Innovative aspects of Makarenko’s collective education in Japan - methods of control or techniques of teaching self-governance?

Abstract

In 1988 UNESCO ranked Anton Semenovich Makarenko (1888 – 1939) as one of four educators who most significantly influenced the world's pedagogical thinking in the 20th century. This is not only because his concept of Collective Education was the official educational theory of socialist countries, but also because numerous educators in non-socialist countries were inspired by his ideas. For instance, Makarenko’s works were first translated into Japanese after WWII (1950s), when Japan was going through the democratization process under the U.S. occupation. According to the education scientist Toshihiko FUJII (1934 - 2008), Japan is one of the capitalist countries that has been strongly influenced by Makarenko's ideas (Fujii 1988). In countries such as East Germany and the Soviet Union, Makarenko’s pedagogy was regarded as “innovative” for its polytechnical aspects. In the case of Japan, the affinity between Collective Education and the Japanese industrial culture has been mentioned by scholars like Salimova (1992, cited by Frolov 2006, p.149.).