Secondary education in Japan

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (September 2016)

Secondary education in Japan is split into

Junior high school

Lower-secondary schools cover grades seven, eight, and nine. Ages are 12/13-15/16 with increased focus on academic studies. Although it is possible to leave the formal education system after completing lower secondary school and find employment, fewer than 4% did so by the late 1980s.

Most junior high schools in the 1980s were government-funded public schools; 5% were private schools. At

The minimum number of school days in a year is 210 in Japan, compared to 180 in the United States. A significant part of the school calendar is taken up by non-academic events such as sports days and school trips.[2]

Teachers often majored in the subjects they taught. Each class is assigned a homeroom teacher who doubles as

Instruction

Instruction tends to rely on the lecture method.^{[citation needed]} Teachers also use other media, such as television and radio, and there is some laboratory work. By 1989 about 45% of all public lower-secondary schools had computers, including schools that used them only for administrative purposes. Classroom organization is still based on small work groups, although no longer for reasons of discipline. Students are expected to have mastered daily routines and acceptable behavior.

All course contents are specified in the Course of Study for Lower-Secondary Schools. Some subjects, such as Japanese language and mathematics, are coordinated with the elementary curriculum. The curriculum covers Japanese language, English, social studies, mathematics, science, music, fine arts, industrial arts, homemaking, health, and physical education. Moral education and special activities continue to receive attention.^[3]

Extracurricular activities

Many students participate in after-school clubs. Sports clubs, such as baseball, are especially popular among boys,^[4][5] while wind bands are one of the most popular clubs for girls.^[5] Football (soccer) clubs are gaining popularity. Other popular sports clubs include tennis, basketball, gymnastics, Judo and volleyball. In every sport, many games are held between schools and at the regional level, so students have opportunities to compete.

For cultural clubs, choir and art clubs, brass band, tea ceremony, and flower arrangement clubs are popular.^[4]

Some junior high schools encourage students to take academic ability tests such as the

Students in the highest grades of elementary, junior high, and senior high schools also take trips lasting up to several days to culturally important cities such as Kyoto and Nara, ski resorts, or other places such as Tokyo, Osaka, Okinawa and Hokkaido.^[4]

Senior high school

Even though

To enter, students typically take an entrance examination in Japanese, mathematics, science, social studies, and English, whether it is standardized for all public high schools in the prefecture or a test created by a private high school for that school alone.

Daily life

High schools typically begin at 8:30, when teachers meet for a five-minute meeting, followed by homeroom.^[8] Students assemble in their homerooms of an average of around 40 students each,^[9] Homeroom teachers are in charge of morning or afternoon homeroom times, about five minutes each, as well as a weekly long homeroom period.^[10]

Many students are assigned to specific task committees in their homeroom class.^[10]

There are four classes of 50 minutes each before lunch.^[8] Students go to different classrooms for physical education, laboratory classes, or other specialized courses; otherwise, teachers change classrooms instead the students for the entire day. Students typically attend between ten and fourteen courses a year.^[11]

Some schools do not have their own cafeteria, so students generally eat in their homerooms instead.^[8] Unlike students in elementary and middle school, high school students do not have government-subsidized lunches.^[10] Because of this, many students bring bento from home.^[10] After lunch students have two more classes.^[8] Typically, by 3:30 PM, students are free to attend extracurricular activities.^[8]

Saturday schooling, when offered, ends at 1 PM after four courses.^[8]

Extracurriculars

In most schools, there are two types of extracurricular clubs, sports clubs and culture clubs. New students usually choose a club after the school year begins and only rarely change for the rest of their high school careers.

Curriculum

Traditionally Japanese students attended class on Saturdays. An education reform introduced in 2002 has made them non-mandatory,^[7] but many schools have begun to bring them back.^{[original research?]}

Schools have limited autonomy in developing their curriculum or choosing their textbooks. Instead, although the latter are written and produced in the private sector, the Ministry of Education has the final say over any and all content and materials. Typically students take three years each of mathematics, social studies, Japanese, science, and English, with additional courses including physical education, music, art, and moral studies. In particular social studies in Japan is broken down into civics, geography, Japanese history, world history, sociology, and politics/economics. There are a large number of mandatory courses, and a few number of electives.^[7]

Upper-secondary teachers are university graduates. Upper-secondary schools are organized into departments, and teachers specialize in their field of study although they teach a variety of courses sharing a more general discipline. Teaching depends largely on the lecture system, with the main goal being to cover the curriculum. Approach and subject coverage tends to be uniform, at least in the public schools.

Education reforms

International educational scores (latest, 2018)
8th Graders average score,

TIMSS International Results in Mathematics and Sciences, 2019^[12]

Countries (sample)	Global rank	Maths:-		Science:-
		Rank	Score	Rank	Score
Singapore.	01	1	616	1	575
Chinese Taipei.	02	2	612	2	574
South Korea.:	03	3	607	4	561
Japan.:	04	4	594	3	570
Russia.:’	05	6	543	5=	543
Germany.:’	06	8	520	7	540
Ireland.:	07	7	524	10	523
England.:’	08	10=	517	8	530
Finland.	09	14	509	5=	543
Australia.:’*	10	10=	517	9	528
Canada.:	11	5	578	17	504
Italy.:’	12	12=	515	11	522
Scotland.:	13	9	519	16	513
Norway.	14	12=	515	14	517
Sweden.	15	15=	503	12	521
Portugal.	16	18	500	13	519
Spain.:’	17	20	496	15	515
Denmark.	18	15=	503	20	495
France.:.:’	19	19	497	18	500
United States.:.:’	20	17	501	23	484

The

As part of the movement to develop an integrated curriculum and the education reform movement of the late 1980s, the entire Course of Study for Lower-Secondary Schools was revised in 1989 and took effect in the 1992–93 school year. A main aim of the reform is to equip students with the basic knowledge needed for citizenship. In some measure, this means increased emphasis on Japanese history and culture, as well as understanding Japan as a nation and its relationships with other nations of the world. The course of study also increased elective hours, recommending that electives be chosen in light of individual student differences and with an eye toward diversification.

A further revision to the Fundamental Law of Education was carried out on 22 December 2006.^[13] The revised law leaves the structure of schooling basically the same but includes new emphases on respect for Japanese culture (Article 2.5), school discipline (Article 6.2), and parental responsibility (Article 10).^[14]

Junior high issues

Two problems of great concern to educators and citizens began to appear at the lower-secondary level in the 1980s: bullying, which remains a major problem, and the school-refusal syndrome (toko kyohi; manifested by excessive absenteeism), which was on the rise.^[15] In 2008, there were 42,754 incidents of problematic behavior in junior high schools, according to a government survey.^[16]

Experts disagreed over the specific causes of these phenomena, but there is general agreement that the system offers little individualized or specialized assistance, thus contributing to disaffection among those who can not conform to its demands or who are otherwise experiencing difficulties. Another problem concerns Japanese children returning from abroad. These students, particularly if they have been overseas for extended periods, often need help in reading and writing — and in adjusting to rigid classroom demands. Even making the adjustment does not guarantee acceptance. Besides having acquired a foreign language, many of these students have also acquired foreign customs of speech, dress, and behavior that mark them as different.

Senior high issues

The upper-secondary curriculum underwent thorough revision in 1989. That year a new

• Education in Japan
  • Educational reform in occupied Japan
  • Higher education in Japan

Notes