Students at the municipal Fukushima Elementary School in Kiso, Nagano Prefecture, can learn at their own pace in designated study units instead of a classroom as a whole.

Under the program, introduced in the 2020 school year, a variety of teaching materials are offered by teachers so pupils can study them on their own. 

The students can choose, in line with the goals of the study units, the teaching materials they use, the pace of their progress, how and where they study and other particulars, along with working out their study plans.

The school initially implemented the program in only one subject at a time, such as in Japanese or arithmetic. The program’s coverage was expanded in the last school year to also include practical subjects, such as music and “drawing and crafts.”

School officials also tried allowing fifth- and sixth-graders to study two or four subjects in any way they like within a designated number of class hours so as not to compare their own progress with that of their classmates.

Self-paced learning now accounts for about 10 percent of the annual class hours given in all grades at Fukushima Elementary School.

“Schoolchildren have become more motivated under self-paced learning, which allows them to manage on their own the way they learn,” said a teacher in charge of the program at the school.

“The method has also helped our schoolchildren learn about their own comprehension levels,” the teacher added. “Some of them have reviewed lessons voluntarily after realizing that they haven’t quite understood them.”

Fukushima Elementary School is among a growing number of elementary and junior high schools in Japan moving away from a traditional whole-class teaching approach.

The trend is a shift toward more individualized teaching methods because, amid a growing diversity of children in the classroom, schools are facing the difficulties of offering classes to all students with identical content and at an identical pace.

NAGANO SCHOOL JOINS TREND

The municipal Jonan Elementary School in Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, also introduced, in part of its classes, self-paced learning instruction within designated study units in the last school year.

“The method is attractive because it allows pupils to study at their own pace,” said a Jonan Elementary School teacher. “Slow learners can take their time in studying, whereas faster students can proceed apace. One problem, however, is that it’s such a lot of work to prepare teaching materials under that program.”

The Nagano Prefectural Board of Education said in February it is planning a shift toward “personalized optimal learning” at elementary and junior high schools in the prefecture.

Education board officials said they are planning to allow schoolchildren to switch back and forth between whole-class lessons and self-paced learning, and also draw on group activities, online learning and the metaverse.

By doing this, it will provide learning options that are suited to long absentees, children with developmental disabilities and those of non-Japanese origin.

The officials added they are hoping to spread the program to cover at least half of all elementary, junior high and special needs schools in the prefecture by the 2027 school year.

Similar teaching methods were formerly practiced, for some time, at some schools and by some teachers in Aichi Prefecture and elsewhere.

WORK IN PROGRESS

A recent push came from “Japanese-Style School Education in the Reiwa Era” (2019-present), a report released in 2021 by the Central Council for Education, which touted “personalized optimal learning and collaborative learning.”

The municipal education board of Kaga, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the last school year also kick-started a project, at all elementary and junior high schools in the city, for utilizing information and communication technology to offer individualized learning options.

“We hope to leave the learning process up to the children so they will grow up into people who create things on their own in future years, for which even adults of today have no answers,” said Chiharu Shimatani, chairwoman of the Kaga City Board of Education. 

There are, however, concerns that such an approach could end up in laissez-faire or cause a decline in academic performance depending on how it is operated.

“We hope to make sure that all teachers will work on the effort so we can share effective methods,” Shimatani said.