Educational System

Japan has one of the world's best-educated populations, with 100% enrollment in compulsory grades and zero illiteracy. While not compulsory, high school (koukou 高校) enrollment is over 96% nationwide and nearly 100% in the cities. The high school drop out rate is about 2% and has been increasing. About 46% of all high school graduates go on to university or junior college.

• Japan has one of the world's best-educated populations, with 100% enrollment in compulsory grades and zero illiteracy. While not compulsory, high school (koukou 高校) enrollment is over 96% nationwide and nearly 100% in the cities. The high school drop out rate is about 2% and has been increasing. About 46% of all high school graduates go on to university or junior college.
• The Ministry of Education closely supervises curriculum, textbooks, classes and maintains a uniform level of education throughout the country. As a result, a high standard of education is possible.

• *School calendar
• -classes normally start in April and ends in March of the following year
• -fieldtrips happen in May (Spring)
• -Annual Sports in September (Autumn)
• -Three long vacations
• *Summer break (late July-late August)
• *Winter break (late December-early January)
• *Spring break (late Feb-early April)
• -Graduation in March-less significant

• JAPANESE

• SCHOOL

SCHOOL EDUCATION SYSTEM

• Most schools operate on a three-term system with the new year starting in April. The modern educational system started in 1872, and is modeled after the French school system, which begins in April. The fiscal year in Japan also begins in April and ends in March of the following year, which is more convenient in many aspects.
• April is the height of spring when cherry blossom (the most loved flower of the Japanese!) bloom and a most suitable time for a new start in Japan. This difference in the school-year system causes some inconvenience to students who wish to study abroad in the U.S. A half year is wasted waiting to get in and often another year is wasted when coming back to the Japanese university system and having to repeat a year.

• Except for the lower grades of elementary school, the average school day on weekdays is 6 hours, which makes it one of the longest school days in the world. Even after school lets out, the children have drills and other homework to keep them busy. Vacations are 6 weeks in the summer and about 2 weeks each for winter and spring breaks. There is often homework over these vacations. 
• Every class has its own fixed classroom where its students take all the courses, except for practical trainings and laboratory work. During elementary education, in most cases, one teacher teaches all the subjects in each class. As a result of the rapid population growth after World War II, the numbers of students in a typical elementary or junior high school class once exceeded 50 students, but now it is kept under 40. At public elementary and junior high school, school lunch (kyuushoku 給食) is provided on a standardized menu, and it is eaten in the classroom. Nearly all junior high schools require their students to wear a school uniform (seifuku 制服).
• A big difference between the Japanese school system and the American School systemis that Americans respect individuality while the Japanese control the individual by observing group rules.
• This helps to explains the Japanese characteristic of group behavior.

• Higher education in Japan is provided at universities (大学 daigaku), junior colleges (短期大学 tanki daigaku), colleges of technology (高等専門学校 kōtō senmon gakkō) and special training schools and community colleges (専修学校 senshū gakkō). Of these four types of institutions, only universities and junior colleges are strictly considered postsecondary education providers. The modern Japanese higher education system has undergone numerous changes since the Meiji period and was largely modeled after Western countries such as Germany, France, Britain, and the United States to create a unique Japanese model to serve its national needs. The Japanese higher education system differs from higher education in most other countries in many significant ways. Key differences include the method of acceptance, which relies almost entirely on one or two tests, as opposed to GPAs (Grade Point Average) or other methods of assessment used in Western countries. Because students only have one chance to take this test each year, there is an enormous amount of pressure to do well on this test, and the majority of senior high school education is dedicated to doing well on this single test.

• HIGHER EDUCATION IN JAPAN

• Another major difference is graduate school, as very few non-science undergraduate students go to graduate school in Japan. This is because graduate schools for non-science students are generally considered useful only those who want to work in academia. This has changed a little since the turn of the 21st century. The law has changed to require those who want to become lawyers to attend a graduate school the Japanese government has designated a law school. Previously, lawyers only had to pass the bar exam, which undergraduate students could take. Major universities have also opened business schools, though few Japanese students attend these because most Japanese corporations still don't regard graduate students as much more qualified than undergraduate students. For this reason, they are mostly attended by foreign students from neighboring Asian countries, particularly South Korea, Taiwan, and China. Unlike higher education in some other countries, public universities are generally regarded as more prestigious than private universities, especially the National Seven Universities (University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Tohoku University, Kyushu University, Hokkaido University, Osaka University, and Nagoya University).

• HIGHER EDUCATION IN JAPAN

• As the Japanese economy is largely scientific and technological based, the labor market demands people who have achieved some form of higher education, particularly related to science and engineering in order to gain a competitive edge when searching for employment. According to the MEXT, approximately 75.9% of students who graduate from high school attended a university, junior college, trade school, or other higher education institution.

• HIGHER EDUCATION IN JAPAN

• The early history of Japanese education was profoundly affected by the Chinese. From the Chinese, the Japanese acquired new crafts and, most important, a system of writing. The acquisition of writing cannot be precisely dated, but by about AD 400 Korean scribes were using Chinese ideographs for official records at the Japanese imperial courts. Education in ancient Japan, however, was more aristocratic than in the Chinese system, with noble families maintaining their own private schooling facilities. During the medieval military-feudal period, Buddhist temples assumed much responsibility for education. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, which dominated the country from 1600, educational facilities spread to create one of the most literate of all pre-modern societies.

• With the onset of the rule of Emperor Meiji and the so-called Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan underwent a radical transformation in education as well as in social and economic matters. A ministry of education was created in 1872, and in the same year a comprehensive educational code that included universal primary education was formulated. The government sent educational missions to Europe and America to learn new educational approaches; it also invited foreign educators to carry on educational programmes and initiate changes in Japanese schools. In 1877, during this period of innovation, the University of Tokyo was founded.

• As a result of these reforms, Japan emerged as a modern nation with a full educational system that was in line with much of Western practice. The defeat of Japan in World War II resulted in educational changes, many of which were recommended in 1946 by a US educational mission; some of these changes were discontinued when Japan regained sovereign status as a nation in 1952. The teaching of nationalistic ideology was banned, greater emphasis was placed on social studies, and classroom procedures were redesigned to encourage self-expression. Education in Japan is centralized under the Ministry of Education. Its school system operates under the Fundamental Law of Education of 1947 and subsequent legislation and enables all students to compete for admission to institutions of higher education. One of the continuing problems facing Japanese educators is the teaching of the complex Japanese language, which combines several scripts. In 1995, 4.7 per cent of the state budget was spent on education.

Elementary and Secondary Schools in Japan

Universities and Colleges

Education is free and compulsory for nine years—that is, six of elementary school and three of junior high school. Beyond the junior high school level, education is optional, and a small tuition fee is charged, even in public senior high schools and public institutions of higher learning. In 1997–1998 Japan had about 24,376 primary schools attended by some 7.39 million pupils and, in 1995, about 16,775 secondary schools with about 9.3 million pupils. Primary school teachers numbered about 362,605 (1996), and there were some 552,137 (1995) secondary school teachers. Technical, commercial, and vocational schools are also maintained, as are schools for the physically disabled. Private tutorial colleges are a widespread and popular adjunct to the fiercely competitive educational system. Britannica enciclopedia

Japan has about 60 national (formerly called imperial) universities and many private universities. Among the biggest national universities are Chiba University (1949); Hiroshima University (1949); Hokkaido University (1876) at Sapporo; Kōbe University (1949); Kyoto University (1897); Kyushu University (1911) at Fukuoka; Nagoya University (1939); Okayama University (1949); Osaka University (1931); Tohoku University (1907) at Sendai; the University of Tokyo (1877); and the University of Tsukuba (1973). Major private institutions include Hosei University (1880), Nihon University (1889), and Waseda University (1882), in Tokyo; Doshisha University (1875) in Kyoto; Fukuoka University (1934); and Kansai University (1886) in Osaka. In 1995, institutions of higher education in Japan had a combined enrolment of over 2.5 million students.

• In the l960's educational growth was regarded as being ultimately for economic growth. When economic growth had reached a high level, however, it became clear that it alone was not the final goal of human society.
• The May 1970, Ministerial Council of OECD made it clear that the goal of thel970's is to improve the quality of life through the remarkable economic developments of the 1960's, and the Conference on Policies for Educational Growth called for a growth in quality during the 1970's just as quantitative expansion had been made during the 1960's. It is also considered very important that educational growth be conceived in terms of the overall qualitative growth of the society. Thus there can be no educational goals apart from overall social goals, and without such goals there can be no specific policies or plans. Therefore the educational goals and objectives of the l970's should be considered in relation to each nation's overall goals and objectives.
• In thinking about education in the 1970's the concept of "recurrent education", i.e. education beyond formal school education, must be considered. The basic idea of recurrent education is that in a rapidly changing society it has become insufficient merely to attend school for a limited number of years, learning a specified amount of information; rather, it is essential to continue learning from childhood to the end of life.
• In light of this, pre-school education, out-of-school education, and post-school education are all very important. School education should be conceived of as a single link in a lifetime of education. 

• (a) Equality of opportunityWhen public education was available to only a limited number of people the great objective was to expand the opportunities to receive public education. NOW, however, at least in terms of elementary and secondary education, almost the entire population in most major nations has access to public education. In this sense the objective or expanding public education has been achieved. In terms or higher education too, as a percent of the total age group, those receiving higher education has grown tremendously during the 1960's and this will probably increase, but at present there seems to be a general balance between social demand and opportunity.
• Equality of access to public education does not necessarily mean equality in benefit from public education. This' raises the question of providing equality of achievement, meaning that the problem is no longer one of quantity but one of quality. The present task is to secure true educational equality by creating opportunities for each individual to obtain equal achievement.
• (b) EffectivenessIn order to achieve the goals of education, educational effectiveness must be a major objective. When economic growth was being emphasized, training manpower as rapidly as possible was considered an educational objective by some people. But just as quality of growth is seen as more important in the l970's, so effectiveness of education must also be reemphasized.
• The most important factor in improving the effectiveness of education is the teacher. Training high quality teachers and improving their status is imperative if.1effectiveness is to be improved, and this is a primary task for all countries in carrying out educational reform. 

• (c) SocializationEducation acts as a bridge between the individual and society. Rapid economic growth, technological advances and social change have, during the last three decades, entirely transformed the relationship between the individual and society, and changed the social framework for the individual as well. Therefore it is necessary to reform curriculums, teaching methods and the relationship between school and society so as to provide an education stressing subjectivity and autonomy while enabling youth to adapt to society.
• Whether an individual can play a constructive role in the society of the future depends on his self-consciousness and educational achievement much more than was true in the past. In other words carrying out the socializing role of education to a great extent means carrying out a process of individualization.
• (d) Individual developmentThe objectives pointed out above are all related to the central problem of individual development. One of the most important problems of contemporary education is an educating individual to fit in with the new era. Educational structure, curriculum, and teaching methods should all focus on the education of creative individuals within this new pattern.

• In Japan, a teacher (sensei) is conscious of the expectations of his work that are predominant in the public. He is not only expected to assure the children’s right to receive education, but also to have to fulfil a huge scope of duties holding a wider role and responsibility than in the West. Japanese teachers work very hard and often feel overworked because of an enormous number of lessons a week and the additional tasks inside and outside school. Some even fear “karoshi”, meaning death from overwork. In 1993, the time of classroom teaching was 16.8 hours for high-school teachers, 19.7 hours for middle-school teachers and 26.5 hours a week for primary-school teachers. This is in fact not too much but Japanese teachers also have a lot of supplementary tasks. For example, high- and middle-school teachers are often required to give additional lessons in which students are prepared for the 'examination hell' (the flood of entrance examinations to higher-level schools or universities) or to supervise students’ club-activities which take place in the afternoon Another difference, compared to Western countries, is the excessive number of students per class. Teachers often face more than 35 in primary and middle school and they have to teach very heterogeneous classes (according to the students’ abilities) because of the missing separation at Japanese schools.

• Teaching methods are used, including: teacher-directed learning, student research, group projects and presentations, visual presentations, e-learning and interactive classrooms. A variety of assessment methods are used to assess student outcomes. These may include individual research projects, group assignments, oral and visual presentations, the use of technology including PowerPoint, podcast presentations, as well as the more traditional class tests and assignments. National and state testing programs ensure standards are met and maintained.