This paper focuses on the students' maladjustment in the process of school transition and explores its social background factors. It also speculates about the effects and problems of collaboration among preschools, elementary schools and secondary schools. Partly because the Japanese government has adopted a 6-3-3 education system for more than 60 years, the Japanese education system has developed specific programs for methodological socialization at each school level. We should understand that school transition is not merely an environmental change but it urges students to be exposed to powerful and methodological messages for re-socialization from school to school. Students' maladjustment can be understood as a reaction against these re-socializing messages. School transition and school collaboration in Japan are related with fundamental educational issues of how our society raises and educates young people. The current Fundamental Law on Education and the School Education Law hold up an ideal of consistency and continuity of teaching. Based on these fundamental acts guidelines for the course of study just revised in 2008 emphasize enrichment of preschool education based on the principle of pursuing developmental and learning continuity for children. They also emphasize consistency of the curriculum contents of elementary and secondary education. But these acts and the guidelines take for granted the present education system and aim at smooth transition between different levels of school. The actual practices for school collaboration often just consist of holding student exchange programs and suffer from the "activity trap." We cannot often find reliable relationship in those activities with the goal of "articulation" among schools. School collaboration is a project where teachers of different schools find difference in their teaching and caring methods by themselves. In order to establish collaborative relationships between schools, teachers are expected to communicate with each other intensively. I reported a discussion process in a teachers' committee to develop effective curriculum to articulate a kindergarten with an elementary school. Through the discussion, teachers came to find differences in their evaluation policy and in the conceptualization of curricula between the kindergarten and the elementary school. But they thought they did not have to eliminate these differences and tried to find strategies to articulate smoothly between the two institutions. We need to reflect more deeply about our own teaching and caring philosophy by ourselves and to revise our method of teaching and caring.

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This paper examines various aspects of the school system in the 1930s, aiming to discover a historical place for the acceptance of human development brought about by Japanese schools. As observed in proposals to redefine secondary education on the basis of the universalization of higher education, the present debate aims to re-evaluate the school establishment. These debates are based on the notion of human development by schools, yet these fail to consider the historicity of the idea itself. This paper identifies the present indicator of the acceptance of schools as having transitioned from compulsory education to the desire to and act of moving on to a higher-level school. The school system of this period originated with significant developments in the trend to pursue higher levels of education, which appeared in the 1930s as advancement to higher elementary schools and finally to the subsequent post-elementary education. Furthermore, this paper examines and attempts to find a historical place for various aspects of the acceptance of schools in the 1930s, while referencing the actual state of affairs surrounding such school articulation. In the 1930s, the ordinary elementary schools that took charge of building a national citizenry with the aim of national unification weakened their self-contained education and began to face challenges regarding articulation with schools at higher levels as the behavior of seeking further education after compulsory education became popular. The demand for advancement to secondary schools increased and the advancement to higher elementary schools became ordinary. Furthermore, a situation in which a large number of individuals entered the business world after further attending post-elementary educational institutions began to take shape. When male students' attendance at the youth schools established to integrate post-elementary educational institutions was made compulsory, policymakers were aware of these realities and were viewing the construction of conduits to the military and public safety measures as political challenges. Such schools targeted the youths who left from the school establishment in ordinary elementary schools for continued school education under the category of "youth education." This was accomplished in post-elementary educational institutions that were not clearly designated as schools, in contrast with elementary and middle schools. New challenges such as building connections with the business world and the military (conscription) caused various difficulties, and solutions were apparently needed. Moreover, a process of trial and error was enacted toward those youths not targeted in adolescence for school education; that is, youths and youth culture shaped by principles and formulas in which the region dictated human development and the new generation assumed the occupations practiced by the old. Within such informal educational culture, people had not become to accept schools until schools arranged themselves along with the youth culture. The formation of self occurred in accordance with two sets of principles, school-related and non-school-related. This was also an attempt to respond to a new state of affairs in which teachers practiced their occupations, considering principles of the regional community. The experience of being included in school in the 1930s prepared public acceptance of schools and the ground of stability of the postwar 6-3-3-4 educational system.

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Higher education in Japan has arrived on the universal stage. The purposes of this paper are to empirically discover problems of the articulation between upper secondary education and higher education today, and to propose a basic design for better articulation. Two approaches are adopted to pursue this purpose. The first approach is to examine what was brought into upper secondary education by the diversification of university admissions methods and the diversification of upper secondary education which had been encouraged by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. The data used for this analysis were as follows. 1) The curricula tables of general courses of 331 upper secondary schools. 2) Curriculum frameworks and principles that organize upper secondary school curricula. 3) Subject choices of 35,662 university entrants when they were in upper secondary schools. The data were analysed in respect to admissions methods, use of scholastic tests, total numbers of credits and number of credits for elective subjects of the upper secondary school curriculum, effects of university entrance examinations on upper secondary school curriculum, and what university entrants place great importance on admissions methods and criteria. It is found that the diversification of university admissions methods and the diversification of upper secondary education lead the upper secondary schools to organize their curricula so that their students efficiently can pass university entrance examinations. The curricula now have a lack of core content and balance. The second approach is utilised to find out what cognitive skills university entrants acquired when they were upper secondary school students and what skills they need to succeed in higher education. The data were collected by sending questionnaires to university students across the country in 1999 and 2006. Twenty-six skills were listed in the questionnaire. These skills were selected from 49 Common Curriculum Elements (cognitive skills) of senior secondary school curriculum in Queensland, Australia. The students were asked what skills they think important to succeed in higher education and which skills they acquired when they were secondary students. It is found that the skills that were required more to succeed in higher education but had were less acquired at secondary schools were those in creating and presenting, structuring and sequencing, analysing, assessing and concluding. The results of the two approaches are that it is now very difficult to articulate between the upper secondary education and higher education through the present university admissions system. Further, upper secondary school curricula should be revised so that students can acquire the above skills to be successful in higher education. Performance-based assessment methods are more suitable in assessing whether an applicant has acquired those skills, and secondary school teachers play more important roles to continuously assess such skills. An articulation system is now necessary which keeps upper secondary school students out of excessive specialisation in the curriculum, provides them with a broad and balanced curriculum, and provides information on cognitive skills of the students. Such a system is one that admits students into university based on school-based assessment. Ontario, Canada and Queensland, Australia give us suggestions as university admissions systems which select applicants based on achievement in secondary school.

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This paper considers the structural and curricular changes of the secondary education system in Japan, after World War II, especially in the last 30 years. Comparative analysis of the secondary education system in European countries shows that it is very hard to reveal the characteristics of the secondary education system, because the cultural and historical background of the school system is different in each country. For example, the length of the lower and upper stage of secondary education, the beginning and the end of compulsory education, tracking in the school system, and other aspects can be very different and in some countries the educational content only consists of general education, and in others both general and vocational education are taught in lower secondary education. Some countries provide vocational education and training in upper secondary education as an element of part-time or full-time compulsory education. In Japan, the secondary education system was reorganized from a segmented system to an integrated system after World War II. Lower secondary schools are situated as schools for preparation to enter upper secondary schools and preparation for vocational occupations. But the function of lower secondary schools has changed because most graduates would like to enter upper secondary schools and they could in the 1970s. The main function of lower secondary education is preparation for the entrance examination of upper secondary schools. In addition to such a functional change, the lower secondary schools provide not only subject-oriented curricula but also experience-based curricula since 1998. Nowadays more than 90% of the lower secondary students go to public schools. That means a public lower secondary school is attended by a diverse group of students. Upper secondary schools were envisioned as comprehensive schools after World War II, but those plans could not be completely realized. The upper secondary schools were defined in the same legal position in the school system. Upper secondary schools consist of segmented general education schools and vocational education schools, and the former are further divided into schools for preparing for university and preparation for the labor market. In the 1960s because of the increase in the acceptance rate to upper secondary schools, the competition to enter the upper secondary schools was stronger. The applicants had to prepare for the entrance examinations more because the educational authorities changed the conditions so that they would have more possibilities to choose upper secondary schools. In addition to the entrance examination, the educational authorities made the regulation that students had to study more compulsory subjects in upper secondary schools. In upper secondary school many of the students have similar ability. In these 30 years educational policies have changed. Many upper secondary schools have special courses and more similar students gather in upper secondary schools. Not only upper secondary schools but also compulsory schools began to become similar to secondary schools. That means students are choosing a compulsory school or those which require admissions screening. The compulsory schools are changing from "schools for all children in a community" into "schools for selected children."

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The purpose of this study is to clarify the issues of "curriculum articulation" in unified compulsory public schools. In the context of curriculum study, articulation means a new integrated existence with two contradictory activities: putting categories in order and ensuring continuity. Curriculum articulation in an integrated compulsory public school means to reorganize the categories for nine years under the current 6-3 school system to make a smooth transition from elementary to junior high school by combining two different school types. Recently, there is a tendency for each local government to introduce a unified compulsory public school system incorporating elementary and junior high school. As a unified compulsory public school system has not been institutionalized nationwide, it is executed either as an exception to the current system or as one special type within the existing system. The primary reasons for the introduction include relief of the "gap between elementary and junior high schools" syndrome. The syndrome means an increase in the number of problems with bullying and truancy, which occur when a student proceeds from elementary to junior high school. The phenomenon originates from the gap between the two schools, including changes from a classroom system to a department system. As an example of articulation of different schools before the unified compulsory public school system, we should look at the institutionalization of a unified six-year public secondary school system at the end of the last century in Japan. The discussion included 1) concern for the advent of elite public schools by selection and the introduction of an accelerated curriculum; 2) the "mid-grade looseness" problem and rigid human relations due to a highly homogeneous group caused by the lack of entrance examinations for senior high school; and 3) difference in teachers' culture between compulsory junior high and non-compulsory senior high that selects students by entrance examinations. These concerns may apply to the unified compulsory public school system. Having provided an overview of the study of unified compulsory public schools, we identified the following characteristics: 1) the introduction of an accelerated curriculum ahead of the national course of study, and relief of the gap between the sixth year of elementary and the first year of junior high from a review of the curriculum for each grade; 2) improvement in students' self-esteem through human interaction among different grades or schools; 3) differences in teachers' culture between elementary and compulsory junior high that derives from the license system, the organization of schools, job identity, and so on. Based on the above discussion, we pointed out the issues of curriculum articulation in unified compulsory public schools: a focus on results of some policies for relief of the "gap between elementary and junior high schools" syndrome, an overemphasis on the mental situation of students and correspondent research methods; and organizational countermeasures for reframing teacher's job identity in response to differences in the teachers' culture between the two different type of schools.

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