Tristan Cassell

IDC-201-201
2.19.23
Dr. Reinard
Japanese Trends in Educational Reform

Japan’s national curriculum has seen multiple adjustments over the past 20

years. Stemming from concerning trends in the late 90s that reported Japanese

classrooms failing to foster creativity and cultural awareness. Their testing scores were

not the problem but the intensity and stress inducing courses caused for a reform. A

reform with desire to implement more thinking activities in the classroom at the cost of

reducing hours in other academic subjects. While these students demonstrated

excellent basic skills, they lacked the tools to be lifelong learners beyond the school

system and under the curriculum.

Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT)

is responsible for releasing the national course of study or in Japanese terms the

Gakushu Shido Yoryo. These legal documents dictate which subjects need to be taught

and for how many hours at each grade level. The term Yutori Kyoiku translates to a

more relaxed form of education and this is exactly what we saw in 2002 with Japan’s

reform. A more relaxed approach in attempts to maintain the testing scores and the

basic knowledge skills but instill more creative thinking and freedom of thought. Another

study which interviewed Japanese students from the 90s and the 2010s noted that

students from the 19th century rarely if ever asked questions or spoke their opinion.

This was so alarming because these skills and educational freedoms are necessary in a

progressive and global society.

With that being said the changes made in the early 2000s was to promote a more

interactive classroom that would translate to real world skills and interacting with others
Tristan Cassell
IDC-201-201
2.19.23
Dr. Reinard
or collaborative work. This even included reworking the school days and their hour

distribution. This breakdown included removing saturday class hours and emphasis on

Japanese at the younger critical ages and emphasis on math as they get closer to 6th

grade. Hours spent learning Japanese decrease as hours spent in mathematics

increase. Also beginning in the third grade 70 hours of an integrated arts study course is

required, this is a class period where students work collaboratively doing physical

activities such as research projects or artwork. This made me think about the American

public school system and how certain subjects tend to be prioritized based on hours

spent. I think it is possible at the elementary level for science and social studies to be

lower on the totem pole. This is because of the justifiable logic that reading and writing

skills should be prioritized as those basic skills are necessary for all other

subjects.Mathematics is also a prioritized course because of those critical thinking skills

and the level of reasoning required and how that translates across the board as well.

After the 2002 reform which included major curriculum changes, the data

suggested that their global testing scores actually dropped (PISA). This caused another

curriculum change. Implementation of standardized testing at the ends of sixth and ninth

grade. This also required an extensive survey asking questions in regards to technology

use and daily students habits. The goal here was for teachers to gather information so

they could adjust their teaching methods to improve academic performance while also

maintaining some of the changes from earlier reform. These large scale changes

require trial and error and a lot of strategy in order to reap all of the benefits. There is
Tristan Cassell
IDC-201-201
2.19.23
Dr. Reinard
also an adjustment period where the desired results may take time to present

themselves.

Cite

Japan: Recent trends in education reform. Asia Society. (n.d.). Retrieved

February 19, 2023, from

https://asiasociety.org/global-cities-education-network/japan-recent-trends-educati

on-reform