Creativity, the Japanese Curriculum, and Instructional Challenges

The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT, 2007) emphasizes the enhancement of children’s creativity and describes that developing rich feelings and the ability to express oneself by expressing experiences and thoughts is crucial to the education of children. Specifically, the Japanese Course of Kindergarten (MEXT, 2007) addresses the influence of creativity as follows:

As children often express themselves in a simple manner, teachers should encourage them to enjoy expressing themselves in various childlike ways by being receptive to this kind of expression and by acknowledging the willingness of the children to express themselves.

The intent of this guidance is supported by Young’s (2003) research in early childhood education, in which young children’s spontaneous voice play revealed original verbal phrases that might be considered chants on simple rhythmic and melodic ideas. Unfortunately, the training of Japanese music education specialists tends to overlook the creative aspects of music learning. Rather, institutions follow a Western- conservatory model which tends to favor piano technique, playing, and skill-building (Shinkai, 2012) in response to the high demand for piano performance by child care workers (Yasuda and Nagao, 2010). This process prepares teachers to engage children in singing performance accompanied by the teacher “but not to compose” (Burnard, 2012, p. 1). Therefore, while Japanese curriculum documents¹ emphasize the importance of creativity, teacher training courses leave little room for “variety, independence, creativity and sense of identity” (Burnard, 2012, p. 1).

The Evolving Japanese “Course of Study”. Professor Hajime Takasu served as the Senior Curriculum Specialist at the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) from 20032010. In 2005, he was charged with the task of revising the “Course of Study” and overseeing the creation of a new “Course of Study for Music.” Takasu described the change in focus from the existing curriculum to the new version to be about creativity. This section overviews Takasu’s 2016 description of how the Japanese government nurtures children’s creativity and what kind of creativity it targets.

Historical Overview of the “Course of Study”.Since 1958, the Course of Study has been revised in every decade. Although early versions of the curriculum gave some attention to children’s creativity, there has been an ongoing process to push creativity into the school music curriculum in Japan. In 1989 the Course of Study for Music specifically introduced creative music-making activity. Content was drawn from John Paynter’s Sound and Silence. In addition to its focus on creativity, the Courses of Study developed in 1989 and 1998 tried to change from teacher- centered teaching to student-centered learning though the inclusion of creative musical activity (Takasu, 2016). Takasu recalled his experience as follows:

Most school teachers from elementary to high school level could not understand the intention of the Course of Study. Indeed, school teachers persisted in singing, in which if teachers really understood music itself and could draw forth students’ interpretation, singing should have been beneficial musical learning, but most singing activities were carried out through teachers’ instruction such as encouraging precise pitch, rhythm, pronunciation, and articulation before nurturing students’ motivations to sing positively. As a result, school music fell into just a reproduction of written notation. Other musical activities such as playing instruments, composing, and appraising have been implemented slightly or not at all, although the conditions were contrary to the Course of Study. (Takasu, 2016, p. 3)

The Minister of MEXT submitted a request to the Central Council for Education in February 2005 seeking a revision of the Course of Study. At the same time, a swift review of laws related to the Course of Study were undertaken. The legal foundations of the Course of Study are endowed by three hierarchical acts under the constitution: the Basic Act of Education; the School Education Law; and the Regulation of School Education Law, which regulates the number of lessons of each subject (Takasu, 2016). Takasu describes the influence of 21st Century Skills on the Basic Act of Education and the School Education Law in Japan:

We need to look at 21st Century Skills, before glancing over the influence on they have had on Japanese education laws. 21st Century Skills are, as you may well know, very famous among educators and are a predominant idea at a worldwide level. Therefore, I would like to very briefly mention the outline of the skills. . . . Keywords should be “knowledge-based society,” “globalization,” “society for sustainable development” and “diversification of vocation.” These keywords come from social problems, which each country faces, such as energy affairs, population expansion, declining birth rates, and aging populations. These social problems are pressing matters.

Every country needs to collaborate to resolve these matters by using ICT as a tool and the basic skills for problem-solving, judging, and expressing of one’s thinking will be required of children. From the viewpoint of creativity, which is the first skill of 21st Century Skills, the nest society does not need homogeneous human resources but rather creative workers who create new ideas or develop new connections of which others have never thought, and who become those who restructure the social status quo. The ideas of 21st Century Skills exerted influence on the reform of the Basic Act of Education in 2006, which had never been executed before in the postwar period.

As far as “creativity,” the preceding sentences of the Basic Act of Education refers to creativity twice in the limited three paragraphs. In terms of the School Education Law, which was reformed to a large degree and first executed after World War II, set up as a new article which regulates children’s abilities and achievements acquire through school education. This article says that teachers are to make children acquire basic knowledge and skills, and nurture children’s thinking, judging, expressing and other abilities needed for problem-solving using such knowledge and skills. We can find out the similarities between 21st Century Skills and the School Education Law. As the School Education Law was reformed in 2007, we can see [that] the influences of 21st Century Skills appeared around 2000.” (Takasu, 2016, pp. 4-5)

To reflect the language of education law, the areas of Expression and Appreciation were renamed as Music-Making. This new area included singing, instrument playing, creative music-making, and appraising (Takasu, 2016).

Further, MEXT strongly recommended that teachers implement the creative music-making entitled ongakudukuri. This consisted of improvising, including sound playing or music playing adhering to specific rules, and composing based on musical structures to develop sounds into music (Takasu, 2016). At the same time, MEXT also recommended teachers implement appraising, as students can gain many ideas and come to understand the structures of music, which will become the basis of music that students will make (Takasu, 2016). Takasu recalled the process and described the rationale:

Students cannot create music [in a] vacuum. Through creative music-making, students will understand how sounds lead to music. As a result, students can realize what music is, and how to create music. In realizing and processing, students encourage themselves through thinking, decision-making, and self-expression skills, so they can be creators who create the next music culture. Furthermore, as students understand what music is and the processing sounds become music, they can recreate existent music through their new interpretation with an affirmative attitude. Also, traditional music must be important not only as a basis for thinking new ideas but also identities as Japanese. Teachers need to teach traditional music not to bring students up as the inheritors but creators. We need to teach students how to develop their new music based on traditional music. Such a viewpoint has been forgotten in school music education. The current Course of Study, therefore, reinforces the content of traditional music. (Takasu, 2016, p. 6)

Since 1998, MEXT has not prescribed instructional methods. MEXT concentrates on the development of subject matter by local committees of education and allows local committees of education to identify the appropriate methods for their own students according to the character of their locality. Nevertheless, in terms of creative music-making, those activities have been done in groups in general. Therefore, it is difficult to pursue individual improvising and composing activities in Japan. As Takasu (2016) notes, students working in groups can share ideas with each other and discover new things which they might not learn on their own. Teachers appreciate the efficiency of group activities for music learning as group work is common in Japanese education.