Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPANESE GOVERMENT POLICICIES IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE 1994 > PART II Chapter 1 Section 2 1

Education has expanded and developed dramatically in Japan, due to factors that include the priority given to education, which is part of the national character, and rising income levels. Education has been a driving force behind Japan's economic, social, and cultural development. Education has in turn been significantly affected by rapid social change and the quantitative expansion of the education sector itself. A variety of problems have been identified, including a social climate in which excessive emphasis is placed on academic credentials, overheated competition in entrance examinations, various kinds of problem behavior by children and young people, and the harmful effects of uniformity and rigidity in school education. In addition, rapid and wide-ranging social change has created a strong need for the development of an educational system capable of accommodating these changes.

As part of efforts to deal with these problems, the National Council on Educational Reform, an advisory organ to the Prime Minister, deliberated on a wide range of issues and produced recommendations concerning educational reform. The basic perspectives of these recommendations were

Many aspects of the council's recommendations required further study in the context of actual implementation. These studies were carried out by councils and other groups associated with the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, and the results were submitted in a series of reports.

In 1990 the Central Council for Education produced a report titled "The Development of an Infrastructure for Lifelong Learning," which discussed basic thinking on and structures for the promotion of lifelong learning. In 1991 the council produced another report, "Reforms of Various Educational Systems for Relevance in a New Age." Aspects of upper secondary education covered in this report included the expansion of the range of choices available to students in order to foster individuality and the improvement of university and upper secondary school entrance selection procedures, including the use of multiple criteria. The report also discussed the role of schools and the evaluation of achievements in lifelong learning.

In 1992 the Lifelong Learning Council submitted a report titled "Measures to Promote Lifelong Learning in Response to Social Trends." In this report the council identified four current priorities:

In its reports the University Council discussed various issues, such as the provision of greater institutional flexibility, the enhancement and expansion of graduate schools, the improvement of university education and degree systems, the systematic development of higher education, the revitalization of university management, and the improvement of university entrance examinations. The council is also deliberating on issues relating to university reform.

Specific measures relating to individual issues have been discussed by conferences of experts and other people assisting the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. In 1992 and 1993 conferences were held to discuss the reform of upper secondary education recommended in the 1991 report of the Central Council for Education. Wide-ranging reports were produced concerning reform measures, including measures relating to entrance selection procedures. A variety of reforms are currently being implemented on the basis of these reports.

The 1991 report of the Central Council for Education was studied by the Consultative Committee for Research and Surveys Regarding Exceptional Measures in Education, which examined such aspects as the provision of opportunities for upper secondary school students remarkably gifted in specific fields, such as mathematics or physics, to undertake study and research at the university level. A report was submitted in March 1994, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture began to conduct corroborative research based on this report the same year.