This presentation aims to throw light on the evolution and historical transformation of the concept of equality of opportunity as applied to educational policies in Japan from the end of World War II to the present day.
It analyses the Central Council for Education’s (CCE: Chūō kyōiku shingikai) reform proposals in recent years, and places them in the context of developing the concept of equality of educational opportunity in the years since 1945, when the post-war education system was established in Japan.

More specifically it addresses the following questions: What kinds of equality of educational opportunity have the central administrative bodies (Ministry of Education or the CCE), the political parties (mainly Liberal Democratic Party) and teachers aimed to achieve since the war? How have they applied equality of opportunity to educational policies? What kinds of criteria are used by them to measure equality of educational opportunity?

This presentation is also to expand on the existing literature on educational policies in contemporary Japan by examining how the current educational reform efforts have affected equality of educational opportunity among children from different family backgrounds.