Education Reform in Japan

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Yutori education used in Japan from 2002 to 2011 was education method to develop students’ creativity, with yutori meaning pressure-free. This idea was brought in Japan around 1990s and was used all around Japan in 2002. (The Decline in the Academic Level of Japanese Children and the Development of Educational Reform, Kajita Eiichi) It was new type of education method which believed students’ creativity and opinion will grow, but ended up just resulting lack of education and causing problems.
Since Japan started using Yutori education, lack-of-education became a problem in Japan. To make students pressure-free, Japanese Ministry of Education changed “course of study” which was a document on what every Japanese students should learn. The amount of things that should be covered and the levels in school decreased, along with class times. Japanese schools used to have classes on Saturday, but after changing the “course of study” document, school was for 5 days - saturday class being cancelled. (The Decline in the Academic Level of Japanese Children and the Development of Educational Reform, Kajita Eiichi) By this, Japan was getting around 100 hours less of class time than other countries that have similar education level as Japan. (Alexandra Harney) According to PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) done by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), Japan was placed 6th in Mathematics in 2003, but later in 2006 was placed 10th. Also with Science, Japan dropped from 2nd to 6th. PISA is a research done to students at age of 15. Students aged 15 in 2006 was students who received Yutori education from when they were 11. However students aged 15 in 2003 had started getting yutori education from a year b...

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... Development of Educational Reform. N.p., 22 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. .

Keiyo Senior High School. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2014. .

National Tax Agency. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. .

OECD PISA. N.p., 2003. Web. 17 Jan. 2014. .

"OECD PISA 2006." N.p., 2006. Web. 17 Jan. 2014. .

OECD (2011), “Education reform in Japan”, in OECD economic Surveys: Japan 2011, OECD publishing.

"Yutori Generation." Interview by Takahori. N.p., 9 Dec. 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. .

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