The Japanese education system uses a 6-3-3-4 structure with 6 years of elementary school, 3 years of junior high school, 3 years of senior high school, and 4 years of university. It has 100% enrollment through the first 9 years and zero illiteracy. Nearly half of high school graduates continue to university or junior college. The system emphasizes whole-person education and moral development through activities like cleaning and lunch.

2. JAPANESE EDUCATION SYSTEM
• 6-3-3-4 system:
• 6 years of elementary school
• 3 years of junior high school
• 3 years of senior high school
• 4 years at the university
• Japan has 100% enrollment in the first 9 years of
their education
• Japan has ZERO illiteracy!!

3. JAPANESE EDUCATION SYSTEM
• Japan’s high school dropout rate is 2%.
• There are an average of 29 students per class, it used to
be between 40-50.
• 46% of all high school graduates continue on and attend
a university or junior college.
• School begins in April and ends in March. The cherry
blossoms bloom in April and they represent a fresh start.
• Some schools require students to attend school on
Saturdays.

4. JAPANESE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
• Begins at age 6.
• Curriculum:
• Japanese
• Social Studies
• Mathematics
• Science
• Music
• Arts
• Homemaking
• Physical Education

5. JAPANESE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
• Once a week, children have moral education
classes.
• Classes are part of “whole-person” education, which
is the main task of the elementary school system.
• Moral education is also evident during the school’s
class-cleaning and school lunch activities.

6. JAPANESE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
• Curriculum:
• Japanese
• Mathematics
• Social Studies
• Science
• English
• Music
• Art
• Physical Education
• Students also have homeroom time, clubs and field trips.

7. JAPANESE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
• Students receive their instruction from specialized
teachers for each subject area.
• The pace in junior high school is very quick.
• The education is very text-book oriented, teachers
have a lot of information to cover in order to have
students ready for their senior high school entrance
exams.

8. JAPANESE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
• Types of high schools:
• Elite academic high schools – collect top students
who usually attend top universities.
• Non-elite academic high schools – prepare
students for less-prestigious universities or junior
colleges. They also send many students to private
specialized schools (subjects such as
bookkeeping, languages and computer
programming.)

9. JAPANESE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
• Types of high schools (cont.)
• Vocational high schools – offers courses in
commerce, technical
subjects, agriculture, homescience, nursing and
fishing.
• Correspondence high schools – flexible form of
schooling for 1.6% of students who missed out on
high schooling for different reasons.
• Evening high school – offer classes to poor but
ambitious students who worked while trying to
remedy their educational deficiencies.