Abe calls for review of class hours

[Sepiola]

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he wants to review the policy of reduced class hours at public schools, as part of his efforts to reform the education system.

In a speech in Tokyo on Tuesday, Mr Abe said the revision of Japan's education system is the top priority of his administration, which pledges to create what he calls a "beautiful country".

Mr Abe said he hopes to revise the relevant legislation with the help of advice from the government's advisory panel on education reform during the ordinary session of Parliament that begins later this month.

Mr Abe also indicated that the policy of reducing class hours has failed to achieve its original goal.

He said the curriculum guidelines for public elementary and junior high schools need to be revised to ensure the acquisition of basic academic abilities.

Mr Abe added that his government wants to guarantee all children a high-quality education and to help them acquire a sense of discipline.

[KirinMan]

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he wants to review the policy of reduced class hours at public schools, as part of his efforts to reform the education system.
In a speech in Tokyo on Tuesday, Mr Abe said the revision of Japan's education system is the top priority of his administration, which pledges to create what he calls a "beautiful country".
Mr Abe said he hopes to revise the relevant legislation with the help of advice from the government's advisory panel on education reform during the ordinary session of Parliament that begins later this month.
Mr Abe also indicated that the policy of reducing class hours has failed to achieve its original goal.
He said the curriculum guidelines for public elementary and junior high schools need to be revised to ensure the acquisition of basic academic abilities.
Mr Abe added that his government wants to guarantee all children a high-quality education and to help them acquire a sense of discipline.

In my opinion it is not the number of overall classroom hours of instruction that is the problem, the problem is with how the current curriculum is being taught. The school system here instituted the "sogo gakkshu" period of instuction a little over 10 years ago and it takes up an inordinate amount of time during the course of a school year. Over 100 hours of total instruction time is dedicated to a course that is not graded, excuse me let me clarify that, it is not graded on the traditional 1 through 5 scale, but uses an A, B, C grade instead. That time could well be used to increase the number of study hours in the core curriculum. Purely increasing classroom instruction hours will do little to increase students ability levels unless there is a revision in how the time is used.

Not to mention the amount of overtime that the teachers are currently putting in to their "average" work day. Particularly difficult is the amount of time JHS teachers spend in their work place. Many teachers can not get their work done until well after 5 or 6 PM. I know of many teachers that stay in their schools until 10 or 11 PM nightly, just to prepare for their next days lessons.

I also dont know of any other school system that has it's children in school on an average of 10 hours a day. Many students particularly those involved in sports are at their schools from 7AM until 7 or 8 PM at night. Students that are not involved in sports are at school from roughly 8AM until 5PM. Heck in some cases kids are in their schools longer than many people spend in their daily work.

My point is that by just increasing classroom instruction hours will not help to improve things unless the overall plan also includes time for the students as well as teachers to have time away from the school as well. Too many students spend a portion of their day sleeping at their desks as it is.

Part of the bigger problem is that the people at the "top" trying to institute change, any change, have either forgotten or have never been at the "working" level of an average ES or JHS and expect that by just snapping their finger's things will change for the better.