QUA0099

Written evidence from Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

 

How Japan educates pupils who are excluded from school

 

  1. We understand that the reasons cited in your letter for children’s nonattendance at mainstream schools are school exclusion, behavioural problems, short- or long-term illness, or refusing to attend school. Our response takes up Japan’s assistance policies and measures for students affected by disability or illness (cases responding to short- or long-term illness) and for students not attending mainstream schools (cases of students refusing to attend school).

 

Assistance for children who cannot attend school due to serious disabilities or illness

 

  1. Three types of schooling: home-bound (or hospital-bound) education; distance learning (limited to high school, high school department of special needs education school); classes in hospital.

 

Home-bound (or hospital-bound) education

 

  1. Home-bound education is for students who have a serious disability or multiple disabilities that makes it difficult for them to attend a special needs education school. Teachers from special needs education schools visit the home, child welfare facility, hospital, etc. to provide education.

 

  1. Moreover, in accordance with Article 81, paragraph 3 of Japan’s School Education Act, teachers can be dispatched to provide education to students enrolled in elementary or junior school who are recuperating from illness at home or hospital.

 

Distance learning

 

  1. Students receiving long-term medical care who are enrolled in high schools or the high school department of special needs education schools are eligible to utilize a distance-learning program, such a system having been established in April 2015.

 

  1. This is a special system of curriculum for students for whom it is difficult to attend a high school designated by the MEXT minister due to illness that enables the provision of on-demand-type classes (uni-directional, asynchronous) utilizing ICT.

 

Hospital classes

 

  1. Children who are hospitalized may study in so-called “hospital classes” established in or with hospitals.

 

  1. These hospital classes do not have a legal basis such as a special needs education class. Operationally, there are three types of teacher dispatches for hospital classes: from classes at special needs education schools for the Health Impairment, from special needs classes for the Health Impairment at elementary or junior high schools, and hospital-bound education carried out in the form of classes by teachers of special needs education schools.

 

Assistance for students not attending mainstream schools

 

  1. Learning support is provided to students who have dropped out of high school or who refuse to attend school at Free Schools operated by private organizations.

 

  1. Students not attending school can receive counseling and learning support at Education Support Centers established by local governments, as well as can be regarded as attending school in cases when the student utilizes ICT or other means to study at home.

 

Definition of school non-attendance: Situation in which a student does not or cannot attend school due to a psychological, emotional, or physical reason, or to a social or background factor (excludes reasons of illness or financial situation).

 

Assistance for young persons who become unable to attend high school

 

  1. MEXT is developing models to help local governments provide counseling and academic support. (Some local governments have been providing such counseling and learning support in advance of MEXT’s recommendations.)

 

How the outcomes of pupils who are excluded from school compare to the outcomes of their peers

 

  1. We do not have any materials enabling comparisons of academic grades or other outcomes.

 

What Japan considers to be good practice when ensuring that pupils who are excluded from school are able to access high quality alternative education

 

  1. As shown in our response, Japan is carrying out a variety of efforts; we are not conducting any particular evaluations now to determine best practices. The examples given below are for reference purposes only.

 

Example of assistance for children who cannot attend school due to serious disabilities or illness

 

  1. A school attached to a hospital, the Yokohamaminami special needs education school in Kanagawa Prefecture is a special needs school for invalids that has the highest enrollment of hospitalized children in Japan. When the school holds outside social studies lessons at local museums, since there are children who can attend the lessons and others who cannot due to various medical limitations, the school allows students who cannot go to the location to receive the lessons in real time by linking the lesson location with the hosptial rooms through ICT. The school also holds ordinary lessons by connecting through ICT the hospital with classrooms up to 21 kilometers away.

 

Example of assistance for children not attending mainstream schools

 

  1. The NPO Tokyo Shure operates Free Schools to support children not attending mainstream schools. At these  schools, children can plan and organize their own learning program, and the schools provides experiential learning and helps the students learn. They also collaborate with correspondence education high schools.

 

March 2018