1. Welcome . The following presentation Education in Japan will
give you a general idea about the education development in Japan
and its current situation.
2. Education in Japan is well-known: well-maintained
educational system and excellent achievement. Japanese children
consistently rank at or near the top in successive international
tests of most mathematics.
3. Who is in charge of education? Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is responsible for
comprehensive educational administration of Japan. MEXT is led by a
minister, who is a member of the Cabinet and is chosen by the Prime
Minister. Take a look at MEXT!
4. Diagram of Education Phases Kindergarten and Nursery school
Elementary school Junior high school High school Universities and
colleges
5. Education involves in family, society and the world! Early
childhood education begins at home Numerous books and TV shows help
mothers to preschool children to educate their children, and to
"parenting" more effectively.
6. Who are childrens first and forever teachers? Much of the
home training is devoted to teaching manners, proper social
behavior, and structured game, verbal and number skills are also
popular themes. Parents are strongly committed to early education
and frequently enroll their children in preschools.
7. Who teaches and runs preschools? Preschools (yochien ),
predominantly staffed by young female junior college graduates, are
supervised by the Ministry of Education, but are not part of the
official education system. The majority of preschools are
private.
8. Elementary school More than 99% of children are enrolled in
elementary school. All children enter first grade at age six, and
starting school is considered a very important event in a child's
life. 6-year education for elementary school.
9. Where to go for elementary? Virtually all elementary
education takes place in public schools; About 1% of the schools
are private, which are costly.
10. Do they just think about elementary in the period? Some
private elementary schools are prestigious, they serve as a first
step to higher- level private schools with which they are
affiliated, and thence to a university.
11. Junior high school A typical classroom in Japanese junior
high school
12. General information Three-year education from grade seven,
eight, to ninth grede. ages of roughly 12 and 15 focus on academic
studies it would not be easy to find jobs, so most of the students
will continue after this phase even though the compulsory education
is ended.
13. Go to public or private? Majority of Junior High School are
public school, but there are still very few private schools, which
can be very expensive, maybe 4 or 5 times more than public.
14. Exam for High School entrance for 2008-09 in a city, Japan.
Planned to Recruit: 280(Boy: 180; Girl: 100) Actual Examinee:
3509(Boy: 2341; Girl: 1168) Qualified People: 1345(Boy: 951; Girl:
394)
15. Teachers and students: Junior High School teachers usually
teach the subjects based on their major; Most of them are four-year
college graduates; 35 students per class on average; A homeroom
teacher is assigned to each class, and he will serve as a counselor
as well.
16. Do you like to move or stay? The teacher, rather than the
students, moves to a new room for each fifty-minute period.
Different teachers for different subjects, which means students
would have a different teacher each class by staying in the same
classroom.
17. About classes: Computers become common teaching facilities;
Classroom organization is usually based on small work groups. Some
new courses, like foreign languages, will start officially at 7th
grade.
18. What to learn: The curriculum covers Japanese language,
social studies, mathematics, science, music, fine arts, health, and
physical education. Moral education and special activities continue
to receive attention. After-school sport clubs or classes are
popular among many of students.
19. High school: It is not compulsory in Japan; Most of
students will go to high school anyway; High schools are not free,
family may spend 3000 USD for a child each year; The number of
private high schools is much bigger than private Junior High
Schools, it usually costs twice as high as a public high
school.
20. High School classroom:
21. Courses Offered: academic courses for students preparing
for higher education technical and vocational courses for students
expecting to find employment after graduation. Vocational-technical
programs includes several hundred specialized courses, information
processing, navigation, fish farming, business English, and
ceramics.
22. What would you do in Japan? Business and industrial courses
are very popular, and accounting is one of top courses as well.
Some basic academic courses are strictly required: Japanese
language, English, mathematics, and science.
23. What is the way you like best to learn? Teachers are
university graduates; Teach in major fields they specialized;
Teaching depends largely on the lecture system, with the main goal
of covering the very demanding curriculum in the time allotted.
Approach and subject coverage tends to be uniform, especially in
the public schools.
24. Special education is always an important part: Training of
handicapped students, Emphasizing vocational education to enable
students to be as independent as possible in the society.
25. Universities and colleges: There are about 600 popular
universities and colleges; Four-year learning to earn bachelors
degree; Pubilc universities are comprised of national universities
and local universities; Half of the universities are private.
26. What would you do for your university life? business, law,
accounting, engineering, humanities, and education are popular
fields in universities; The average costs (tuition, fees, and
living expenses) for a year of higher education in Japan is very
high. Part-time jobs, loans, schalorship, nonprofit corporation and
other institutions could be some choices for students. University
of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Waseda University are among the very
popular ones.
27. English Education in Japan: It reflects the development of
Japan just like a mirror. A Strategic Consideration on English
Education in Japan in the 21st Century expects to boost its
development furthermore.
28. An English Classroom in Japan
29. Situation of English Education: English is very popular
among the people; Both school and society take it seriously;
Ability of communication is still not ideal; Reading and writing
are much better than spoken English.
30. How would you like to learn a foreign language? Individual
tutoring, school study and training class after school are popular
ways of learning English since preschool. English as one of the
major courses starts since Junior High School, up to High school, 6
years in total as a required core course. English is still a
popular and important course in universities, some of the
universities require 3 more years to continue studying
English.