Administration
International
Studies in
Educational Administration
Journal of the CommonwealthCouncil for Educational
Administration & Management

CCEAM

Volume 48 Number 2 2020

International Studies in Educational Administration by the Commonwealth Council for Educational
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International Studies in Educational Administration (ISEA)
aims to enhance the effectiveness of educational
leadership, management and administration to support
intellectual, personal and social learning in schools,
colleges and universities and related educational, socialand economic development in a range of national contexts.
It publishes research- and scholarship-based papers within
the broad field of educational leadership, management, andadministration including its connections with educational/social policy, and professional practice. It focuses on the
Commonwealth and beyond. It is strongly international inthat, while it may publish empirical research or scholarship
undertaken in specific national or regional contexts, papers
consider issues and themes of interest that transcend
single national settings. Papers offer new facts or ideas toacademics, policy-makers and practitioners in education invaried national contexts ranging from advanced economies
to the least economically developed countries. The journal
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International Studies in Educational Administration
Volume 48, No. 2, 2020

Contents
Editorial Note
DAVID GURR

1A School in the Grip of COVID-19: Musings From the Principal’s Office
ALEC O’CONNELL AND SIMON CLARKE

4

Keeping the Bus Moving While Maintaining Social Distance in a COVID-19 WorldSTEPHANIE NARVAEZ BRELSFORD, ERICA E. CAMARILLO, AMANDA SANTANA GARCIA,
GLORIA GARCIA, VALERIE REYES LOPEZ, CELESTE PAREDEZ MONTOYA, RALPH MORA III,ZULEICA OLVERA, ANDREA RAMIREZ, FRED WICKER AND BETTY MERCHANT
12A Descriptive Analysis of Educational Services in Nigeria During COVID-19 Lockdown
SAHEED OYENIRAN AND FOLASADE MARDIYYA OYENIRAN

21Managing the Challenges to the Effective Utilisation of E-Learning as a Response in COVID-19
Nigeria
INNOCENT C. IGBOKWE, NDIDIAMAKA J. OKEKE-JAMES, ADELINE N. ANYANWU AND
NGOZI C. ELI-CHUKWU28School Leadership as (Un)usual. Insights From Principals in Sweden During a Pandemic
BJÖRN AHLSTRÖM, ULF LEO, LARS NORQVIST AND PÄR POROMAA ISLING

35

Coping With the Global Pandemic COVID-19 Through the Lenses of the Cyprus Education System
ANTONIOS KAFA AND PETROS PASHIARDIS

42

Ensuring Learning Continues During a Pandemic
JEANNE HO AND LEE YONG TAY

49

Leadership in Times of Pandemics: Reflections From Singapore
DAVID HUNG, JUN SONG HUANG AND CHLOE TAN

56

Educational Responses to the Pandemic in Japan: Primary and Secondary Education Policy Issues
HIROSHI SATO

64

Collaboration, Communication and Wellness: Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Manitoba
Schools
CAMERON HAUSEMAN, SUSAN DARAZSI AND STACY KENT

70

School Principals and Students With Special Education Needs in a Pandemic: Emerging Insights
From Ontario, Canada
STEVE R. SIDER

78

Educational Responses to the Pandemic in India
HEMLATA TALESRA

85

Managing Education in a Peculiar Environment: A Case Study of Nigeria’s Response to COVID-19
FEMI S. AKINWUMI AND ANTHONY A. ITOBORE

92

Management Practices in Lagos State Private Secondary Schools Amidst COVID-19 Lockdown
AKEEM A. ADEKUNLE, JACOB A. ADEYANJU AND GBOLAHAN I. OYEGOKE

100

Going Hard and Early: Tertiary Teaching Under Lockdown in New ZealandSYLVIA ROBERTSON

107

64 | ISEA • Volume 48, Number 2, 2020

Educational Responses to the Pandemic
in Japan: Primary and Secondary
Education Policy Issues
Hiroshi Sato

Abstract: In 2020 in Japan, schools were closed nationwide in March and reopened in June. During
this closure period, almost no online classes were provided, which is attributed to the slow developmentof information and communication technology (ICT) systems in schools. In April 2020, the Japanese
government announced a policy with relevant budgetary measures, to accelerate the development of the
ICT environment in schools. While the government also discussed the possibility of shifting the start of
the academic year from April to September, the prime minister deferred the September start decision
due to the difficulties expected with hasty implementation. In the days ahead, schools are expected tocontinue operations despite the pandemic. To realise learning and teaching outcomes that correspondwith the future of society, the task is to fully utilise ICT in schools.
Keywords: Education policy, information and communication technology, leadership,
schools

Introduction: Research Objective and Questions
The Abe administration’s response to the novel coronavirus has been slow, and distrust has
grown among the people of Japan. On February 27, with the purpose of ameliorating the
distrust, Prime Minister Abe requested that all primary schools, junior high schools, seniorhigh schools, and special support schools in Japan close for a month starting on March 2 (S.
Sugiyama, Abe's bold school closure move appears spurred by criticism of virus response,
The Japan Times, February 28, 2020). The abrupt request rattled local governments and schools,
but they complied and started preparing for the closures on February 28.
As a result of the closures, two major policy issues surfaced. The first is theunderdevelopment of online learning systems. ICT development in Japanese schools is
extremely delayed (NIER 2019: 9-10). Schools were therefore unsuccessful in switching toonline learning during the closure period, and ICT development has since become a major

ISEA • Volume 48, Number 2, 2020 | 65

policy issue. The second issue involves the start date of the academic year. Because of thedelayed learning caused by the closures, there is debate about changing the start of theacademic year from April to September as a compensatory measure. Abe has expressed his
intention to examine the issue (M. Koizumi, Japan school closures reignite debate on shifting
academic year to September start, The Japan Times, May 4, 2020). Abe’s interest has encouraged
discussion among government and political party personnel.
The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of primary and secondary schools of thepolicy measures taken by the Japanese government, The Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and boards of education to combat the spread of thenovel coronavirus. The research questions are as follows:1)

How did the government and MEXT close and reopen schools in response to thepandemic?

2)

What problems pertaining to online learning were revealed in Japan, and how is the
ICT environment going to be developed in schools?

3)

What is known about the discussion about moving the start of the academic year?

In this paper, existing policy documents and other relevant documents are analysed. The
paper is unique because there is no preceding research, in either Japanese or English, on
primary and secondary school education policies to cope with the novel coronavirus.

Government and MEXT Responses to the Spread of the Novel
Coronavirus: From School Closures to Reopening
The day after the school closure announcement, MEXT issued a notice, ‘Temporary Closuresat Primary Schools, Junior High Schools, Senior High Schools, Special Support Schools, Etc.
Responding to COVID-19 (Notice)’, to superintendents of prefectural boards of education,
prefectural governors, and heads of private schools. The outline of the notice is as follows(MEXT 2020d: 1-3):
1) guide students to avoid outings, stay at home, and apply appropriate hygiene
measures;2) take necessary actions to avoid learning delays, such as assigning proper homework;3) show flexibility regarding the shortage of hours in the classroom so that students are
not disadvantaged in terms of graduation and advancement;4) pay sufficient attention to the infection of teachers, and if a teacher shows relevant
symptoms, suspend the teacher from school; and,5) ensure boards of education cooperate with welfare offices to secure places forstudents with disabilities.
By March 17, 97.8 per cent of schools nationwide were closed (MEXT 2020e: 26). Following
the increase in the number of domestic infections in March, the government declared a state66 | ISEA • Volume 48, Number 2, 2020of emergency on April 7. The declaration made it possible for prefectural governors to requestand direct restrictions on the outings of citizens, the use of school facilities, events andentertainment activities, and so forth. Following this declaration, the nationwide school
closure period was extended to May 2020, which again raised the issue of students’ delayed
learning.
Seeing the decrease in the number of infections as a result of restricted outings, thegovernment lifted the state of emergency on May 25. Accordingly, schools were reopened
step-by-step through local government decisions starting on June 1. On June 5, MEXT issued
a notice, ‘Guidelines for Sustainable School Administration and Comprehensive Package to
Guarantee Student Learning Responding to COVID-19 (Notice)’, to superintendents ofprefectural boards of education and prefectural governors throughout Japan (MEXT 2020a).
These policies include reducing the risk of infection, shortening the summer vacation period
to compensate for delayed learning, applying the education curriculum in a flexible manner,increasing the number of teachers, allocating additional funds to schools for reopening,
promoting ICT use and online classes, and adjusting the scope of questions on senior highschool and university admission examinations. In accordance with these policies, boards ofeducation formulated more detailed measures before reopening schools.

Problems Involved with Implementing Online Classes: Promotionof ICT Development in Schools
Online classes can guarantee learning during school closures, and they are commonly usedby schools in many countries (A. Hata, Japan's students left behind as world embraces online
classes, Nikkei Asian Review, April 22, 2020). However, as of April 2020, only 5 per cent of 1,213
municipalities in Japan implement two-way online classes in public schools (MEXT 2020b: 1).
A reason for this is the delayed development of ICT in Japanese schools. According to the2019 MEXT survey report, the number of students per computer was 5.4, 40.7 per cent ofclassrooms were equipped with a wireless local area network, and 52.1 per cent of classrooms
were equipped with a large video display system (MEXT 2019). In response to this situation,
MEXT formulated the ‘Global and Innovation Gateway for All (GIGA) School Concept’ on
December 19, 2019, to promote the development of the ICT environment in public schools.
The GIGA School Concept includes a plan to provide a computer to each student by the endof March 2023.
Amid the pandemic, the government regarded the lack of online classes as a problem anddecided to accelerate the implementation of the GIGA School Concept. On April 7, thegovernment decided to allocate about 229.2 billion yen to promptly guarantee education for
all students through the utilisation of ICT (MEXT 2020c: 1), with the realisation of the GIGA
School Concept by the end of March 2021. The budget was approved on April 30 at the 201st
session of the Diet. The unexpected pandemic thus led to the approval of a budget that
promotes ICT development in schools.

ISEA • Volume 48, Number 2, 2020 | 67

Academic Year Change Debate: Maintenance of April Start or
Shift to September Start
To encourage studying abroad, the government has long been discussing shifting theacademic year to be in line with that of the USA and Europe (Prime Minister’s Office 2007: 7).
However, this shift remains unrealised. To guarantee learning during the school closures dueto the pandemic and to facilitate studying abroad, the governors of Tokyo, Kanagawa, andOsaka suggested shifting the current academic year start from April to September. In
response, Prime Minister Abe expressed his intention to discuss the matter widely on April
29 (Abe open to delaying start of Japan's school year, The Japan Times, April 29, 2020).
However, the ruling parties of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito Party announced
their opposition to the September start, citing difficulties expected to accompany hasty systemchanges during the pandemic and the necessity of additional financial expenditure. The
Japanese Educational Research Association also declared opposition to the September start(JERA 2020). The prime minister abandoned the idea of introducing the September start in
the next academic year in favour of more prolonged discussion of the issue among
government personnel (T. Osaki, Abe’s proposal to shift the academic year to September faces
increased opposition, The Japan Times, June 2, 2020). A major policy change such as altering
the academic year start date requires careful preparation. Though the proposal invited
debate, it was not a realistic policy to cope with the pandemic.

Conclusion: Promotion of School Education Innovation Triggeredby the Pandemic
Schools in Japan were closed for three months, from March to June 2020. Since almost no
online classes were provided during the closures, students’ learning is now behind schedule.
As the pandemic revealed the underdevelopment of the ICT environment in schools, theJapanese government initiated its development. The pandemic also triggered debate overshifting the start month of the academic year from April to September. However, a hurriedchange in the school system was extremely difficult to achieve, and the government had nochoice but to discard the idea. As seen by the government’s decision to develop the ICT
environment in schools and the renewed debate over introducing a September start to theacademic year, the pandemic has substantially influenced Japan’s education policies.
Promoting ICT in schools will be necessary both to respond to the second and third waves ofthe pandemic and to nurture students’ competency to meet the future society (OECD 2018: 37). In the wake of the pandemic, further promotion of the innovation of Japan’s education
system is expected. Appropriate education policies and budgets will be necessary, and theleadership of superintendents of boards of education and school principals will havesignificant impact.

68 | ISEA • Volume 48, Number 2, 2020

Limitations and Future ResearchThis paper examined primary and secondary education policies responding to the pandemic
in Japan. Since the targets of this examination were primarily relevant policy documents, thepaper does not include an analysis of the actual situation of boards of education and schools.
The plan for future research is to conduct a case analysis to illuminate how boards ofeducation and schools responded to the pandemic.

Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National University Corporation, University of Tsukuba
Fund for Program to Apply the Wisdom of the University to Tackle COVID-19 Related
Emergency Problems.

References
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for Careful Discussion in Society [in Japanese]. Japanese Educational Research Association (retrieved
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MEXT. (2020a). Guidelines for Sustainable School Administration and Comprehensive Package to
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pdf).

ISEA • Volume 48, Number 2, 2020 | 69

Prime Minister's Office. (2007). Education Rebuilding by Society as a Whole: A Further Step toward the
Rebuilding of the Public Education System and the Reconstruction of the Basis for a New Era of Education(retrieved from https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/kyouiku/houkoku/eibun0601.pdf)

Author Details
Hiroshi Sato
Division of Education
Faculty of Human Sciences
University of Tsukuba
Email: h-sato@human.tsukuba.ac.jp