Secondary education in Japan

A teachers' room at Onizuka Junior High School in Karatsu, Japan (classes usually stay in one place and teachers move each period)

Instruction tends to rely on the lecture method. Teachers also use other media, such as television and radio, and there is some laboratory work. By 1989 about 45% of all public lower-secondary schools had computers, including schools that used them only for administrative purposes. Classroom organization is still based on small work groups, although no longer for reasons of discipline. Students are expected to have mastered daily routines and acceptable behavior.

All course contents are specified in the Course of Study for Lower-Secondary Schools. Some subjects, such as Japanese language and mathematics, are coordinated with the elementary curriculum. The curriculum covers Japanese language, English, social studies, mathematics, science, music, fine arts, industrial arts, homemaking, health, and physical education. Moral education and special activities continue to receive attention.[3]

Many students participate in after-school clubs. Sports clubs, such as baseball are especially popular among boys,[4][5] while wind bands are one of the most popular clubs for girls.[5] Soccer (football) clubs are gaining popularity. Other popular sports clubs include tennis, basketball, gymnastics, Judo and volleyball. In every sport, many games are held between schools and at the regional level, so students have opportunities to compete.

For cultural clubs, choir and art clubs, brass band, tea ceremony, and flower arrangement clubs are popular.[4]

Some junior high schools encourage students to take academic ability tests such as the STEP Eiken for English or the Kanji kentei for Japanese.

Students in the highest grades of elementary, junior high, and senior high schools also take trips lasting up to several days to culturally important cities such as Kyoto and Nara, ski resorts, or other places.[4]

High schools typically begin at 8:30, when teachers meet for a five-minute meeting, followed by homeroom.[8] Students assemble in their homerooms of an average of between 40 and 45 students each,[9] Homeroom teachers are in charge of morning or afternoon homeroom times, about five minutes each, as well as a weekly long homeroom period.[10]

Many students are assigned to specific task committees in their homeroom class.[10]

There are four classes of 50 minutes each before lunch.[8] Students go to different classrooms for physical education, laboratory classes, or other specialized courses; otherwise, teachers change classrooms instead of the students for the entire day. Students typically attend between ten and fourteen courses a year.[11]

Some schools do not have their own cafeteria, so students generally eat in their homerooms instead.[8] Unlike students in elementary and middle school, high school students do not have government-subsidized lunches.[10] Because of this, many students bring a box lunch (bento) - from home with foods such as rice, fish, eggs, and vegetables.[10] After lunch students have two more classes.[8]

Typically at 3:30 PM, students are free to attend extracurricular activities.[8]

Saturday schooling, when offered, ends at 1 PM after four courses.[8]

In most schools, there are two types of extracurricular clubs:

• sports clubs, such as baseball, football, judo, kendo, track, tennis, swimming, softball, volleyball, and rugby;
• culture clubs, such as English, broadcasting, calligraphy, science, mathematics.

New students usually choose a club after the school year begins and only rarely change for the rest of their high school careers.[9] Clubs meet for two hours after school every day, many times even during school vacations. These clubs are an important chance for students to make friends and learn the social etiquette and relationships like the "senpai" (senior)/"kohai" (junior) dynamic that will be important in their adult lives.

Traditionally Japanese students attended class on Saturdays; although education reforms from 2002 have made them no longer mandatory,[7] many schools have begun to bring them backn.

Schools have limited autonomy in developing their curriculum or choosing their textbooks. Instead, although the latter are written and produced in the private sector,[7] the Ministry of Education has the final say over any and all content and materials. Typically students take three years each of mathematics, social studies, Japanese, science, and English, with additional courses including physical education, music, art, and moral studies.[7] In particular social studies in Japan is broken down into civics, geography, Japanese history, world history, sociology, and politics/economics.[7] There are the large number of mandatory courses, and a few number of electives.

Upper-secondary teachers are university graduates. Upper-secondary schools are organized into departments, and teachers specialize in their field of study although they teach a variety of courses sharing a more general discipline. Teaching depends largely on the lecture system, with the main goal of covering the curriculum. Approach and subject coverage tends to be uniform, at least in the public schools.

Two problems of great concern to educators and citizens began to appear at the lower-secondary level in the 1980s: bullying, which remains a major problem, and the school-refusal syndrome (toko kyohi; manifested by excessive absenteeism), which was on the rise.[14] In 2008, there were 42,754 incidents of problematic behavior in junior high schools, according to a government survey.[15]

Experts disagreed over the specific causes of these phenomena, but there is general agreement that the system offers little individualized or specialized assistance, thus contributing to disaffection among those who can not conform to its demands or who are otherwise experiencing difficulties. Another problem concerns Japanese children returning from abroad. These students, particularly if they have been overseas for extended periods, often need help in reading and writing — and in adjusting to rigid classroom demands. Even making the adjustment does not guarantee acceptance. Besides having acquired a foreign language, many of these students have also acquired foreign customs of speech, dress, and behavior that mark them as different.

The upper-secondary curriculum underwent thorough revision in 1989. That year a new Course of Study for Upper-Secondary Schools was announced that was to be phased in beginning with the tenth grade in 1994, followed by the eleventh grade in 1995 and the twelfth grade in 1996. Among noteworthy changes is the requirement that male and female students take a course in home economics. The government is concerned with instilling in all students an awareness of the importance of family life, the roles and responsibilities of family members, the concept of cooperation within the family, and the role of the family in society. The family continues to be an extremely important part of the social infrastructure, and the ministry clearly is interested in maintaining family stability within a changing society. Another change of note was the division of the old social studies course into history-and-geography and civics courses.