Comparative Education
Online ISSN : 2185-2073
Print ISSN : 0916-6785
ISSN-L : 0916-6785
Articles
The Special Entrance Examination System for Foreign Students in Japanese High Schools: Conflicts in Hyogo Prefecture
Naoki OHIGASHI
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2018 Volume 2018 Issue 57 Pages 111-132

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Abstract

  The purpose of this study is to clarify the functions of the special entrance examination system regarding the inequality of educational opportunities for foreign students at high school, focusing on conflicts of administration and high schools arising at the time of introduction. For this purpose, this study examines the situation of the selection of entrants and in-school education support of the special entrance examination system of Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The definition of foreign students in this paper includes not only foreign nationals, but also Japanese students who have roots in foreign countries. When nationality is important in the discussion, this study uses the term of “students of foreign nationalities.”

  In recent years, the number of foreign students wishing to go to Japanese high schools has been increasing. However, transition rates of foreign students from junior high school to high school are still lower than those of Japanese students. Therefore, in view of the fact that the number of foreign students living in Japan tends to increase further, advancement to high school becomes an important educational issue. Recently, in response to this situation, a special entrance examination system is expected to raise the high school transition rates of foreign students. Previous studies focused on municipalities and high schools that provide generous support, and analyzed support systems and functions. However, these have not fully considered conflicts associated with the implementation of the special entrance examination system. In general, high schools select students by unified entrance examination, but the special entrance examination system reverses its premise. For this reason, this paper considers that conflicts between administration and high schools arising at the time of the system introduction could affect the functions of the special entrance examination system.

  The findings of this study are as follows. Firstly, by introducing the system, foreign students with lower Japanese language ability than Japanese students can advance to high school. However, students who have lower Japanese language proficiency tend to fail the examination because of the test’s focusing on Japanese ability. In fact, students with poor ability in the Japanese language failed in the entrance examination of X high school, because the targets of the special entrance examination system are those students “within 3 years of coming to Japan”. Therefore, the administration needs to increase the number of the admission quota, and the entrance exam should focus on the students’ backgrounds or future prospects, rather than the academic ability test as is strongly influenced by Japanese language ability. In addition, there are 54 students of Japanese nationality who need Japanese language education in Hyogo prefecture’s junior high school in 2017. However, students who do not have any nationality except Japanese nationality cannot apply to this special entrance examination system. Moreover, there is another problem caused by the location of the high schools. In fact, the number of candidates for Y high school whose location is somewhat inconvenient is below the admission quota for the second consecutive year. Basically, the number of examinees is biased for each high school. In other words, students who cannot choose anything other than X high school or the popular school are forced to compete more fiercely. In order to solve these problems, the administration needs to increase the number of high schools with the special entrance examination system and to expand the qualification of candidates.

  Secondly, the school support system fundamentally contributes to the school adaptation and enhancement of learning experience of the students. On the other hand, however, they tend to depend on individual students’ efforts, because the school (View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)

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