Survey of Japanese Parents Reveals Views on Junior High School Education

WebCrew, the operator of a comparison website, ran a survey in Japan asking the parents of children planning to attend high school what they really thought about junior high school education.

In their overall evaluation, 60.5% of respondents said they were “somewhat satisfied” and only 11.5% felt “very satisfied”. In contrast, a total of 28.3% responded that they were either “somewhat dissatisfied” or “dissatisfied.”

Among the specific comments given were complaints about a lack of time and quality. One parent said that “It may be down to the quality of the teachers, but there isn’t enough time (for classes). The school should be open on Saturdays too, like how it used to be.” Another stated that “Children can’t study well enough just with the school classes. I’m having to send my child to cram school to make up for that.” At the same time, one “somewhat satisfied” parent said, “Of course, there are areas where I’m not satisfied, but I don’t think it’s right to put all the blame on the school.”

The survey was held in mid-October, with 1,005 valid responses received.

When asked which aspects they rated the highest and lowest for school education, 20.5% of respondents gave the highest rating to “teaching based on the subject teacher system” and 19.4% felt the same for “teaching based on basic academic skills.” Aspects which came in for most criticism included “regular exam-centered assessment” (12.4%) and “teaching based on basic academic skills” (11.9%).

Parents were also asked what skills they would like their children to learn and be able to use in the future. More than half placed importance on “communication skills” (55.1%) and “general education” (51.7%). On the other hand, less than 10% felt that “digital literacy” and “information gathering and analysis skills” were a priority.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)