Principles of Education

Which statement best matches Article 1 (Aim of Education) of the Basic Act on Education (教育基本法)?

1. Education must aim at national development and seek to raise healthy citizens with the knowledge and skills an industrial society needs.
2. Education must aim at developing individuality and seek to raise independent individuals who can learn and think for themselves.
3. Education must aim at the full development of personality and seek to raise citizens, sound in mind and body, with the qualities needed to build a peaceful, democratic state and society.
4. Education must aim at adapting to society and seek to raise healthy citizens able to survive a rapidly changing society.
5. Education must aim at passing on tradition and culture and seek to raise healthy citizens who love the nation and their home region.

The passage below is part of Article 3 (Principle of Lifelong Learning) of the Basic Act on Education (教育基本法). Choose the correct pair for (A) and (B).<br>'Society must be built so that every citizen can refine their personality and lead a rich life, being able to learn throughout life, (A), (B), and to make proper use of the results.'

1. A: on every occasion / B: in every place
2. A: in school education / B: at home and in the community
3. A: of their own will / B: when they need to
4. A: on every occasion / B: in schools and social education facilities
5. A: at each stage of life / B: in every place

Which statement about home education (Article 10) and early childhood education (Article 11) in the Basic Act on Education (教育基本法) is correct?

1. It states that the national and local governments bear the primary responsibility for a child's education.
2. It states that early childhood education is part of compulsory education and is free of tuition.
3. It states that home education is left to parents, so national and local governments are not involved.
4. It states that early childhood education exists to teach the basics of primary-school subjects in advance.
5. It states that early childhood education is important because it lays the foundation of personality formation for life.

Choose the TWO articles that were newly created, with no corresponding article in the old Act, when the Basic Act on Education (教育基本法) was fully revised in 2006.

1. Equal opportunity in education (Art. 4)
2. Principle of lifelong learning (Art. 3)
3. Religious education (Art. 15)
4. Early childhood education (Art. 11)
5. Political education (Art. 14)

Mark each of statements A–D about the Basic Act on Education (教育基本法) as true (○) or false (×), and choose the correct combination.<br>A: No citizen shall be discriminated against in education on the basis of race, creed, sex, social status, economic position or family origin.<br>B: No tuition is charged for compulsory education at schools established by the national or local governments.<br>C: Schools provided for by law may be established only by the national government, local governments and juridical persons provided for by law.<br>D: Schools established by national and local governments must not teach even general knowledge about religion.

1. A○ B○ C× D○
2. A○ B○ C○ D×
3. A○ B× C○ D×
4. A× B○ C○ D×
5. A○ B× C× D○

Which statement about Article 26 of the Constitution of Japan (日本国憲法) is correct?

1. All people have the right to receive education of identical content regardless of their ability.
2. Besides free compulsory education, it explicitly makes textbooks and school lunches free.
3. The national and local governments bear the obligation to have children receive general education.
4. All people have the right to receive an equal education according to their ability, as provided for by law.
5. Children themselves are obliged, as provided for by law, to receive general education.

Which of the following is NOT a 'school' as defined in Article 1 of the School Education Act (学校教育法)?

1. Kindergarten (幼稚園)
2. Compulsory education school (義務教育学校)
3. Secondary education school (中等教育学校)
4. College of technology (高等専門学校)
5. Day care center (保育所)

Choose the TWO correct statements about kindergartens as provided in the School Education Act (学校教育法).

1. A kindergarten's purpose is to care for young children and promote their development as a foundation for compulsory and later education.
2. Children may enter kindergarten from age one until they reach primary school age.
3. Kindergartens shall endeavour to give advice and information in response to consultations from parents and local residents about early childhood education.
4. Matters on the curriculum and other care content of kindergartens are decided by each prefectural governor.
5. Kindergartens must have a principal, a vice-principal and nursery teachers (hoikushi).

Which statement about Article 11 of the School Education Act (学校教育法) is correct?

1. Principals and teachers may not discipline students at all; only verbal warnings are allowed.
2. Principals and teachers may discipline students when educationally necessary, but may not use corporal punishment.
3. Principals and teachers may use corporal punishment within educational limits if parents consent.
4. Principals and teachers may discipline only upper secondary school students.
5. Only principals may discipline; teachers may use corporal punishment with the principal's permission.

Which statement about the Course of Study for Kindergarten (幼稚園教育要領, 2017 notice) and related regulations is correct?

1. The Course of Study for Kindergarten is a standard issued by the Commissioner of the Children and Families Agency.
2. Kindergarten education is basically delivered through whole-class lessons divided by subject.
3. Except in special circumstances, a kindergarten school year must have at least 35 weeks of education.
4. Kindergarten education, in light of the nature of early childhood, is basically carried out through the environment.
5. The standard daily education time in kindergarten is six hours.

Which statement about Comenius is correct?

1. He wrote Orbis Pictus (The Visible World in Pictures, 1658), combining pictures and text, regarded as a forerunner of children's picture books.
2. In Émile (1762), written as a novel, he argued for education that follows the child's original nature.
3. In 1837 he opened an institution for young children in Blankenburg, later naming it the 'Kindergarten'.
4. In 1907 he opened the 'Children's House' in a Rome apartment building for children aged three to six.
5. In 1816 he opened an infant school at the New Lanark mills to educate workers' children.

Which statement about Rousseau's Émile is most appropriate?

1. It is a philosophical treatise arguing that the mind is a blank slate at birth and all knowledge comes from experience.
2. It is a textbook that teaches children the names of things by placing pictures beside Latin and vernacular sentences.
3. It combines a novel with an educational essay and holds that vice and error are not part of the child's original nature but come from outside.
4. It records practice at a university laboratory school designed to connect school with children's lives.
5. It argues that the new century should become the century of the child and discusses children and family life.

Which statement about Pestalozzi is correct?

1. He opened a laboratory school attached to the University of Chicago to test child-centred methods.
2. He ran a factory in Britain and opened Britain's first infant school for workers' children.
3. A Swedish thinker, he wrote The Century of the Child and made children a major public concern.
4. In Germany he developed early education using play and 'gifts', and wrote The Education of Man.
5. A Swiss educator devoted to educating the poor, his school at Yverdon drew pupils from all over Europe.

Which statement about Froebel is correct?

1. He had no connection with Pestalozzi, thought play hindered learning, and taught young children to read and write.
2. He had worked with Pestalozzi at Yverdon, and in 1837 he opened an institution for young children.
3. As a physician he worked on educating children with disabilities and applied the method to ordinary young children.
4. He was a 17th-century figure who wrote The Great Didactic and argued that all children should attend school.
5. He wrote The School and Society and promoted progressive education linking school with children's lives.

Which statement about Dewey is correct?

1. In 1907 he opened the 'Children's House' in Rome and used sensory teaching materials.
2. In 1801 he wrote How Gertrude Teaches Her Children.
3. In 1693 he wrote Some Thoughts Concerning Education, valuing character over information.
4. In 1896 he started a laboratory school at the University of Chicago, and in 1899 he wrote The School and Society.
5. In 1658 he wrote Orbis Pictus, a forerunner of illustrated textbooks.

Which statement about Montessori is correct?

1. A woman who earned a medical degree from the University of Rome, she opened the 'Children's House' in Rome's San Lorenzo district in 1907.
2. An American philosopher and co-founder of pragmatism who stressed learning by doing.
3. A German philosopher and educator regarded as one of the founders of modern scientific pedagogy.
4. A Swedish woman thinker who wrote The Century of the Child in 1900.
5. Born in Moravia, this person fled to Poland around the Thirty Years' War and wrote books on education.

Choose the TWO correct pairings of a person and a work or idea.

1. Locke — Émile
2. Ellen Key — The Education of Man
3. Locke — the mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa) at birth
4. Owen — Orbis Pictus
5. Ellen Key — The Century of the Child

Choose the TWO correct statements about terakoya and domain schools (藩校) in the Edo period.

1. Terakoya were simple schools where common people's children learned basic reading and writing, centred on handwriting practice.
2. Terakoya were public schools the shogunate ordered set up nationwide, and all their teachers were samurai.
3. Domain schools were for common people's children and taught only reading, writing and the abacus.
4. Domain schools were for samurai children, centred on Confucian learning, and by the end of the period added Western learning and martial arts.
5. Domain schools survived unchanged after the Meiji Restoration and became imperial universities.

Which statement about the Gakusei (学制, Education System Order) of 1872 is correct?

1. It was issued under Education Minister Mori Arinori and consisted of four school ordinances.
2. It was issued as a system that shifted educational authority to local areas, making local control the basis.
3. It aimed for everyone to learn, declaring that there should be no village household and no family member without learning.
4. It was issued in the postwar reforms and set up 6-3 compulsory education and coeducation.
5. It was issued as the pillar of national morality, setting out basic educational policy in the form of an imperial rescript.

Which statement about the kindergarten attached to Tokyo Women's Normal School, opened in 1876, is correct?

1. It modelled itself on Montessori's Children's House and centred care on sensory materials.
2. It modelled itself on Dewey's laboratory school and centred care on practical work.
3. It continued the terakoya tradition and centred care on handwriting practice.
4. It modelled itself on Rousseau's Émile and centred on individual education at home.
5. It modelled itself on Froebel's kindergarten, and its head matron was Clara Matsuno.

Choose the correct chronological order (oldest first) of events A–D.<br>A: The Imperial Rescript on Education (教育勅語) is issued<br>B: The Gakusei (学制) is promulgated<br>C: The (old) Basic Act on Education and the School Education Act are enacted<br>D: The school ordinances, including the Elementary School Order, are promulgated

1. B→A→D→C
2. B→D→A→C
3. D→B→A→C
4. B→D→C→A
5. A→B→D→C

Which statement about education reform after World War II is correct?

1. The U.S. Education Mission that came in 1946 recommended shortening compulsory education to four years.
2. The 1947 (old) Basic Act on Education had no article on coeducation.
3. The School Education Act was promulgated in 1890, the same year as the Imperial Rescript on Education.
4. The U.S. Education Mission's report recommended 6-3 compulsory schooling free of tuition, coeducation and more.
5. The Education Reform Committee was a council set up in the Cabinet in the prewar 1930s.

Which of the following is NOT among the 'images of children we hope to see by the end of early childhood' in the Course of Study for Kindergarten (幼稚園教育要領, 2017)?

1. Mastery of reading and writing letters
2. Cooperativeness
3. Budding morality and sense of rules
4. Engagement with nature and respect for life
5. Communication through words

Choose the TWO correct statements about learning assessment.

1. The Ministry of Education's 2019 notice set four assessment viewpoints, including 'interest, motivation and attitude'.
2. Assessment that checks how far the goals in the Course of Study have been achieved is called goal-referenced (so-called absolute) assessment.
3. Assessment that shows a child's relative position within a class or grade is called intra-individual assessment.
4. Intra-individual assessment compares a child with other children rather than looking at the child's strengths and progress.
5. The Ministry of Education's 2019 notice set three viewpoints: 'knowledge and skills', 'thinking, judgement and expression', and 'attitude of proactively engaging in learning'.

Which statement about lifelong learning and social education is correct?

1. The Social Education Act (社会教育法) defines social education as educational activities carried out as part of the school curriculum.
2. The Social Education Act defines libraries and museums as institutions attached to schools to supplement school education.
3. A UNESCO meeting in 1965 presented the need for 'lifelong education', and Paul Lengrand is known as the person who set out this idea.
4. The Ad Hoc Council on Education first proposed 'a shift to a lifelong learning system' in its 2006 report.
5. The principle of lifelong learning was already in Article 3 of the (old) Basic Act on Education enacted in 1947.