JAPANESE GOVERMENT POLICICIES IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE 1994[PART I Chapter 3 1 4]

Reform of upper secondary education under the new Course of Study is intended to enhance upper secondary education, primarily through changes in educational content and education delivery systems. Reforms based on the April 1991 report of the Central Council for Education are designed to achieve further improvements in upper secondary education through structural modifications of the upper secondary school system. The report focused primarily on the reform of upper secondary education in the three areas discussed earlier in this section, taking the position that efforts should be made to foster individuality, primarily through expansion of the range of options available to students. The specific recommendations contained in the report are as follows.

1. The broad division of courses into general and vocational should be reviewed, and a new course should be established to integrate the general and vocational courses.
2. Vocational courses should be restructured, including the establishment of courses on information, welfare, and the tourist industry.
3. The establishment of new types of upper secondary schools should be encouraged.
4. A credit-based system should be utilized, and a non-grade system should be introduced within full-day courses.
5. Cross-studying between general and vocational upper secondary schools should be permitted, and study at special training colleges or success in proficiency tests should be accepted as upper secondary school credits.
6. Transfers between schools and courses should be facilitated. In response to these recommendations, the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture established the Committee for Promotion of Reform of Upper Secondary Education to study specific improvement measures, and in March 1993 the relevant ministerial ordinances were amended. These actions marked the start of efforts to create a new upper secondary school structure. The new system and progress toward its implementation are outlined below.

The integrated course was established in March 1993 as a third course, alongside the general and specialized courses. Implementation became possible in fiscal 1994. The integrated course straddles the other two courses and enables students to choose the subjects they wish to study independently, according to their own interests and concerns. This course is discussed in detail in section 2.

Credit-based upper secondary schools do not structure their curricula according to grades and therefore do not employ grade completion certification at the end of each school year. Students are allowed to graduate whenever they have accumulated the required number of credits. The credit-based system allows a wide range of education delivery systems to meet students' diverse needs. From the viewpoint of lifelong learning, the system is also designed to enable individuals to receive upper secondary education according to their needs. It was introduced in day/evening courses and correspondence courses in fiscal 1988. In fiscal 1993 it was added to full-day courses in order to promote curricula meeting the students' diverse needs by expanding the range of options available.

Credit-based upper secondary schools have already achieved considerable success in line with the following aims.

1. Students should be able to study independently and actively when they need to and according to individual study plans, without being confined to the school-year framework.
2. Students should be able to develop diversified study formats and programs that reflect their own abilities, aptitudes, interests, and career plans.
3. Students should be able to enjoy educational experiences that are meaningful from the viewpoint of character formation through increased interaction with students in different grades.
4. It should be possible to use the special characteristics of the credit-based system to prevent a decrease in the motivation to learn and the dropout phenomenon, which have been seen under the traditional system, as when students have been prevented from advancing to the next grade.
5. It should be possible to facilitate reenrollment and transfers between schools and courses by utilizing the advantages of the credit-based system. As of April 1994 there were 55 credit-based upper secondary schools.

Following is an illustration of the wide range of education delivery systems available to students in creditbaesed upper secondary schools, together with an example of a class schedule. Tokyo Metoropolitan Shinjuku Yamabuki High School has established a day/evening couse and a correspondence course with three day shifts and one evening shift. This system enables students to choose study times to suit ther own requirements, including living environments and employment conditions. Students can enroll in either of the courses and any of the four shifts. This approach enables the school to respond to a wide range of student needs by offering an extensive range of education delivery systems. A variety of elective subjects are available, and students are free to establish their own study plans and choose the subjects they wish to study.

Education Delivery System and Class Schedule

Education Delivery System and Class Schedule

Example of a Student's Class Schedule

After dropping out partway through the second year of a full-day upper secondary school, the student entered Tokyo Metoropolitan Shinjuku Yamabuki High School's day/evening general course (shift2) in April the following year. Shinjuku Yamabuki High School has accepted 28 of the credits at Shinjuku Yamabuki

High School in order to accumulate the 80 credits required for graduation. In his first year at Shinjuku Yamabuki High School, the student is taking classes in the required subjects that he has not yet completed (two credits of "world history A," two credits of "art I"). In addition, he is taking elective subjects chosen in accordance with his career plan, as well as classes in shift 3 and in the correspondence course.

First-year timetable

Systems for accreditation of studies outside of schools, including credit transfer from training institutions, have been established for some time. These systems were designed to reduce the workload on students in day/evening courses and correspondence courses. The following additional systems were established in fiscal 1993 in order to expand learning opportunities to meet students' diverse needs.

To expand learning opportunities, this system enables students to take subjects at other upper secondary schools when the subject areas and subjects needed to meet their needs cannot be provided by their own schools; these studies can be accredited at the students' own schools. This system was implemented in eight prefectures in fiscal 1993.

Accreditation of studies at other upper secondary schools has yielded a variety of benefits. For example, it helps to foster understanding among cooperating schools, teaching staff, and students. In addition, students gain a deeper awareness of the characteristics of their own schools by coming into contact with other schools. The system also promotes interaction among schools and the creation of distinctive curricula.

This system is designed to provide increased learning opportunities by enabling students to study at special training colleges and by providing accreditation by their own schools of studies completed successfully. For example, an upper secondary school that offers computer-related subjects might allow students to undertake more advanced studies at special training colleges and accredit studies successfully completed.

The purpose of this system is to motivate students to learn and to encourage the development of advanced skills. Qualifications acquired by passing proficiency tests in such fields as English, kanji (Chinese ideograms) proficiency, and bookkeeping can be recognized through the provision of extra credits in related subject areas or subjects at the school's discretion.

For example, a student who passes grade 2 of the Practical English Proficiency Test might be granted three credits in addition to four for "English I," making a total of seven credits. These credits could be included in the total required for graduation.


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