Subject Pedagogy in Japan: The Reconstructive Process and the Competitive Relationship of Multiple Subject Pedagogies

The aim of this research is to describe the historical development of subject pedagogy in Japan by applying the theory of competing paradigms and dividing it into four periods. There are three meanings of subject pedagogy in the Japanese academic context: as a sub-discipline of the broader educational sciences, as a research activity of curriculum and instruction for specific school subjects, and as an essential field of teacher education for certifying professionals to teach specific subjects. This paper shows that these three meanings have been historically generated and transformed. They interact with one another and are reconstructed as they have been influenced by the political and academic factors of the time. The paper also shows that the established meanings have not faded away lightly over the three-quarter century history of Japanese subject pedagogy, but instead have persisted as a multi-faceted paradigm that continues to define it.