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The current school system in Japan is based on a structure referred to as the 6?3?3 system: 6 years at elementary school (shogakko), 3 years at junior high school (chugakko), and 3 years at high school (kotogakko). The two principal higher education institutions that follow completion of a high school-level education are the university (daigaku), typically a 4-year program, and the junior college (tanki daigaku), typically a 2-year program. Education in Japan is compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 15, encompassing the 6 years of elementary school and the 3 years of junior high school. High school education is not compulsory. This single-track system, introduced in 1947 by the school education law, avoids making distinctions between students on the basis of ability or achievement by incorporating separate tracks, ability groupings, remedial programs, or student electives during the compulsory school years (U.S. Department of Education [USED] 1987). In accordance with not separating students based on ability, promotion from grade to grade is based primarily on attendance with retention being virtually unknown.
In addition to the system mentioned above, there are special education schools, vocational schools, and a variety of alternative schools that are introduced after the completion of junior high school. These schools vary in curriculum, length, and qualifications required for entrance. Schools beyond the junior high school level may offer full-time (zennichi sei), part-time (teiji sei), and correspondence courses (tsushin sei). National institutions (kokuritsu), schools funded solely by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture (Monbusho); public institutions (koritsu), schools funded by national, prefectural, and municipal authorities; and private institutions (shiritsu), schools relying on tuition and government and private grants; have been established for nearly all these types of schools.
Although pre-elementary education in Japan is not compulsory, most children attend some sort of preschool or day care center before they enter elementary school (when compulsory education begins at age 6). The two main educational institutions for pre-elementary children are kindergartens (yochien) and day care centers (hoikuen, sometimes referred to as hoikusho). (Yochien and hoikusho are under the jurisdiction of Monbusho and Koseisho [Ministry of Welfare], respectively.)
The Japanese preschool, which as recently as 20 years ago played no significant role in the care and socialization of children, has become a core institution in contemporary Japan, enrolling over 95 percent of Japanese children in yochien or hoikuen before they enter the first grade (Tobin, Wu, and Davidson 1989). Both yochien and hoikusho are structured to develop the social skills of the children while teaching the importance of group identity and group skills. The two institutions are similar with respect to physical facilities, curricula, teaching styles, and classroom activities (USED 1987). There are a number of variations, however, that characterize these two pre-elementary institutions.
Kindergartens
In 1992 nearly 2 million children (49 percent female)—324,000 3-year-olds, 754,000 4-year-olds, and 891,000 5-year-olds—attended more than 15,000 private and government supported yochien (Monbusho 1993b). These preschool centers enroll children from the ages of 3 to 5 and provide them with nursery education until elementary school. In 1992, 64 percent of all first-graders had completed some portion of yochien (Monbusho 1993b).
Kindergartens are operated under the supervision of Monbusho and are in session approximately 4 hours per day with a minimum of 39 school weeks per academic year.
The kindergarten curriculum is primarily nonacademic. Although constructed by each individual institution, the curriculum must meet the national standards provided by the Course of Study for Kindergartens (an Education Ministry Notification). This notification, which took effect on April 1, 1990, emphasizes the following for the fundamentals of kindergarten education: to encourage independent activities within a group structure, to attain the aim of education mainly by instruction through play, and to provide guidance in accordance with the characteristics of development of each individual child.
Day Care Centers
Day care centers (hoikuen) enroll approximately one-third of Japanese 4- to 5-year-olds (USED 1987). In contrast to yochien, which serve mostly the children of mothers at home, hoikuen are created for employed mothers and, accordingly, accept children from infancy to age 5.
Day care centers are the responsibility of the Ministry of Welfare (Koseisho) and are in session 6 days a week for 8 hours per day, though sometimes running from as early as 7 a.m. to as late as 7 p.m., to accommodate the various schedules of the employed mothers (Tobin et al. 1989). Hoikuen have gradually constructed their curriculum to be very similar to that of the yochien.
All children in Japan are required to attend elementary school, either a public school in their residential district or a private or national school that may be outside their district. In 1992 Japanese elementary schools, of which 99 percent were public, had an enrollment of 8,947,000 students (49 percent female). The percentages of students graduating from elementary school was 99.99 percent (Monbusho 1993b), which included children attending all types of Japanese elementary schools, such as private schools, schools for children with disabilities, and so forth.
The elementary school curriculum is divided into three major categories:
The school year for elementary students lasts 35 weeks or more (34 weeks or more for first-grade students). The school calendar for elementary schools, as well as that for secondary schools and universities, begins officially on April 1 (although in actuality usually not until the end of the first week of April) and ends on March 31 of the following year. The school year for elementary schools and secondary schools typically consists of three terms: April 1 to August 31, September 1 to December 31, and January 1 to March 31.
Schools are not in session on Sundays, national holidays, or the second and fourth Saturday of each month. Other vacations include the summer vacation, typically from mid-July to the end of August; winter break, typically from December 25 to January 7; and spring break, typically from March 21 to March 31. For each individual school, these vacations may vary slightly in length or commencing and ending dates. The principal of the school can also determine specific holidays (up to a period of 15 days). For instance, in some regions a holiday may be created during the busiest farming period. National and private elementary schools follow similar schedules (Jichi Sogo Center 1991).
The minimum required number of school hours, one school hour being 45 minutes, varies for the different grades, increasing as the student advances grade levels. The breakdown of the hours spent on each curriculum category also varies among grades. For example, first- through third-grade students have 850, 910, and 980 school hours, respectively, of which approximately 70 hours are equally divided between special activities and moral education. For fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders, the required number of school hours is 1,015, of which 35 are set aside for moral education and 70 for special activities. These listed school hours were instituted in April 1992 by Monbusho.
Though the minimum required number of school hours varies for different grade levels, Monbusho requires a minimum of 210 days of instruction, including a half-day on Saturdays which is counted as a full day for all elementary and secondary school students. However, local school boards, which can add more days to the school calendar at their discretion, typically specify 240 school days per year, including Saturdays, to permit time for nonacademic studies and activities. The "extra" 30 days that are reported allow school time to be used for various activities such as field trips, sports day, cultural festivals, and graduation ceremonies (Ichikawa 1988).
The starting and ending time for elementary school is determined by the school principal. A typical school day lasts from 8:30 a.m. until approximately 3:50 p.m., with academic classes in the morning and music, art, physical education, and a study period in the afternoon. A daily schedule from a 1983 school handbook (Sendai Shiritsu Tashiro Shogakko 1983) reveals the following schedule for elementary students:
The half-day of school on Saturday follows the same morning schedule as noted above, except the typical 30-minute cleaning period follows the third regular class, with a final 20-minute recess before school is dismissed at 12:30 p.m. This schedule coincides with the standard number of school hours in the Course of Study for Elementary Schools, which was implemented in April, 1992 (Jichi Sogo Center 1991).
Like elementary school, junior high school is compulsory; students may attend either a local public school or a private school anywhere. According to Monbusho (1993b), in 1992 more than 5 million students (49 percent female) attended a total of 11,300 junior high schools, 93.8 percent of which were public institutions. Of these students, nearly 1,774,000, representing 99.99 percent of the students, graduated from junior high in 1992. Of these graduates, 95.9 percent continued to a higher school, 1.6 percent entered a special school, and 1.7 percent obtained employment (Monbusho 1993b).
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[The Educational Structure of the Japanese School System - Part 2]