The Educational System in Japan: Case Study Findings, June 1998

Executive Summary

The Case Study Project is a component of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. It was designed to provide

in-depth information on education in three nations: Germany, Japan, and the United States. The four research topics which

were the focus of the case studies in each of these countries were selected by the U. S. Department of Education in an effort

to collect qualitative data which would complement and amplify the quantitative information obtained through the main

Third International Mathematics and Science Study. The topics investigated in the Case Study Project were: education

standards, dealing with differences in ability, the place of school in adolescents' lives, and the training and working

conditions of teachers.

During 1994-95, the study collected information from interviews with students, parents, teachers, school administrators, and

education officials, as well as through classroom observations. This report presents findings from the fieldwork completed in

Japan. Additional reports present findings from fieldwork in Germany and the United States.

Three cities in geographically different areas of Japan were chosen for study. In all three of the research sites we found

similar patterns of instruction, curriculum implementation, parental support of learning, and adolescent engagement in

school. Teachers in Kita, Naka, and Minami cities expressed similar beliefs about the role of effort in academic progress. In

the early grades, the instruction can be best described as "whole person" education in which individual learning styles are

emphasized. This atmosphere changes as students progress into junior high school and exam preparation begins to play a

major role in schooling. In all three sites, adolescents appeared to experience similar school transitions, and the curriculum

used at any given level — for example, first year students in junior high school — was also very similar across the three sites.

In all three sites, adolescents and their parents expressed concerns over upcoming entrance exams and many students enrolled

in juku.

The Effects of a Unified Curriculum

Monbusho, Japan's Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, exerts a powerful influence over the entire nation's education

system, producing national curriculum guidelines that serve as a national standard. Because of the clearly delineated national

curriculum, students and teachers alike know which topics will be covered on national entrance exams and can determine

which content questions are or are not appropriate to their students. Elementary school students are not required to pass

national or prefectural tests in order to move on to the next level of schooling. Rather, the competition, which is engendered

by a strict system of entrance exams and the great need for academic credentials, appears to motivate students in junior and

senior high school to perform at high levels. Parents and teachers tended to be critical of the pressures exerted by the entrance

exams but were rarely critical of the overall Monbusho guidelines. Despite this emphasis on preparation for the entrance

exams, Japanese teachers spent a great deal of time preparing material that was aimed at students who were of lower-thanaverage academic ability.

Japanese administrators and policy makers involve teachers in the curriculum revision process. Monbusho actively solicits

the advice of teachers on its national panels and makes serious attempts to investigate how the curriculum is implemented in

the classroom. The curriculum revision process is closely tied to what teachers experience in their classes, and teachers see

themselves as curriculum researchers, a role they clearly accept.

Teachers spend a great deal of time researching how to teach. This commitment means that they devote a good deal of their

planning time to the organization and sequencing of lessons. Teachers are not under pressure to provide extensive materials

outside the curriculum or to create their own curriculum. Rather, they are expected to elaborate on the material provided in

the textbooks.

Teachers are expected to adjust the lessons to the level of the class they are teaching and to demonstrate their techniques to

other teachers. Moreover, teachers from around the nation appear to share ideas readily . As a result, teacher innovations in

methods of teaching and content of courses are widely disseminated via local and regional meetings. Ideal lesson plans are

widely circulated and new teachers have access to these plans. Efforts at the local and regional levels are coordinated by

school boards and the Monbusho. This coordination is of benefit because:

 It greatly reduces the work that individual schools and districts must do in deciding what reforms to follow;

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 Coordination means that what teachers do in the classroom is directly linked to curricular reform, although local

schools and teachers have limits placed on their adaptation of materials;

 Ideas created at one district can be readily communicated and implemented in another district, because of the

similarity of the curriculum and school organization.

Teacher Work Patterns

Teachers are generally required to be at school for at least eight hours a day, and often spend extra hours in planning,

meetings with other teachers, advising students, or socializing. The teachers reported that most of their work was done in

school, a fact that they felt contributed to the general atmosphere of collegiality. The Japanese teachers and administrators we

talked with described their workplaces as close-knit communities of educators who readily shared information and teaching

experiences. This strong sense of community appears to affect how teachers view and deal with student disruptions. Teachers

were the primary disciplinarians for their homeroom classes, but if the problems are serious, teachers can call on other

teachers, the head grade-level teacher, or administrators for support. Few teachers reported feeling worried or apprehensive

about student behavior.

At all levels, teachers reported that they saw the purpose of education as guiding students to become more fully developed

human beings. Teachers organized and supervised student clubs and helped orchestrate schoolwide events. Particularly at the

elementary level, teachers emphasized that their role was to improve the overall education of the child, not just give academic

instruction.

Foundations in Pre-school and Elementary Education

Like previous researchers, we found that Japanese educators and parents place great emphasis on early foundations for

learning. Elementary classrooms offer many surprising contrasts to later years of schooling. We visited schools that favored

individual enrichment work through non-academic subjects as well as math and science lessons that emphasized thinking and

discovery. Arts, music, and physical education play a large role in the general curriculum. Students spend a significant

amount of time planning, preparing, and participating in yearly school-wide events that have no direct bearing on academic

achievement.

The word "studying" has a much broader set of meanings in the Japanese context than in the United States context. Studying,

as one mother put it, is a life-long task: one studies how to be a wife, mother, a co-worker, and perhaps even a retiree.

Creating a positive attitude toward study in the early years, adults reasoned, was crucial to further academic and social

success. Teachers and parents linked many of Japan's major student problems, such as dislike of math and science, lack of

creativity, school refusal, and bullying with early failures in the child's education. If children become excited in learning

about their world, Japanese educators reason, they will continue to pursue their studies in later years. Students will then

become motivated learners in a general sense.

From the earliest grades on, Japanese children are taught to work in small groups (han) as well as to participate as classmates,

grade members, and members of the whole school. These multiple layers of group affiliations appear to create a strong sense

of identification with the school. The individual student is recognized less for his or her personal accomplishments than for

the contributions he or she made to the group, class, grade, or school.

Japanese educators also focus on the interests of average and below-average children. Teachers place little emphasis on

innate ability, and most elementary teachers go out of their way to de-emphasize ability in favor of interest and effort. The

term "ability differences" (noryokusa) is generally avoided and "difference in mastery levels" (shujukudo) is preferred. This

preference reflects the fact that Japanese adults are deeply uneasy about dividing children based on ability. One reason given

by teachers for not using ability grouping was that it would hurt students emotionally to the extent that they would lose their

motivation to study. Japanese teachers believe that a child's motivation is central to success and that all children are capable

of mastering the curriculum with proper encouragement.

Individual Differences and Concepts of Ability

Japanese educators generally see ability differences arising as the result of differences in upbringing, in family background.

Teachers do not consider that abilities are innate but rather acquired through individual effort. Except for students with

clearly recognizable disabilities, teachers see all students as capable of succeeding in school. Individual effort was most often

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mentioned as the source of achievement and high ability.

Individuals who display a "strong mind" or who have strong motivation are considered to be the students who will excel in

math, science, and a range of other areas. What most frequently differentiates these individuals from their peers is the kind of

primary family relationships they have and the consequent effects these early relationships have as the child develops.

Students who are not well socialized "run out of oil" before other students do. As a result, they fall farther behind and become

less engaged in school.

Motivation is viewed as a characteristic that teachers can actively cultivate by encouraging a child to study what he or she

likes, thereby deepening the sense of excitement and mastery the child has. Once that attachment to school and the classroom

activities is made, the interest in learning or studying will be firmly rooted in the child's mind or psyche.

Special programs for the gifted or programs that allow individual children to develop at different rates are almost unknown in

Japanese public elementary and junior high schools. Juku, however, provide similar opportunities outside of school. There is

no grade retention and no skipping of grades. However, virtually all Japanese elementary and junior high schools have

special classrooms, often given fetching names like "green mountain," where students with severe disabilities are taught

separately from the rest of the school. The curriculum for these classes is less difficult than that taught in mainstream classes,

and students rarely interact with their mainstream counterparts. While the basic Japanese ideal is for inclusion, there are clear

limits to this inclusion. During the compulsory years of schooling, only students with severe disabilities are kept outside the

mainstream. However, upon entrance to high school, all students are streamed into different high school courses based

largely on entrance exam scores.

The Role of Schooling in Social Stratification

The competitive atmosphere around the high school entrance exams is linked to the fact that once students are tracked into a

given high school, they will have great difficulty changing their general academic trajectory. As evidenced by the very

different curriculum and attitudes of the students at Meiji and Naka Vocational, the outlines of students' future academic and

economic prospects are largely pre-determined by the high school they enter.

In the high-ranking academic tracks, students follow a course of study and extra-curricular involvement that is very similar to

the one they experienced in junior high school: they spend significant portions of their time outside of school preparing for

classes, practicing in clubs, and attending juku. Students in the more highly ranked academic high schools noted that they

engaged in competition with their classmates to see who can do best on the practice exams and other tests. In the low-ranked

academic schools or in vocational schools like Naka Tech, students exhibit little interest in school work except when it is

directly linked to immediate work goals. Students and teachers in these schools reported that students would study hard to

prepare for a certification exam, but not for a test in math class. In these schools, student life is much more centered around

work, and students often take part-time jobs outside of school.

Despite the hierarchical tracking that occurs at the high school level, we found little evidence of school resentment. Even the

dropouts appear to be attracted to their old schools and behaved in ways directed toward gaining recognition from the school.

A factor in making school meaningful to Japanese adolescents is that school is their major social arena. The school plays a

significant and positive role in the peer culture of most Japanese adolescents. The students we interviewed rarely saw the

school as imposing on onerous regime of study. Rather they pointed to the entrance exams as producing the pressure and

stress they experienced. While several students did complain that school rules on dress and deportment were too strict, they

rarely expressed resentment toward their teachers.

The respondents pointed out problems such as bullying, dropouts, and a general increase in the number of students who

dislike math and science. However, neither students nor adults linked these problems to the teachers or the schools per se.

They generally blamed these problems on the exam system, the competitive nature of society, and what they perceived to be

the increase in divorce and disruption of family life. The vast majority of students spent more time at school in any given

week than the teachers required. Rather than seeing school as in imposition, most students saw it as resource in their attempts

to succeed in future academic competition and as a place to expand and deepen their social network.

Family

Parents also voiced similar respect for schools and teachers, but were critical of the exams and academic competition.

Japanese parents give to their children a wide range of support when it comes to academic matters. Despite the narrow

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quarters that many Japanese families occupy, Japanese families generally provide a study desk for children from elementary

school on. Most of the families in this study also provided a separate room once the child reached junior high school. Almost

all of the families in the study were providing their children with some form of outside school support or were paying for

them to enroll in special clubs or pursue their hobbies.

Japanese families also are willing to allow adolescents to study in lieu of doing house work or other household duties. Few

adolescents had any specific chores around the house. Most students came home, ate dinner with one or both parents, and

then studied or relaxed. Japanese parents (and grandparents) are willing to provide their children with money for clothes,

compact discs, and video rentals. Many parents felt that studying must be balanced by adequate recreation. They are willing

to give students money to buy these recreations, and they felt it was important to make sure that their children had a chance to

relax while engaged in preparing for the entrance exams. However, unsupervised recreation time was limited for most

adolescents. The major activities that students engaged in were shopping or going to movies. Many adolescents were content

to simply spend time at home or at a friend's home, watching videos or listening to music.

One significant aspect of family-school relations is the declining involvement of parents as the child progresses through the

education system noted by parents, teachers, and students alike. While most parents make great efforts to participate in

elementary school events, participation at the junior high school and high school levels seems to wane. However, parents still

appear ready to support their children through investment in extra-school activities, and many families spend great sums to

enroll students in juku. It appears that as children pass into adolescence, parents expect the school to take more responsibility

for organizing activities for students, and teachers to take an active role in guiding and advising.

Reform of the Education System

Our respondents (parents, teachers, students, and education officials) supported a uniform approach to providing a nurturing

education at the elementary level, a more intensive academic and extra-curricular program in junior high, and a highly

differentiated program at the high school level. In the early years of education, the curriculum is geared to the average

student, and serious academic competition does not affect most students until the second or third year of junior high school.

The major academic issues raised by teachers, parents, and students centered around the role that entrance exams play in

Japanese schooling. Many of our respondents felt that this system has created too much pressure on students and teachers

alike. Public schooling, some said, was becoming more about getting into a good college than about getting a good education.

Although the Monbusho has advocated more consideration of the individual in education and mandated a decrease in the

number of days in the school week, the results up to now have only served to heighten the pressures that teachers and

students feel, not relieve them. Severe competition on the entrance exams for admission to elite schools continues to create

educational overheating. The juku which play such a large role in the overall academic picture, are outside of the Monbusho's

control. The juku at once support the schools yet were often cited by respondents as the fuel that causes educational

overheating.

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[Acknowledgments] [Chapter 1 - Introduction (Part 1 of 3)]

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