Education governance and principals' leadership in Japan

Despite some reforms in educational governance, Japan maintains a centralized and regulatory administration in primary and secondary education. This chapter identifies the education governance structure and challenges to principals’ leadership in school education in Japan. It aims to examine historical and policy developments in aspects of educational governance and to explore how principals exercise their leadership and work to improve their schools in that context. Two case studies were conducted, in a primary and a junior high school, to examine principals’ perceptions of the present governance structure and challenges to leadership in schools. Educational governance in Japan is such that, while the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) at national level directs schools with legally binding curriculum policies, the Boards of Education at municipal level control local schools in regard to personnel and finance. Findings show that the two principals in the case studies had critical views towards the current educational governance structure and they have been practicing instructional leadership to cope with the challenges arising from the governance context.