From Ideology to Reform: A Critical Comparative Reading of Japanese and Algerian Educational Models

Abstract

This article presents a critical, historical–comparative analysis of the Japanese and Algerian educational models to explore the ideology underlying their construction and reform. Drawing on The critical approach, schooling is conceptualised as an apparatus for producing and reproducing social order, cultural capital, and hegemonic values rather than as a neutral institution. Using qualitative analysis of secondary sources, official texts, historical accounts, and sociological studies, this article examines how the Japanese model evolved from Meiji nation-building to postwar democratisation and neoliberal reform and how the Algerian model moved from colonial schooling to post independence expansion, Arabisation, and continued reliance on imported templates. The comparison reveals that both systems, despite their differing trajectories, combine formal appeals to equality with practices that perpetuate class and cultural hierarchies. On this basis, the article outlines a reform-oriented vision for Algeria that redefines the role of schools in critical citizenship, the recognition of diverse forms of capital, renewed teacher education, and context-sensitive use of technology, with an emphasis on a shift from imitation to innovation.