The role of the private sector in vocational education and training: The case of Japan's Special Training Schools

The article describes the increasingly important part played by the private sector, in the shape of relatively recent institutions known as Special Training Schools, in Japan's system of vocational education and training. It outlines the social and educational context against which these institutions of higher education have developed including the country's obsession with education, the subordinate role played by women, the major part played by industry in providing training and the general acceptance of the need for the state to facilitate and subsidise training. It then describes the origins and characteristics of the Special Training Schools which are almost entirely private institutions catering for about ten per cent of Japan's eighteen year-olds, and analyses their strengths and weaknesses and the reasons why they are growing in popularity. Finally, it compares their role with that of private colleges of further education in this country.