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

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

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.