British_and_Japanese_Education

The British education has changed a lot under the Thatcher administration from 1979 to 1990, and in Japan, there have been three major educational reforms since the Meiji Restoration in 1868. With the times and the movement in the education, there have been some different aspects between Japan and the UK, ranging from the compulsory education, the examination system to the size of classes. It is normal that different countries have different policies on the education system since the idea of what kind of people we want to cultivate to be differs from country to country. The differences in education show what the people in each country think highly of. One distinctive difference between the British education system and the Japanese education system is the sizes of classes. The students in Japan are taught in groups which, by comparison with Britain, usually would be considered to be large classes of about 40 pupils. It seems, in the Japanese education, that an important factor lies in the idea of creating harmony. Traditionally Japanese people learn from a young age how to cooperate and help each other, and how to act within a group. There are some activities forming cooperative attitude found mostly in Japanese elementary and secondary school education, and ‘han’ which literally means ‘group’ is one of the most meaningful ones. Han is usually composed of 6 people in a homeroom class and they work in the group to accomplish a variety of activities. For instance, each han has an assigned role to broom and wipe the floor, clean the blackboard, take out the rubbish and such, and the students themselves take responsibility for keeping their school clean. In this way, Japanese students learn how to work in a large group and in harmony. On the other hand, the British education seems to think highly of individuality rather than harmony and groups. In British classroom, desks are often set in a circle and a U-shaped pattern so that both teachers and students can easily exchange their opinions. It makes it easier for every single student to actively participate in class and to realise their own individuality. Another difference is a student-teacher ratio and the relationship between teachers and students. The average student-teacher ratio in maths classes for 18-year olds in the United Kingdom was 12:1, whereas 40:1 in Japan. Japanese teachers spend less time in front of the class and use the rest of the time for marking, preparation and so on. As a result, the Japanese teachers tend to see the students as a group since they do not have enough time to see the differences in personality of each student. In contrast, in the British education, the contact ratio with the students is much higher and the teachers relatively spend more time in front of the class. Therefore, the British teachers have much opportunity to see good and bad in each student and respect individuality of each student. In conclusion, there are some differences in education between the UK and Japan. The characteristic aspects which can be seen from the differences make the education of each country rather unique. The education reflects the values of the country and the differences are closely related to the ideas that Japanese people think highly of harmony or groups and British people respect the individuality.