This paper explores how teachers interpret and implement patriotism education in the national curriculum as inclusive citizenship education.

The post-war Japanese education system was established in opposition to pre-war militarist and nationalist ideologies. Nevertheless, in the 1990s, there was increasing pressure to include patriotism in the Japanese school curriculum, which subsequently became a prominent political issue. For instance, the conservative Liberal Democratic Party advocated the promotion of ‘Japanese pride’ and ‘Japanese identity’ (Takayama, 2018). The impact of the rise of nationalism and neoconservatism since the 1990s is reflected in the 2006 revision of the Basic Education Law, which specifies the implementation of patriotism, and in the introduction of moral education in 2018. The national curriculum has followed these trends.

Meanwhile, Japanese education policy has been slow to respond to cultural diversity. Nevertheless, rapid demographic changes and the revisions to the Immigration Control Act are forcing it to change to accommodate a culturally diverse population. Whilst the Basic Law of Education states the aims of education are to foster respect for traditions and culture, love for our country and the homeland that has nurtured them, respect for other countries and an attitude of contributing to the peace and development of the international community, the law does not mention cultural diversity within the country (article 2, item 5).

In addition, the neoliberal trend in Japanese education has impacted social-justice oriented education. Under the neoliberal reform which was based on the belief in competition and accountability, new measures, including the publication of academic achievement test rankings, teacher evaluations, and a teacher license renewal system were introduced. The ascendance of neoliberalism in education has resulted in the prioritisation of activities that contribute to outcomes that can be quantified by numerical criteria, such as test scores. Activities that do not, such as social justice-oriented initiatives and learning about diversity, are perceived as low priority (Kitayama, 2021).

Despite the lack of multicultural responsiveness at the national level and the pressure of competition and teaching patriotism, some teachers took advantage of the margins of the national curriculum, which allows flexible practices to some extent, to engage in education that challenges monolithic national identity discourses. In this paper, we focus on the role of teachers as agents of social justice (Pantić & Florian, 2015). According to Cochran-Smith (2009), key frameworks for social justice-oriented teacher education include (1) a perspective that views teachers as potential agents of social change and (2) a focus on the plurality of individual identities, which are comprised of elements of social systems of privilege and oppression, such as race, class and culture. This paper examines how teachers’ professional identities and expertise relate to their roles as agents of social change, how they understand the plurality of identities in Japan and how they address social systems of privilege and oppression. Against patriotism education under conservative curriculum reforms, this paper highlights the conditions that enable inclusive and democratic citizenship education through teacher agency, which would be a common concern for European and Asian educators.

To examine the possibility of implementing inclusive citizenship education under the conservative curriculum reform, we set the research questions as follows: • How do teachers demonstrate agency in interpreting and implementing the national curriculum? • How are their professional identities and expertise linked to their practices? • What challenges do they have when teaching inclusive or alternative national identity? We conducted semi-structured interviews with two secondary school Social Studies teachers. One of them teaches at a state school and the other works at a university-affiliated school, which usually allows more flexibility in teaching. One teacher develops a teaching plan which reflects culturally, socially and economically diverse backgrounds of pupils. The other teacher developed a Social Studies lesson based on the narratives of Japanese people who remained in Sakhalin, the island once under Japanese rule and became Russian territory after the Second World War. The aim of the lesson is to get students thinking about borders, people's nationalities, languages, complex identities and patriotism. We interview teachers to identify their views on inclusive national identity teaching and Citizenship Education practices based on them. The interviews were conducted flexibly according to the participants' topics, while using an interview guide prepared in advance to elicit a wider range of information on the intentions and issues of educational practice (Flick 2007). Interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded and categorised using thematic analysis.

The interview reveals that the teachers’ practices were based not only based on the National Curriculum, but also on their professional identity and expertise. For example, one of the interviewees shows a strong commitment to teaching history from a minority perspective. This commitment dates back to graduate school, where he was involved in a collaborative research project with his supervisor developing Social Studies materials using the narratives of war orphans. He has continued to develop and implement lessons using the narratives of people who emigrated to Manchuria and Sakhalin, which were once under Japanese rule, and were left behind after the war. It was also found that the climate of the schools in which they worked had an important influence on their practice. For example, an interviewee mentioned that he was encouraged to develop alternative citizenship lessons by his senior colleague who developed Social Studies and Moral Education lessons that question and challenge borders that divide ‘we Japanese citizens’ and ‘them’. The interview also suggests the importance of voluntary study groups. Both interviewees said that they constantly participate in teachers’ study groups to develop their teaching materials and exchange ideas. Originally set up by teachers to develop materials that would appeal to socially disadvantaged children, these groups now play an important role in supporting teachers in creative inclusive practices. These findings suggest that the accumulation of research within small professional communities, such as teachers’ voluntary study communities and school-based research communication between teachers, as well as professional development in graduate schools where they connect theoretical foundations and practice, enabled them to develop creative practices. In conclusion, we argue that there is a need to support a space for teachers to develop social-justice oriented practices and research activities which are not always favoured by neoliberal education policies.

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