Discusses the background and salient characteristics of Japan's educational reform movement. Until recently, Japan's formal education system was uniform, centrally controlled, and geared to developing character and cultural sensitivity. To counter uniformity, inflexibility, and an overly competitive examination system, schools are moving toward…

Describes size, contents, organization, and social psychological function of teachers' rooms in Japanese junior high schools, which serve as centers of daily educational activities and interactions among teachers, between teachers and students, and among students themselves. (PKP)

The present upper secondary school system in Japan accommodates 94 percent of the corresponding age group population. This discussion of the new upper secondary schools of Japan begins with a brief survey of the history of the Japanese public education system from its inauguration in 1872 up to 1945. The next section describes the inauguration and…

Describes the 1997 Keizai Koho Center Fellowship study tour of Japan in which a group of American, Australian, Canadian, and English educators visited two Japanese elementary schools. Compares the structure, classroom activities, and curriculum of each elementary school in detail and reflects upon the future trends in Japanese education. (CMK)

Most American visitors to Japanese senior high schools have observed only the very best public academic schools in the nation. Two-thirds of Japanese students attend other schools. This book presents findings of a case study that focused on the 12th-grade experience in a Japanese public general high school. The data were supplemented by visits to…

Reports and summaries of papers presented at the 1981 Regional Symposium on Distance Teaching in Asia are presented. The symposium, which was represented by 22 countries, was organized by the Universiti Sains (University of Science) Malaysia as part of the activities associated with the completion of 10 years of off-campus program facilities. The…

Sets forth the essential characteristics of Japan's approach to education, including the content, structure, and objectives of public schools; teaching conditions, teaching methods, and the characteristics of teachers; the role of parents; the role of supplemental private education; and the cultural factos that underlie the system's…

Papers from the Hiroshima/Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Meeting of Experts on Higher Education and from the March l981 Seminar on Innovations in Higher Education in Comparative Perspective are presented. In January, representatives from Sweden, the United Kingdom, Austria, the United States, and Japan met to discuss and…

The author, an anthropologist, spent 14 months (1974-75) in the industrial port city of Kobe (Japan) observing a cross section of urban high schools, including Japan's most elite private school and a night vocational school plagued by absenteeism and delinquency. He reports on the character of the institutions and of the experience via…

This paper discusses practices, issues, and trends in Japanese middle school education that have bearing on U.S. education, grouping them into four categories. Section 1, "School Reform," discusses central control of education, opportunities for student creativity, improved teacher education, and the examination system. Section 2,…

University admission requirements and achievement levels at the time of secondary school graduation are compared for five countries: the United States, the Soviet Union, France, Japan, and West Germany. Emphasis is placed upon the structural and cultural differences in the educational systems of these countries. In addition to college admission…