Decline of academic competence of Japanese students : The actual conditions and the improvement methods

本研究旨在了解日本学生学业能力的实际状况，并探讨提高日本学生学业能力的方法。为了第一个目的，我们在关西（大阪及其周边城市）和关东（东京及其周边城市）进行了两次调查。为了对结果进行比较，这些方法是基于其他研究人员之前所做的调查。关西研究的样本规模约为2000人，由二年级和八年级组成。另一方面，在关东研究中调查了大约6000名一年级到六年级的学生。测验结果显示，核心学术能力明显下降，而核心学术能力的方差增加。总的来说，这种差异与学生的家庭环境有关，但有些学校克服了这些问题。第二个目的，我们批判性地回顾了最近关于学术能力的报道和争论，并对学校教育和提高方法进行了讨论。我们特别注重课外的学习支持。例如，我们在一些学校建立了学习咨询室，并通过案例进行实践研究，培养学生的自主学习能力。此外，我们还为初中生举办了研讨会，这有助于规划课程和评估，以培养学生的学习技能。

The purpose of the present research was to investigate the actual conditions of academic competence of Japanese students and to develop practically the improvement methods.For the first purpose we made two investigations in Kansai (Osaka and the neighboring cities) and Kanto (Tokyo and the neighboring cities). To make comparisons of the results, the methods were based on the investigation that was previously made by other researchers. The sample of Kansai research, the size of which was about two thousand, was consisted of two graders and eight graders. On the other hand, about six thousand students from one graders to six graders were investigated in Kanto research. The test scores showed that the core academic competence declined evidently and that the variance of the competence increased. In general, the variance was correlated with conditions in home environments of the students, but some schools overcame these problems.For the second purpose we reviewed critically the recent reports and debates on academic competence, and make discussion on school education and the improvement methods. Especially we focused on the learning support in outside of classes. For example we founded counseling rooms for learning in some schools and made practical research through the cases in order to develop self-regulated learning. In addition we held the seminars for junior high school students, which were helpful for planning lessons and evaluations to develop students' learning skills.