2010/12/31
Contents of this Presentation
Issues on Teachers and Teacher
Education in Japan
-with ‘Market Theory’ and
‘Competitive Environment’
1. Definition of ‘Market Theory’ and
‘Competitive Environment’
2. Theme of This Presentation
3. About Japanese Juku
4. Case Study
5. Conclusion
Megumi HAYASAKA
(Graduate School, Tokyo Gakugei University)
16 Dec. 2010
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1.The Definition of ‘Market Theory’ and
‘Competitive Environment’
・‘Market Theory’ is a competitive theory which focuses on the service, price
and value of certain companies and organizations. It’s supported with neoliberalism.
(Market Theory=Market Fundamentalism)
・Neo-liberalism is an economics idea based on neoclassical economics.
・ The Market Theory system has created a more competitive environment.
・In Japan’s case, ‘Market Theory’ is linked with neo-liberalism, small
government, deregulation, privatization and self-responsibility.
・ ‘Market Theory’ is now being applied to Japanese public education. Many
researchers are worried about the bad influence that this will have on
teachers.
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2.The Theme of This Presentation
Questions
What are the effects on education especially on teachers of the
application of ‘Market Theory’?
How do teachers cope with working in a ‘Competitive Environment’?
↓
Case study focusing on Japanese Juku
To find the key to answer these questions, we will focus on Japanese
‘Juku’ in this presentation. They are also known as ‘cram schools’.
A ‘Juku’ is a privately run after school service which offers students
extra tuition on top of their regular classes, so already it is a
‘Competitive Environment’.
We can get some idea about what education in a ‘Competitive
Environment’ is like by looking at these ‘juku’ schools.
↓
Research Questions
So how do juku teachers work in a ‘Competitive Environment’?
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3
Figure1
3. About Japanese Juku
The Growth of the Number of
Japanese Juku
3.1. Two roles of Juku
・In Japan, Juku play various roles, but the main
two roles are as a supplement to school study
and the other is passing entrance exams for
private junior high school, public and private
high school and universities.
2006
51617
2004
49195
2001
51120
1999
48656
1996
49586
1991
1986
34367
1981
18683
0
5
Numbers
of
Japanese
Juku
45856
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
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Figure 3
Figure2
70
The Rate of Students Attendance at Juku by
School Grade in 2008
A
The Rate of Students Attendance at Juku
in Japan
70
60
60
50
elementary
school
students
50
40
%
40
％％％％
junior high
school
students
30
30
20
20
10
10
0
0
E1
1985
1994
E2
E3
E4
E5
E6
J1
J2
J3
2008
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Figure4
・Differences between School Teachers
and Juku Teachers in Japan
Rate of Students Experience of Attendance at Juku by School Grade
in 2008
60.7
J3
13
47.3
J2
41.2
J1
18.3
E2
14.7
E1
3.6
0%
10%
Experienced and go now
9.3
30%
Not Needed
2.6
2.3
Age limit
Minimum 20years old
Maximum 60 years old
Full time: Over 22 or 20 years old
Part time: Over 18 years old
(in case of Private business, no age
restrictions)
2.7
79
20%
Juku Teachers
Need
3.1
73.8
33.1
Total
School Teachers
Teaching
license
1.7
71.9
4.9
/
2.5
2
66.5
6.2
2.9
1.9
57.5
6.8
20.2
E3
52.5
8.9
24.7
E4
41.8
9.6
31.7
E5
35.4
14.4
35.6
E6
23.3
14.8
2.4
55.2
40%
Experienced but don't go now
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Never experienced
Contents
Subjects including P.E., Industrial
of teaching Arts and Home Economics, Music
and Arts. Social Morals. Club
activities.
Especially, Japanese, English, Math,
Social studies, Science.
Regular
work time
11:00AM-10:00PM
About 8:00AM-5:00PM
No answer
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3.2.History of relationship between Japanese school and Juku
Year
About School
About Examinations
About Juku
1970s
The percentage of school
attendance rose to over 90%.
Students were under great
pressure in their
examinations.
Juku started in Japan,
creating an extra workload
for students.
1980s
School problems occurred, for
example school violence(conflict
between teachers and students),
bullying and physical
punishment. This caused people
to reconsider the function of
schools.
1990s
2000s
(now)
Kenichi Kouyama, a
political scientist, argued
that Juku should replace
regular schools at the
Special Council for
Education.
The school week was reduced
from six days to five days per
week in order to reduce the
amount which students had
to study.
Most students who want to go
to higher education are able
to enter with a lower exam
score.
Lower exam pass rates mean
that more students than ever
are attending higher
education.
There are some cases
where Juku teachers also
teach at schools. Schools
are starting to rely on the
skills of Juku teachers.
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4.Case Study
4.1. An abstract of my investigation
at ‘Sakura-machi-school’ of ‘Effort Seminar’
Points
Contents
Period
From March, 2010 to now
Method
Practitioner Research using interviews with teachers and observations
of teacher training at Juku.
Place
A juku named ‘Effort-Seminar’(assumed name) in 23 districts of Tokyo.
Wealthy area.
Interviewee
10 part-time teachers and 3 full-time teachers. Most part-time teachers
are university students.As well as teaching, full-time teachers also do
administrative work.
Observations 1) Official teacher training targeted at part-time teachers who teach
lower grade students.
2) Unofficial teacher training targeted at newcomer teachers at
‘Sakura-machi-school’.
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4.2. About Field and Method
・About Field
‘Effort Seminar’ is a major Juku in Japan and has 70,000 students.
‘Sakura-machi-school’ is a branch of ‘Effort Seminar’. There are 200
students and 5 full-time workers (teachers) and about 20 part-time
teachers.
・About Method –Practitioner Research
Practitioner Research is studied by teachers. Research field is his/her
own school and classroom. Practitioner Research can highlight the
importance of teachers’ own understanding of their school’s
practice, office, administrative work and human relations at school.
Practice Research doesn’t use quantitative method such as
questionnaires but qualitative method such as interviews and
observations.
In this presentation, I want to rethink the methods of educating and
training Juku teachers using Practitioner Research.
4.3. How Juku train the teachers?
1)Observation of Official Teacher Training
Target: part-time teachers who teach lower
grade students.
Contents: presentation of a demonstration
lesson (Math and Japanese)
Points: 1)raise the understanding of contents of
the lesson for students, 2)the importance of
communication with students.
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Further Details
Points:
1)raise the understanding of contents of the lesson for students
・Use visual materials effectively.
・Find each student’s good points and the teacher should enjoy
teaching.
・Shorter sentences should be used when giving instructions to students.
2)The importance of communication with students
The manual of ‘How to Praise Students’ was given to all teachers.
Ex. “Today you can write in your notebook better than yesterday! ”,
“Your reading voice is very good!”, “Your attitude when listening to
me is very good. I’m happy”.
→You shouldn’t just say “Good job!”, because a more detailed response
is better.
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4.3. How Juku train the teachers?
2)Unofficial teacher training targeted at trainee
teachers at ‘Sakura-machi-school’.
After the lesson of the day, teachers gather in a
classroom.
And a practice lesson is held for trainee teachers
twice a week.
The trainee teaches a 20minute lesson, with other
experienced teachers playing the role of the
students.
After that, the experienced teachers give feedback
and constructive criticism to the trainee.
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Interview data of 2 teachers
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Implication of this data
• Teacher A - a trainee part-time teacher
He was given some critical remarks from experienced teachers
but he said, “I wanna be an experienced teacher, so I don’t
mind.”
Now he continues to work at Sakura-machi school.
• Teacher B – a new full-time teacher
She wasn’t given very critical remarks but she always
complained about her job and environment, for example,
“No one helps me!”, “I took his (another teacher) harsh
comments to heart!”. She required transfer from Sakuramachi school to another section.
Now she works in the marketing section, not as a teacher.
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• This data indicates quick turnover of teachers.
If a teacher has a tendency to take things to
heart, the teacher may stop working even
though he/she is talented.
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Conclusion ①
Conclusion ②
• As a premise, schools and Juku are different.
Of course school teachers and Juku teachers
are also different. However Juku and schools
are becoming more similar, so schools are
likely to become more competitive, in the
same way that Juku are also competitive. As a
result of this, school teachers’ education will
also become more similar to Juku teachers’
education.
• How will school teachers’ work and teachers’ education
change?
<work>
・Teachers will rely on their own individual skill and cooperate
less with colleagues.
・Students will be treated as customers.
・Increase in part-time teachers.
<teachers’ education>
・Focus on lesson skills even though schools have many roles.
・Teachers will have more manuals on methodology, how to
deal with students and so on.
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