Diversity and Imagined Communities at a Japanese Supplementary School in New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis examines how one New Zealand-based Japanese supplementary school, or hoshuko, and its community have grappled with the gradual demographic diversification in its population. By utilizing the theoretical framework of imagined communities (Anderson, 1991; Norton, 2001; Kanno & Norton, 2003; Kanno, 2008), I examine the future visions (in the form of imagined communities) of the hoshuko’s various stakeholders (the school itself, staff, parents, and the students) and connect these with 1) parents’ decisions on their children’s Japanese learning at the hoshuko, and 2) adaptations made by the hoshuko to its policy and practices in response to demographic change. To perform this investigation, I use a case study approach ethnographic research methods, including qualitative data collection that involved classroom observations, anonymous questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and documentary analysis. The three major participant groups that contributed to the data were staff members at the school, including teachers and the principal, parents, and the students themselves. The findings of this study reveal the texture of diversity at the hoshuko. Even among those belonging to seemingly homogenous groups (e.g., parents with children in a course designed to prepare students to return for education in Japan), there was a significant amount of heterogeneity in the imagined communities, as well as in the decisions and adaptations that these imagined communities influenced. With parents, for example, imagined communities seemed to affect course choices for their children and commitment levels. Furthermore, while the school had adapted to demographic change through various means (e.g., the creation of new courses to accommodate a changing student body), it still faced ongoing challenges, especially with funding and staffing. Viewed with the lens of the imagined communities held by the hoshuko’s stakeholders, this study uncovered potential reasons for the difficulties the school had in solving these challenges. Finally, this study presents conclusions on applying the imagined communities theoretical framework to educational research connecting future visions to present actions, as well as those that aim to examine the interplay of the visions of different stakeholders.