Elementary Schools in Japan - Course of Study

Course of Study

The ministry's Course of Study for Elementary Schools is composed of a wide variety of subjects, both academic and nonacademic, including moral education and "special activities." "Special activities" refer to scheduled weekly time given over to class affairs and to preparing for the school activities and ceremonies that are used to emphasize character development and the importance of group effort and cooperation. The curriculum includes Japanese language, social studies, arithmetic, and science. Nonacademic subjects taught include art (including Japanese calligraphy) and handicrafts, music, homemaking, physical education, and moral education. Japanese language is an emphasized subject. The complexity of the written language and the diversity of its spoken forms in formal speech to seniors (keigo)(敬語) require this early attention.

A new course of study was established in 1989, partly as a result of the education reform movement of the 1980s and partly because of ongoing curriculum review. Important changes scheduled were an increased number of hours devoted to Japanese language, the replacement of the social sciences course with a daily life course- -instruction for children on proper interaction with the society and environment around them—and an increased emphasis on moral education. New emphasis also was to be given in the curriculum to the national flag and the Japanese national anthem. The ministry suggested that the flag be flown and the national anthem sung at important school ceremonies. Because neither the flag nor the anthem had been legally designated as national symbols, and because of the nationalistic wartime associations the two had in the minds of some citizens, this suggestion was greeted with opposition. The English Language is taught at some schools especially in the higher grades; it is now mandatory at 5th & 6th grade from 2011, as in 2002 TOEFL scores in Japan were the worst in Asia after North Korea.