The assessment system of Otemachi Primary School involves a tripartite
review of student development, with the participation of three stakeholders:
teachers, parents and students; thus gaining multiple perspectives. Detailed
criteria for the assessment items are defined for each grade and are shared
with parents at the beginning of the school year. This enables teachers,
students and parents to understand what is expected and how the students
will be assessed in each subject. Furthermore, sharing the assessment system
with students and parents helps to reduce the sense of unfairness some feel
exists when teachers evaluate students’ achievement.
Overall, the research team found that the assessment systems in the observed
schools were at a developmental stage. Establishing an effective assessment
system, which also incorporates twenty-first century skills, is vital to promote
the required skills and competencies. The current examination system needs
to be carefully revisited to identify how to incorporate ways of assessing
twenty-first century skills.
Challenges
The study identified a number of issues relating to the implementation of
the 2008 New Courses of Study. These included lack of understanding of the
policy goals and insufficient teaching capacity and teacher trainings.
The new policy lacks cross-curricular perspectives
According to the National Institute of Education Policy Research, although
the 2008 New Courses of Study indicates the importance of development of
abilities and competencies in each subject (NIER, 2013), discussions of cross-
curricular perspectives and activities, which promote the development of
twenty-first century skills, are inadequate.
The goals of a cross-curricular perspective are: to shift the emphasis from what
learners should ‘know’ to what they can ‘do’, and to encourage improvement
of content and teaching methods. Some concrete improvements include
using more open-ended questions and reflecting real-life issues when asking
students questions.
Pedagogy on discussion activity is not well-understood by teachers
Experts are concerned that relevant pedagogy to promote twenty-first
century skills may not be sufficiently understood and shared among teachers.
The current teaching methods employed in most Japanese schools are not