Education In Japan

Over the previous years, the educational systems of Finland and Japan have been admired in the world for their spearheading performance in education and results in international assessments and literacy rates, and with the recent alarming 2018 results of the Philippines in the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) wherein the country’s literacy rates ranked lowest in different areas, educationists may analyze the spearheading systems of excelling countries to yield possible recommendations and inputs to Philippine educational system, policyscapes, ideologies, and pedagogical practices.

The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) has initiated English curriculum policies that support student inquiry, individually optimized learning, collaboration, and global awareness with the new Elementary School Course of Study (MEXT, 2013; MEXT, 2017). These policies echo the general shift in worldwide additional language teaching trends where assessing students' learning has become a primary responsibility of teachers engaged in language instruction. Assessment for Learning (AfL) methods, with which teachers measure and respond to students' mastery of language as an ongoing part of classroom instruction, are now being further developed in the Japanese elementary school context. The International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) offers one approach that can help teachers understand this "new" relationship of assessment and teaching. The results of this study offer considerations for how teachers may design assessment tasks to inform future instruction while encouraging students to value language learning over test performance.

It surprises me how many scholars in/from Asia are looking for information on Dalton Plan and Dalton education.

I am preparing research on the history of Dalton education in South East Asia.
 
When you read this message, maybe you know something about (the history of) Dalton education in Asia. If so, could you contact me?

p.a.van.der.ploeg@rug.nl

This paper provides an international framework aimed at comparing the level of upper secondary education in Colombia with that in Finland, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, and South Korea, countries with top-performing national education systems in enrollment, equity, and quality indicators. Using policy documents and national reports as a main source of information, the framework is based on the International Standardized Classification of Education developed by Unesco. The comparison is approached from a descriptive perspective and identifies differences and similarities between Colombia and the five selected countries. Among the similarities, we found that upper secondary education is not compulsory and can be academic- or technical-oriented. Regarding the differences, the theoretical duration of upper secondary education in Colombia is shorter than the international trend of three years. We also found that only Colombian students at this education level have the option to take subjects of subsequent levels (i.e., ‘education for work’ and higher education). In contrast with other countries, Colombia does not have any specific national curriculum including subjects, number of hours, sequence, and instructional materials according to program orientation (i.e., technical or academic). Colombia does not have any regulation for the training profile of teachers either. From the results a set of recommendations are derived towards four aspects: (1) considering the theoretical duration of upper secondary education, (2) defining a national curriculum specific to program orientation, (3) analyzing the relevance of combining curricula of upper secondary education with other education levels, and (4) standardizing the teachers’ level of education and training required according to program orientation. These recommendations are intended to guide educational reform proposals at the level of upper secondary education in Colombia.