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This paper explores how middle-class mothers' involvement in and how the meanings of a public school choice are shaped by the class differences in cultural capital and economic capital between the mother and father within one family. It examines the practices of choosing a public school that shapes a middle-class mother, rather than the school choices of middle-class parents as an educational practice that shapes a middle-class child. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 12 women from Chinese-Japanese interethnic middle-class families in urban Japan, this study also provides some preliminary insights into the interrelationships between class, gender, and ethnicity in the process of choosing a public school within a family.

This paper examined the actual circumstances of the recent teacher shortage in public elementary and junior high schools in X Prefecture. Although teacher shortages had been reported, few previous studies had investigated them empirically. With the cooperation of all five branch offices of the Board of Education, data were collected through three surveys: 1) a questionnaire survey in June 2021 of the branch offices, 2) three interview surveys in July 2021 of the administrative officers at the town level, and 3) a 2019-2021 visiting survey of the branch offices of X Prefecture and of four towns. First, the actual amount of shortage as of May 1, 2021 was scrutinized by the questionnaire survey, clarifying the shortage into three stages. 1) Positions for 1,971 full-time teachers with tenure were unfilled as the first stage. 2) Teachers without tenure were subsequently recruited, still leaving 150 unfilled positions as the second stage. 3) Finally, part-time teachers were recruited, still leaving 115 unfilled positions as the third stage. 4) In the end, each school was required to manage by themselves. This survey also made it clear that the teacher shortage increased in each term because more and more teachers left work due to childbirth or illness, with no substitutes. This suggests that the design of the first national teacher shortage survey by the Ministry of Education in July 2021 should be redone, as it focused only on the condition of the first term. Second, the paper disclosed that the teacher shortage had increased since 2018 in this prefecture. This was caused by multiple factors at micro/mezzo/ macro levels at each stage. 1) There were three background factors for the first stage. (1) Although the numbers of teachers were strictly determined by national law, the government had made no improvements for 41 years. The local government had additionally decreased teacher numbers in order to prepare for a teacher surplus in the future, based on the declining birthrate. However, teacher demands were enlarged by the increase of children with special needs. (2) Administrators were reluctant to hire teachers with tenure. The risk of the prohibited surplus of teachers was multiplied because of the increased number of small and mutable special education classes. (3) The applicants for hiring exams decreased. Teaching itself was not as attractive as before. (4) Maternity leaves not only increased but grew longer. 2) The shortage in the second stage was caused by the lack of teachers without tenure. Few teachers were on the candidate list because most of them were already hired with tenure. 3) The shortage in the third stage was caused by the teacher license renewal system, which began in 2009. Many licenses were already expired. Third, the effects of the shortage were examined, finding that teachers were compelled to overwork because each school had to cover 3.91 teachers' worth of absence as a team. The paper also found that 60% of current teachers had less than 10 years' experience, which is expected to have negative effects both on the quality of teaching and the professionalization of teaching.

This study presents an international collaboration in the Students Meet Internationally through Language Education (SMILE) project and investigates how the SMILE project impacts Thai EFL students. This program provides students with opportunities to use English as an Authentic Communication Tool (E-ACT) by sharing their experiences and culture with high school peers in Japan online. Thirty-one Thai twelfth graders from a public high school in Bangkok participated in the SMILE project in the 2022 academic year. The course of the SMILE project we describe in this paper consisted of four collaboration classes (50 minutes, four times), and each class consisted of two sessions (25 minutes, twice). In each session, the Thai students met Japanese students in the same school grade in small groups with four or five students in total. These classes were conducted via online channels. Thai students' data were collected from class observations, interviews, and questionnaires. The results revealed that the Thai students: (1) increased their confidence in using English; (2) gained broader perspectives from the cultural exchange sessions; (3) were eager to have similar collaborations with new Japanese students; and (4) showed clear enjoyment in their activities. Given these benefits, we conclude that the experience that student participants gained through the SMILE project had a substantial impact on them, which is likely to change their attitude toward studying English in the future. Besides, we discuss how current approaches to learner psychology may or may not be applied to our findings. Based on the results, the authors argue that having students with different first languages meet online should be conducted more widely in EFL circumstances.

This study reports how extensive reading (ER) teachers implemented ER and used reading materials at institutions in formal educational systems in Japan, Mongolia, Thailand, and Vietnam. 259 participants completed an online questionnaire. The results revealed that ER was mainly required and done online in Japan and Mongolia while it was optional but recommended and mainly paper-based in Thailand and Vietnam. The majority of the participants assessed their students' reading and did post-reading activities. The top three sources of funding came from the participant's school, the students, and the use of free materials. About 40% of the responses indicated the use of graded reading materials and 60% were the use of non-ER materials such as picture books, native novels, textbooks or academic works, despite the vast majority of their students being intermediate level or lower. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed to highlight proposals for future studies.

Self-direction skill (SDS) is an essential 21st-century skill that can help learners be independent and organized in their quest for knowledge acquisition. While some studies considered learners from higher education levels as the target audience, providing opportunities to start the SDS practice by K12 learners is still rare. Further, practicing such skills requires a concrete context and scaffolding during the skill acquisition. This article introduces the Goal Oriented Active Learner (GOAL) system that facilitates SDS acquisition in learners utilizing daily activities as context. The GOAL architecture integrates learning logs from online environments and physical activity logs from wearable trackers to provide a data-rich environment for the learners to acquire and practice their SDS. The GOAL users follow DAPER, a five-phase process model, to utilize the affordances in the system while practicing SDS. We implemented the GOAL system at a K12 public institution in Japan in 2019. Learners used the online environments for extensive reading and smartwatches for tracking walking and sleeping activities. This study analyzes detailed interaction patterns in GOAL while learners planned and monitored their self-directed actions. The results illustrate the strategies for DAPER behaviors that emerge in different activity contexts. We discuss the potentials and challenges of this technology ecosystem that connects learners' learning logs and physical activity logs, specifically in the K12 context in Japan and, more generally, from the learning analytics research perspective to provide a context to practice SDS.

Regarding the faults of the Japanese compulsory enrollment system, premised on attendance at a specific school, a forward-looking view must be taken on the guarantee of opportunities for general education via non-physical attendance (online attendance) in which physical attendance is not the default. At this time, municipal Boards of Education are called on to "promote the guarantee of diverse opportunities for general education" and "form public school networks," while prefectures must establish new councils and comprehensive support centers for a continuous guarantee during the school age across a broad area in cooperation with municipalities. [This article was translated by Nadezhda Murray. This article was originally published, in Japanese, in "Kyoikugaku Kenkyu" ("The Japanese Journal of Educational Research"), Vol. 88, No.4, 2021.]

Expectations of big data across various fields, including education, are increasing. However, uncovering valuable insights from big data is like locating a needle in a haystack, and it is difficult for teachers to use educational big data on their own. This study aimed to understand changes in student participation rates during classes and teachers' teaching styles by analyzing educational big data. In the analysis, data from 120 students and two mathematics class teachers at a public junior high school in Japan were used. We applied the pruned exact linear time (PELT) algorithm to automatically identify significant changes in student participation during class. Based on the information obtained, we analyzed the interaction logs of teachers' e-book readers and clarified the relationship between student participation rates and teacher behavior patterns. Change point detection using the PELT algorithm showed a high F1-score of 0.7929, indicating good overall performance. We also investigated whether there was a relationship between class differences and teachers' actions and found a statistically significant difference. The results provide clues for improving student learning engagement and teachers' teaching styles, and they are expected to improve the quality of education by automatically identifying notable cases from educational big data. However, further research is required to improve data analysis methods, such as adjusting the parameters of algorithms based on the situation.

The purpose of this study was to analyse Japanese elementary school teachers' learning experiences during professional development (PD) regarding immigrant parental involvement in physical education (PE) at public schools in Japan. Based on andragogy theory, this study used an explanatory case study research design. Nine Japanese elementary teachers participated in the study. Data were collected from digital portfolios about immigrant parental involvement in PE, self-reflective journal logs, and semi-structured online interviews. Three major interrelated and complex themes were constructed from the data analysis: (a) "digital portfolios as a problem-based learning tool," (b) "transformative learning experience regarding communication with immigrant parents," and (c) "the need for Kenshu (teacher training) for all elementary school teachers." The findings suggest that the PD focusing on immigrant parental involvement in relation to PE allowed teachers to transform their practices and perceptions in order to minimize psychological, cultural, and social distance from immigrant parents. This study may help teachers, school administrators, and researchers develop new insights and motivation to integrate the concept of immigrant parental involvement regarding PE into the PD systems of public elementary schools in order to enhance teachers' problem-solving knowledge and skills.

This study examines classroom teachers' third-turn repeats marked with the Japanese epistemic stance marker "ne." The author conducted multimodal conversation analysis on video recordings of English-language classrooms in Japanese secondary schools. The analysis focused on the teachers' gaze direction during their third-turn repeat, which was marked with the epistemic stance marker. "Ne" marks the sharedness of the repeated item between the speaker and the hearer. By treating the repeated item as shared with the recipient and changing the recipient from the student who answered to the other students who did not answer, the teachers treat the repeated item as also having been available to those who did not answer. Teachers are thus including non-respondent students in the knowing party. The author terms such practice as "inclusive third-turn repeat," which teachers canonically deploy as an inclusive practice in classroom interaction. Depicting how this practice establishes a common knowledge status of the students, the study highlights classroom teachers' pieces of work towards the goal of co-production of knowledge.

I examine a unique facet of Japan's public education system: "jinji idou," a mandatory teacher rotation system governed by the prefectural board of education where teachers are systematically transferred to other schools throughout their careers to appropriately staff schools, facilitate varied career paths, and identify future leaders for administrative roles. Although not a formal goal, this centralized system may also produce a more equal distribution of teacher quality across schools compared to the de centralized teacher labor market found in private schools. Because this system is present in public schools and absent in private schools, comparing sector differences offers a look at its impact on teacher quality distribution. Using a sample of 1,456 teachers nested in 49 schools, private vs. public group comparison tests indicate that, for most of the teacher quality traits examined, the public sector distributes teachers more equitably. Furthermore, the public sector has higher mean levels of teacher quality, intimating that education labor markets can be structured in ways that simultaneously minimize variation between schools without hindering quality, findings germane to scholars interested in educational equality.

A reform of public education in Japan took place from the 1980s, coming to a de facto end in 2013. The reform, which affected large numbers of Japanese children, focused on creating a more flexible, relaxed form of education by reducing the amount included in the curriculum. However, the effects of this reform have been ambiguous, and we therefore aimed to assess them more accurately. We assessed the effects of the reform by looking at the private educational costs of households during the reform period, using the data from a time series survey conducted by the Japanese government. Our evidence shows that the auxiliary study expenses of children in public junior high schools increased steadily, and the proportion of children from households in the highest income group attending private junior high schools also rose during the reform period. This evidence indicates that the reform had unexpected results. It may have triggered a widening of children's academic ability gap depending on household wealth. There is also no comprehensive evaluation of how pressure-free education affected the academic results of Japanese children. We drew some lessons from this experience to suggest what is needed for successful educational reform.

A multi-method approach was used to understand the attitudes of English Language Teachers working in universities in Japan to first language use (L1) in the second language (L2) classroom. Findings indicate that instructors recognise the benefits of the L1 and have awareness of current empirical findings, though, their approach is highly dependent on contextual factors such as the maturity and motivation of learners, learner proficiency and the complexity of content. Prior teaching experience in the Japanese public school system also had a significant effect on their present state suggesting teachers' attitudes are in part driven by the realities of their present and past contexts. The study concludes by suggesting strategies for utilising the L1 in a more systematic manner to maintain engagement levels and scaffold content.

Adolescents who do not seek help from others, concealing their problems, make it difficult for teachers to detect students' mental health problems early and provide preventive interventions. Individual interviews of secondary-school teachers (n = 15; 8 men and 7 women) were conducted for this study, where they were asked to report their experiences of providing support to students who did not seek help but were deemed to need it. The analysis was based on thematic analysis and the Trajectory Equifinality Model. The 26 cases (11 boys and 15 girls) included in the final analysis were categorized into four problem areas: family problems, school refusal, developmental disabilities, and interpersonal relationships at school, and the interaction processes in each problem domain were described. The results identified effective support behaviors that were common to all problem domains, such as environmental adjustment, as well as support behaviors that were effective for specific problem domains, such as support developing future vision and one-on-one tailored approach. However, it was also indicated that direct interventions without consent from the student risk breaking the connection between schools and students. Future research in other cultures with different teacher roles, and studies for the purpose of theory generation are indicated.

This paper illustrates the historical process of the prevalence of upper secondary education in Japan focusing on the public and private relationships. After reviewing high school policy at the central administration, actual high school supply at local government levels is examined and the harmonious relationship between public and private sectors is introduced. Japanese private schools must fulfill the same standards of school facilities, teachers' licenses, and curriculum as those of public schools, under the control of school education laws with a few exceptions. The universal upper secondary education in Japan has been managed with diversities between local prefectures. Japanese education succeeded in the wave of industrialization and constructed a cooperation between public and private high schools. This educational system has supported Japanese development to achieve competent human resources. However, Japan is now facing a new difficulty of determining what further steps to take in the pursuit of top school education in a post-industrialized global world.

In Japan, English will be officially taught as an academic subject for elementary fifth and sixth graders from 2020. This is a strong initiative of language-in-education policy, aiming at efficient articulation between elementary and junior high schools and targeting the development of English proficiency from early ages simultaneously. However, teacher supply and professional development have been a critical issue for offering English as a subject. Reviewing the recent movement of English education at elementary schools, the paper overviews the current teacher system in public elementary schools in Japan and clarifies that homeroom teachers in Japanese elementary schools tend to work overload not only teaching but also with administrative duties. The paper then describes benefits and drawbacks of homeroom and specialist teachers in English teaching as a subject at elementary schools and argues qualifications of English teachers. The author finally introduces new specialist teacher systems, which will give a useful insight for developing the workforce for the future English education at Japanese public elementary schools.

This paper addresses the following two research questions: What role does senior high school choice play, in terms of the choices between public and private and between academic and vocational education in Japan and Taiwan? How do senior high school students matriculate to tertiary education in Japan and Taiwan? Japan and Taiwan have both experienced a rapid expansion of upper secondary education in the process of late industrialization. In these two societies, senior high school tracking decides students' educational careers. In addition, people living in these two societies have been inclined toward the belief that national and public schools are more prestigious than private schools. Therefore, the role of private senior high schools is different in these societies than in Europe or America. In both Japan and Taiwan students with higher grades tend to attend public academic senior high schools, whereas students with lower grades tend to enroll in private senior high schools. During the educational expansion in both societies, private senior high schools have provided opportunities for students of lower grades as well as lower social status. This research confirms the existence of a new trend in private school education: the rise of private academic education in the younger cohort. We need to continue to monitor this trend not only in these two societies but also in other East Asian countries. Keywords: senior high school; tracking; private schools

Prior research suggests that parents of Hispanics, English learners, and students living in poverty exercise school choice less frequently than other parents, which may be a factor in the resegregation of public schools. This quasi-experimental, causal-comparative design tests whether ethnicity, language dominance, or socioeconomic status of the student are related to the exercise of parental choice of magnet middle school programs in a majority, minority community. The primary finding was that in this Hispanic, English learner, low-income majority California community, none of the independent variables studied predicted the exercise of parental magnet school choice. The discussion compares these findings with prior studies and suggests some possible explanations.

This article reports on how mathematics teachers connect face-to-face and virtual professional learning communities by expanding the notion of lurker and broker within both environments. Through an analysis of 18 interviews with K-12 mathematics teachers, categories of participation are presented to describe the nuances between the ways mathematics teachers connect learning experiences across learning environments. This article provides examples of the ways mathematics teachers leverage learning within one space to broker information in the other. Methodological and practical implications of this research are discussed. Methodologically, this article presents the usage of artifact-stimulated recall during interviews to promote reflection of virtual learning interactions. Practically, this article seeks to push the field of mathematics teacher's professional learning beyond traditional forms of learning to see the value of informal learning in virtual spaces.

This article describes how a language minority student developed through flexible online learning assistance for the entrance examination of a Japanese public high school. The simple camera function of a digital tablet helped the isolated Thai student attain success in developing academic skills and self-esteem. The case also shows the insight that small public schools and local governments with few resources in remote areas can have advantages thanks to the tablet and the internet.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the Child Occupational Self-Assessment (COSA) and quality of life (QoL) in elementary school children. A total of 77 children from a public elementary school were included in the study. A survey was conducted using the COSA and the Kid-KINDLR. The COSA consists of 25 items on occupational competence and value. The items are classified into four factor structures: challenging occupation, motivated occupation, daily life tasks, and expected tasks. The Kid-KINDLR is a scale consisting of 24 items in question form by which the QOL of children can be grasped in multiple dimensions. Groups that obtained high and low QoL levels showed a significant difference in COSA regarding the value score obtained in the challenging occupation factor. Tackling, trying to solve, or struggling with difficult tasks may improve QoL. Children actively working on mandatory activities, rather than doing given assignments, appear to have higher QoL.

The content of school education has always been at the center of modern school reforms. At the end of Edo period and during the early Meiji period, Fukui domain (han) and later Fukui prefecture took the initiative in modernizing their school system. The program of "futsu no gaku" ("general education" for the samurai class in Fukui domain) established at middle schools in the Fukui domain provided its students with basic learning that widely incorporated civilian and military knowledge and can be regarded as a program for the cultivation of a civil-military elite. While the initial intention was the creation of modern schools that combined civilian and military education, this later changed to creating "civilian" (bun) schools dedicated to the cultivation of a new "citizenry" (shimin) following the dissolution of the occupational monopoly held by the samurai class over administrative and military posts. In 1871, the Fukui domain opened its schools to the general public, and common people were allowed to enter elementary school alongside members of the former samurai class. Disciples of the reformer Yokoi Shonan has already implemented education that focused on public debate (koron) at the local schools (gogakusho). After the abolition of the domains and the establishment of prefectures, they promoted a process in which decisions were reached through public debate in the prefectural assembly. What set Fukui apart and ahead of the central government and other prefectures was that its "Regulations for Public Schools" provided severe penalties for those depriving others of their "right to attend school." This kind of education through regional reform seen in Fukui came under increasing government control after 1881 and was completely contained by 1886. As the country became more centralized, a shift from the regionalized cultivation of citizens to the creation of national subjects (kokumin) occurred in the education system. (Contains 1 table and 9 notes.)

Japan faces an educational challenge even after the start of a new special education system (Tokubetsushienkyouiku). This article addresses the legal framework of the special education system in Japan and analyzes the issues needed to be addressed to reinforce the inclusion of children with disabilities in public regular school settings. The analysis uses published documents, including journal and newspaper articles, government notifications, government data, and court rulings, available through university library databases in Japan and the United States. Articles and court cases selected for review were those that highlighted legal issues in special education related to inclusion of children with disabilities in public regular school settings as well as the underlying philosophies of the legal decisions. Three Japanese cases involving students placement in regular schools were reviewed for comparative analysis to depict the differences in standards and underpinning philosophies in the two countries. This article argues that the U.S. special education system can provide some implications for the Japanese special education system. (Contains 4 tables.)

This article presents the authors' critique of lessons proposed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). The authors initiate a discussion about content that they hope will play out in schoolhouses and statehouses across the country. They take on a different task: they present a handful of lesson ideas from P21 that could enhance studies of academic content. They present examples of content-rich education in which they hope P21 will use as models to revise its current skills maps. (Contains 11 endnotes.)

On January 17, 2008, the Japanese Central Education Council submitted a newly revised set of official curriculum guidelines to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in Japan. These guidelines for elementary schools will become effective in the 2011 academic year and include a controversial new policy: the introduction of mandatory "foreign language activities" at all public elementary schools. Japanese fifth and sixth graders will receive about one period (approximately forty-five minutes) per week of mandatory English education called "foreign language activities." Prior to implementation, these guidelines were vigorously debated by supporters and opponents of the policy. However, they have now been made official and every public and private school in Japan is required to follow them. This article identifies supporters and opponents of the policy and summarizes their arguments in order to demonstrate that neither side has ever discussed the policy in terms of the opportunity gap that exists between different segments of the Japanese population. Considering that the existence of an opportunity gap is a major issue in educational policy debates in the United States, the author argues that a similar opportunity gap exists in Japan, but that it tends to be ignored in policy debates. Next, he shows that the gap is manifested in differential access among sectors of the population to shadow education and to private schools. Finally, he evaluates the new policy in terms of narrowing this opportunity gap between students with access to shadow education and private school lessons and those without them.

In Japan, the Ainu people have been living mainly in Hokkaido and many Koreans continue to live since the end of the World War Two. Since 1990's, the number of migrant workers has increased rapidly. In this sense, Japanese society has been multicultural and multiethnic. However, those minority groups have been strictly discriminated against in Japanese society and in schools, they have not been given opportunities to multicultural and multiethnic education. Against the ignorance of their culture and language, those minority groups established their own schools apart from existing school system to educate their children with pride of their own culture and language. Today those international and ethnic schools have an important role in providing foreign children with alternative education. Then, those schools have to be supported financially by the Government. The struggle of the Ainu people to establish their own school should be also supported by the Government, since the Ainu people have been recognized as an indigenous people by the Japanese Government. With globalization, the number of foreign students has rapidly increased in public schools. In order to respond to the educational needs of those children, the educational authorities have begun to provide them with special programs for teaching Japanese as a Second Language (JSL) and with native language instruction. Concerning JSL programs, the period of the program should be extended to more than 5 years. It is too short to develop cognitive/academic language proficiency (CALP). On the other hand, regarding the quality of JSL program, the content-based program has to be expanded instead of the program that develops only basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS). Native language instruction for different cultural backgrounds should be implemented in every public school as quickly as possible if there is even one such student. (Contains 8 notes and 1 figure.)

Public school students in Japan must take English as a required subject for three years in junior high school and for three more years in senior high school. In spite of the amount of classroom time invested, and in spite of the available learning support services, the foreign Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) system included, the English proficiency level of Japanese students unfortunately continues to rank low in the world. The motivation for this study is to address the problem of low English performance in Japanese schools by soliciting the opinions of ALTs who have unique perspectives based on their experiences in both Japanese and foreign school situations. One of the issues that arises in consulting ALTs is that, in many cases, the level of oral English proficiency among staff English teachers in Japanese schools appears to be very low. This may contribute to what many ALTs consider a tendency among staff English teachers to rely excessively on Japanese when teaching English lessons, which can lead to a situation in which students as well neglect what should be an emphasis on developing speaking and listening skills in English. Speaking and listening skills are essential for Japanese students' social integration in a variety of international settings. This study examines the strengths and weaknesses of English education, and of staff English teachers in Japan, from the third-person perspectives of ALTs. The 282 ALTs who responded to this survey came from 14 different countries. They offer valuable insight as to how the English education system might be improved in Japan. In our global age, English education should be evaluated by global standards. (Contains 2 figures and 3 tables.)

Since at least the 1980s, motivated, in part, by findings from international comparisons of students' mathematics achievement, some American (U.S.) educators and policy makers have initiated educational reform that focuses on improving teaching practices and curriculum designs by advocating for the adoption of Asian educational models. The implicit assumption behind such reform seems to overlook the possible roles of outside of school factors in superior academic performance in the Asian countries. The purpose of this study was to investigate how outside of school factors were related to students' TIMSS mathematics achievement for the U.S and five top-performing Asian nations or regions, and to examine whether the relative role of school-associated and outside of school factors was consistent across these five Asian countries. The results indicated that students' achievement was highly related to outside of school factors across all six countries. For Singapore and Hong Kong, school-associated factors had somewhat more salient roles than the outside of school factors. However, for Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, school-associated factors played lessor roles in students' achievement performance. As for the U.S., school-associated factors were related to students' performance, however outside of school factors clearly played more salient roles than the school-associated factors. The findings suggest that students' mathematics achievement covaries substantially with outside of school factors. Hence, students' superior mathematics achievement does not necessarily reflect only a superior public school system but also outside of school factors. (Contains 10 tables and 2 figures.)

The divergence between a predominately White teacher education population and a diverse public school system poses this question: how do universities best prepare teacher candidates to teach children of racially and linguistically different backgrounds than their own? Teacher education programs have addressed this issue in a variety of ways, such as requiring multicultural coursework and/or requiring placements in urban schools. States, too, vary with respect to their requirements for diversity. In many states, students are tested on their development of a multicultural perspective on a standardized test. A test, immersion placements, and stand-alone multicultural education courses may all forms of teacher preparation and accountability in many states, but what are the ways to develop a critical understanding of diversity in order for students to not only pass a standardized teacher's test, but more importantly, to integrate culturally responsive teaching strategies into their public school classroom? This article describes how online discussions between diverse ethnically and linguistic groups of teachers from Egypt, Japan, Ghana, and the U.S., over a one-year period, allowed teacher candidates and teachers to openly discuss issues of race, culture, and language. The interactions through this online dialogue created a community of learners in which students and teachers felt comfortable in stating their viewpoints, and the students were eager to learn from other teachers. Through this online dialogue, these students became familiar with how important it is for teachers to view the world from multiple lenses.

Primary schooling, where the majority of students start learning formally about social interaction and civic expectations, reflects much about a nations' approach to education and the goals for their citizens. After a brief comparison of the purpose of education in both New Zealand and Japan, through the use of textual and content analysis, this paper firstly analyzes school mission (vision) statements to explore the degree of diversity that exists within the public school sector in New Zealand and Japan. One hundred and fifty primary school mission statements in New Zealand and Japan were examined and grouped according to content and common themes based on a modified and simplified version of Stemler and Bebell (The school mission statement: values, goals, and identities in American education, Routledge, New York 2012)'s rubric. Next, the results of this survey were compared with a previous Japanese one (BERD) (School education statements. The present state of education 2010), then cross-culturally by an examination of the main concepts that emerged in both countries. Finally, the paper attempts to shed light on the overall differences that exist between the two nations' primary education systems and what these reveal about its role in the respective societies in terms of the fostering of citizens for potential future contribution in the world.

The uptake of policies and recommendations to promote physical activity (PA) in American schools has been slow. It can be useful to investigate international contexts where school-based PA promotion has had more success and consider whether facilitative factors have transferability to American schools. This study employed a social ecological perspective to examine the school-based PA opportunities for Grade 2 students in Japan and the factors influencing these opportunities. Observations in five public schools, relevant documents, and interviews with teachers, principals, and district and ministry officials were analyzed using constant comparison. Findings showed multiple PA opportunities existed in daily routines and throughout the year. Government policy had a downstream influence on all lower levels of the education system. Many of the PA opportunities Japanese schools provided align with American recommendations, but different educational priorities between Japan and the United States might make implementing these opportunities more challenging in American schools.

What would be one of the most sensible ways for a country to invest to achieve maximal economic growth? A recent study (Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2011) by economists at Harvard and Columbia Universities shows that better teacher quality results in significantly higher students' lifetime earnings. And investing in public school teachers results in an expanding skilled work force, the foundation for maximal economic growth. Although Japan's economic growth has declined in recent decades, Japan has been and still is one of the several countries successfully educating students to participate in a large, highly skilled work force that generates a high per capita GDP. In this paper, characteristics of Japanese public schools that have contributed to attracting and retaining superior teachers will be described from the perspective of a high school mathematics teacher with 20 years teaching experience in Japanese public high schools and more than 13 years teaching in the United States; and more recently as department chairperson, hiring mathematics teachers for a private, residential high school. The paper will explore how better to select teachers with reference to actual practice in Japan and in the US and will include an analysis of actual qualifying/employment examinations and their outcomes. Prospects to foster and maintain a top tier, public school teaching profession that will expand the high skilled population and counteract "brain drain" for a developing country will be discussed. [This paper was originally presented by the author at the 5th International Conference on Science and Mathematics Education in Developing Countries, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 2012. It was published as "Strengthening a country by building a strong public school teaching profession," by K. I. West, 2013, "Journal of Project Research," 8, pp. 85-101. Copyright by Waseda University. Reprinted with permission.]

We examine how Japanese parents evaluate the current education system and assess possible reforms, based on a nationwide parent survey. Parents who have higher educational background, occupational status, and household income and expect higher education attainment from their children tend to be less satisfied with the current system and more in favor of school choice and voucher programs. They are also more willing to pay for additional education provided by public schools. These findings point to the possibility of student sorting caused by the different responses of parents to market-oriented reforms, even if overall efficiency in education can be improved. (Contains 4 notes, 6 tables, and 3 figures.)