Applying the Self-Determination Theory to Japanese Special Education Contexts: A Four-Step Model.

The authors describe what preparations they undertook before introducing self-determination theory and its corresponding teaching model to the Japanese special education system for students with intellectual disabilities. The Japanese special education services are designed to nurture students to be individuals who are independent, know and exhibit preferences and interests, set and achieve goals, and possess a sense of achievement and self-awareness. In this respect, the values embedded in the practices of the prevalent Japanese special education teaching model appear to substantially overlap with those of self-determination. At the same time, Japanese education is designed to value corporate independence, corporate preferences and interests, setting and achieving corporate goals, and corporate sense of achievement and self-awareness. The authors conclude that by focusing on these similarities when introducing the concepts and strategies underlying self-determination to Japanese professionals it will help them operationalize what they have done, what they have tried to do, and what they are going to do. Further, by substituting the term “self” determination for “corporate” determination, the functional model of self-determination and the corresponding teaching model can be applied to theorize or articulate the practices of Japanese special education that have been implemented on the basis of collectivism values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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