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Even prior to the publication of the report of the Central Council for Education, the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture was working in various ways to reform upper secondary education. First these efforts and measures will be examined, after which reforms based on the report of the Central Council for Education will be discussed.

In 1988 the Ministry implemented a variety of measures to promote the establishment or restructuring of courses. These included the establishment of a system of credit-based upper secondary schools for day/evening courses and correspondence courses, the introduction of a more flexible length of study, the creation of a system for accepting some credits earned by Japanese students abroad, and the expansion of admission and transfer opportunities for Japanese students returning from courses overseas through legislative amendments. In the area of specialized courses, new course models have been provided and facility standards have been amended.

Prefectures and individual schools are also working to diversify educational content and teaching methods to reflect local and school conditions, course and subject characteristics, and students' abilities, aptitudes, and career plans. Efforts have also been made to develop differentiated schools through such measures as the establishment and restructuring of courses and the introduction of a sub-course system to reflect internationalization, the shift to an information-oriented society, and other social changes. To provide additional impetus for efforts in these areas, new types of upper secondary schools have been established to provide a flexible response to social change and the diversified needs of students through approaches that are not bound by traditional frameworks. Sustained efforts are still being made in these areas by prefectures as well as individual schools.

As shown in Table I.3.1 Examples of New Types of Upper Secondary Schools, various types of upper secondary schools are being established. One example is Tochigi Prefectural Utsunomiya Hakuyo High School, which offers courses in agriculture, manufacturing, commerce, and home economics and allows students to select subjects across course boundaries. Another is Saitama Prefectural Inagakuen Comprehensive Upper Secondary High School, which has divided its courses into seven categories, such as humanities, languages, and science and mathematics, and has established a wide selection of approximately 160 elective subjects. Chiba Prefectural Narita Kokusai High School has enhanced foreign language education in response to internationalization and actively welcomes Japanese students returning from abroad and foreign students. Other new types of upper secondary schools include schools that have responded to the shift to an information-oriented society by establishing information-related courses in the industrial and commercial fields.

These new types of upper secondary schools are also functioning as pilot schools for other upper secondary schools. The April 1991 report of the Central Council for Education endorsed such efforts to promote the establishment of new types of upper secondary schools.

It was decided to commence reforms based on the new Course of Study and the report of the Central Council for Education in order to encourage educational reform efforts by prefectures and individual upper secondary schools and thus advance the reform of upper secondary education.