A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

The Educational System in Japan:
Case Study Findings

June 1998

Table of Contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Executive Summary
• Chapter 1 - Introduction
• Rationale of the Study
• Training Session
• An Overview of the Japanese System of Education
• The Field Sites
• The Schools
• The Current Climate in Education
• Outline of This Volume
• Chapter 2 - The Development and Implementation of Education Standards in Japan
• Research Methodology
• Monbusho and the National Curriculum
• Elementary Schools
• Junior High School
• High School
• Standards Based on Content
• Societal Responses to Student Competition in the Education System
• Equity and National Standards
• Conclusion
• Chapter 3 - Individual Differences and the Japanese Education System
• Introduction
• Field Research Methodology
• Japanese Perceptions of Individual Differences
• Sources of Difference
• Compulsory Education as Whole Person Education
• Lack of Instructional Grouping
• Whole Class Instruction
• Tracking and High School Education
• High School Instruction
• The High School Experience
• Societal Response to the Stratification System
• Supplementary Education
• Special Education
• Conclusion
• Chapter 4 - The Role of School in Japanese Adolescents' Lives
• Introduction
• School Structure and Adolescent Participation in Schooling
• A "Thin Slice:" Life in the High Schools
• Family Influences on Adolescent Development and School Participation
• Peer Relations
• Math and Science Classes
• Transitions to Work and Higher Education
• Chapter 5 - Teachers and the Teaching Profession in Japan
• Research Methodology
• Introduction
• Why Become a Teacher?
• Becoming a Teacher
• A Typical Day
• School Structure
• Learning From Each Other
• Responsibility and Freedom
• More Than Academics
• Teaching
• Differences Between Schools
• Conclusions
• Glossary
• References

-###-
Return to Publications page