This research investigates the influence of the whole school approach (WSA) on the education for sustainable development (ESD) practices of teachers in Japan. We focus on understanding how school organizations that facilitate WSA influence teachers' ESD practices in a multifaceted and hierarchical manner. The multilevel analysis, which targeted…

In this paper we describe how a teacher makes decisions during interaction with students in order to guide their focus towards the lesson's objectives that the teacher has in mind. In particular, in the paper we examine how a mathematics teacher's knowledge connects with the teacher's noticing skill and interactive action. We present the case of a…

Bansho (Japanese board writing) is becoming an area of interest among researchers and educators as it serves as an asset to make a searching inquiry into teaching. This study aimed to identify the principles of teacher's decision-making in bansho process. Data of the study were drawn from a sixth-grade Social Studies lesson in a school in Japan.…

Given the importance of academic motivation, numerous inquiries have scrutinized the antecedents of this psycho-emotional variable in various educational environments. Nonetheless, the role of students' attitudes in their academic motivation has remained elusive. Put simply, it is unclear whether students' attitudes can make positive changes in…

Existing meta-analyses have shown that active learning strategies are effective in improving students' learning performance. However, their implementation may vary across school levels. This study investigated differences among elementary, middle, and high school teachers in the use of teaching strategies, including those that promote active…

This comparative study analyzed the similarities and differences in the mathematical communication used by teachers and primary school students in Japanese, Lao, and Thai mathematics classrooms. It adopted a qualitative research design, and the targets were teachers and students in Grades 1-6 at a selected school in each of the three countries.…

This longitudinal study examined the effectiveness of a progress monitoring method, namely the Multilayer Instruction Model-Progress Monitoring (MIM-PM), which is a word reading fluency measure. It was used from 1st grade onward to predict the overall reading achievement of students in elementary school by tracking their reading achievement over…

Teaching mathematics online has been highlighted as one of the solutions to the current crisis for education caused by the COVID-19 virus pandemic and subsequent school closures. However, we do not know what attitudes and experience teachers have towards online teaching. The aim of this study was to gain insights into how Japanese teachers were…

Psychological well-being (PWB) encompasses the positive aspects of mental health, such as hedonic wellbeing (experience of enjoyment and pleasure), eudaimonic wellbeing (experience of self-actualization), and life satisfaction (global evaluation of quality of life). Japanese teachers suffer from poor PWB with a high incidence of mental health…

Purpose: While it is particularly important that professional programs help teachers become members of a community of practice, especially in crisis situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a lack of research about strategies to effectively encourage the development of a community of practice and to support teachers' transformation of…

The Japanese educational system is highly competitive and applies high stakes standardized admission testing. As this approach has led to student stress and a narrow instructional focus, the Japanese Government revised educational goals toward more holistic development of well-rounded citizens who are healthy, independent, creative, and work…

The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology recommended the implementation of "Kyoshi-juku" by local Education Boards. "Kyoshi-juku" provide teacher preparation curricula, classroom observational experiences, and specific information about working in local school contexts as a supplement to the…

As Japan prepares for the 2020 Summer Olympics, the elementary school English curriculum is rapidly changing, with new textbooks and more class hours devoted to English education. These language classes have the potential to clarify and improve students' perceptions of global cultures, including their own. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is…

Research on the representation of culture in language textbooks rarely incorporates the concept of global citizenship, despite its increasing relevance to language education in our globalising world. To address this critique, a mixed-method study was conducted to investigate cultural representation in Japanese elementary school English textbooks,…

As Japanese Ministry of Education educational mandates for implementation by 2020 press on public school administrators, teachers, students, and communities, the Sustainable Programming Education proposes strategies for addressing English and programming education curricula in the elementary and middle schools. Sustainability resides in the…