality call for?
- How do concepts of “Leadership” and “Leadership Education” differ depending on gender and culture?
Research Purpose and Approach
The purpose of this project is to create an educational model for fostering “leadership” expected in a gender equal society and multiculturally convivial society. To this end, it is necessary to ask “what is leadership?” Namely, it is necessary to re-interpret conventional leadership images and the concept of leadership from the two viewpoints of “gender” and “multicultural conviviality.”
In order to achieve this task, this project will focus on the educational significance of single-sex education. We believe we can reveal problems and points to be improved in coeducation today by placing single-sex education as the topic of analysis. For example, due to the various gender biases existing in modern coeducation, some consider single-sex education as more effective, in particular, for cultivating female “leadership.” This project will review both criticisms of and support for single-sex education, and seek educational proposals that cultivate gender-sensitive “leadership” regardless of gender.
The second axis of the “leadership” education analysis is “country (race and culture).” We believe that the concept in question may be reconstructed from a more global point of view through comparison and analysis of the differences in interpretation of the term “leadership” by country (race and culture).
Therefore, surveys for this project will be conducted in Japan and overseas, including the United States. The target schools must satisfy a range of set criteria, including the following: (1) Setting “cultivation of social leadership” as its educational aim; and (2) having a high advancement rate and deviation score. We will conduct a field survey and interview survey at each school and make multilateral analysis on educational aims, curriculum, and educational implementation from the viewpoint of educational philosophy, educational policy, and curriculum theory, etc.
Research Activities
In March 2009 we undertook a survey for girls’ senior high school in New York City and presented the primary report of survey results at a workshop in May 2009. At the Hagi Seminar in October 2009, we organized a workshop to invite Professor Jane Roland MARTIN and Professor Susan LAIRD, where we discussed single-sex education from the philosophical and historical points of view along with reports from Professor MIZUHARA Katsutoshi and Professor SAKAMOTO Tatsuro. We sent questionnaires to high schools in Miyagi prefecture in November 2009, of which responses are now under analysis.
In FY2010, we will present at an international symposium based on the results of surveys carried out in FY2009. We intend to publish a report covering the entire project at the end of the fiscal year.
Project Leader
IKUTA, Kumiko
Affiliation
Professor, Graduate School of Education, Tohoku University
Research Fields
Pedagogy(Philosophy of Education, Cognitive Science)
Member
| Name | Affiliated Institution/Organization |
|---|---|
| MIZUHARA Katsutoshi | Tohoku University, Graduate School of Education (Professor) |
| SUEMATSU Kazuko | Tohoku University, Graduate School of Economics and Management (Associate Professor) |
| OZAKI Hiromi | Nitobe Bunka College, Department of Human Life (Assistant Professor) |
| YAGI Mihoko | Takasaki University of Commerce, Department of Commercial Science(Part-time Lecturer), Tohoku University, Graduate School of Education (PhD student) |
| Jane Roland MARTIN | University of Massachusetts, Boston (Professor, Emerita) |
| Susan LAIRD | University of Oklahoma, College of Education, Educational Leadership & Policy Studies (Professor) |
| SAKAMOTO Tatsuro | Soka University, Faculty of Education (Dean and Professor) |
（As of March’ 2011）
