The Concept of Democracy and Deliberative Communication in Japanese Civics Education : Textbooks Analysis of Civics in Japanese Upper Secondary Education: A comparison Over the Curriculum Reform in 2022

Abstract: This study focuses on civics in Japanese upper secondary education. A new curriculum reform was implemented in 2022, and a new subject named Public [kokyo] became a subject on civics, which aims to nurture students to actively contribute to a peaceful and democratic society. The aims of this study are to examine textbook descriptions of democracy and the potential incorporation of deliberative communication, before and after curriculum reform. Ultimately, this comparative study over a curriculum reform seeks to identify the similarities and differences between the previous subject, Contemporary Society, and the new subject of Public. Employing qualitative content analysis, descriptions of democracy in the textbooks, moreover, the composition and the additional contents of the textbooks are analyzed, in order to examine the potential incorporations of deliberative communication. This study reveals that democracy is often conceptualized in textbooks as a limited idea of a government and political system, and the content includes less extended descriptions in relation to how the concept of democracy should be exercised in everyday life. That tendency can be seen in textbooks both in Public and Contemporary Society. On the other hand, in contrast to Contemporary Society textbooks whose composition is explanatory-oriented emphasizing understanding rather than practice in everyday life situations, Public textbooks incorporate more content that proposes deliberative communication. In Japan, which has been struggling with low social participation among the youth and knowledge-centered learning, it is significant to transform an understanding of the concept of democracy to root in daily life. Therefore, the promotion of deliberative communication in education has great potential to foster democratic values in individuals and society through daily mutual communication.