Student Guidance, Educational Counselling and Career Education

The Guidelines define student guidance as educational activity that supports the process in which students grow and develop, voluntarily and proactively, into people who can live true to themselves in society; guidance and help for problems are given "as needed". It does not mean only making students reflect on misbehaviour. It is carried out by all staff in all educational activities, inside and outside the curriculum, so it is not an activity only for the student guidance department. It has importance alongside academic teaching, so describing it as a managerial activity for academic results is also wrong.

The Guidelines describe self-guidance ability as the ability, based on deep self-understanding, to find problems proactively, choose and set one's own goals, and decide and carry out one's own actions voluntarily and autonomously while respecting others' independence. It is about deciding for oneself, not acting as instructed. Because it includes respecting others' independence, it is not about working alone without others. It is also not a leader's ability to make other students follow rules.

The practical perspectives in the Guidelines are four: letting students feel a sense of their own presence, building empathetic relationships, providing opportunities for self-determination, and creating a safe and secure climate. So the one not included is teachers enforcing strict, uniform discipline. The sense of presence means students feel valued so that individuals are not lost in the group. Empathetic relationships are the base of a supportive, creative class. A safe and secure climate should be built by the students themselves with the support of staff.

The Guidelines treat development-supporting guidance, based on everyday guidance, and organised, planned problem-prevention education as proactive guidance that acts first. Early detection and response and guidance for serious problems are reactive guidance that responds after signs or problems appear. So any pair that includes early detection and response or guidance for serious problems is wrong.

Layer 3, early detection and response, targets some students of concern who show warning signs or whose risk of problem behaviour is rising, and responds at an early stage so that problems do not become serious. Layers 1 and 2 target all students. Layer 4, guidance for serious problems, targets specific students with serious problems. The four layers are about students, not about parents or the community.

Problem-prevention education is an intentional, organised and systematic programme for all students that aims to prevent guidance problems, such as anti-bullying education, suicide prevention education including teaching how to ask for help (SOS), drug abuse prevention education, information ethics education and delinquency prevention classes. Early responses to students whose absences are increasing belong to Layer 3, early detection and response. Ongoing support for abuse with outside agencies belongs to Layer 4. Everyday greetings without a particular problem in mind are Layer 1, development-supporting guidance.

The 2010 edition had three layers: guidance that promotes growth, preventive guidance, and problem-solving guidance. The revision developed this, splitting "guidance that promotes growth" into Layer 1, development-supporting guidance, and Layer 2, preventive guidance: problem-prevention education, giving four layers. The layer for problem-solving remains as Layer 4, guidance for serious problems, so it was not abolished. Preventive guidance was not the one that was split, and no layer for parents was added.

The general provisions say to support development through "both" guidance, which gives necessary instruction and help mainly in group settings, and counselling, which gives instruction that deals individually with each student's problems based on their diverse circumstances. The provision is the same in elementary and lower secondary schools, so guidance is not a lower-secondary-only career briefing, and counselling is done by teachers too, not only by school counsellors. The option that swaps the two descriptions is wrong. Schools do not choose one; they use both.

The Guidelines say individual guidance has two meanings: guidance given apart from the group, and paying attention to individuals even in group guidance. Responding to individuals during whole-class activities such as lessons is also individual guidance, so it is not limited to separate-room guidance for misbehaviour or after-school remedial study. The Guidelines see group and individual guidance as working together: individuals grow supported by the group, and their growth develops the group. Individual guidance is not something to avoid.

The Guidelines say educational counselling is not independent of student guidance; it is part of it and plays a central role in it. It is not the special job of school counsellors alone; coordinators, homeroom teachers, school counsellors and school social workers work as a team. It is also not limited to responses after problems; consistent support from prevention, early detection and early response through to preventing recurrence is required. Homeroom teachers, being closest to students, are involved too.

The Guidelines say the aim of educational counselling is to help students form the qualities and attitudes needed for social self-realisation in the future, which it shares with student guidance. Then it explains that student guidance tends to focus on gaining qualities needed as members of groups and society, while educational counselling tends to focus on helping individual qualities grow. The swapped option is wrong. Counselling also aims at future self-realisation, not only present worries. The Guidelines call for the two to be unified and for all staff to work together.

The Guidelines ask staff to (1) think about guidance and help based on understanding the student (assessment), not on staff's own values and beliefs, (2) understand that no method works in every situation and aim for flexibility, and (3) keep a time perspective. So deciding based on the values and beliefs of staff is the inappropriate one; even with experience, the basis should be assessment. The other three are the attitudes the Guidelines describe.

The Guidelines say that even interviews of about five minutes, if continued, help build a sense of security ("I can talk at the regular consultation") and trust, and that staff should listen in an accepting, empathetic way. It is not a long session only for students with signs of problems. A written survey is a different method, the questionnaire survey. These interviews are done by teachers and other staff, so the idea that only school counsellors do them and homeroom teachers are not told is wrong.

A screening meeting brings together the educational counselling coordinator, the student guidance director, the special needs education coordinator, the school nurse, school counsellors and school social workers to find high-risk students and set up support. It screens widely, like casting a net, so it is important to set criteria and for staff other than the homeroom teacher to know the students. Making a support plan for a specific student is the job of a case meeting. It is not the homeroom teacher's work alone; it exists to prevent teachers from keeping problems to themselves. It does not narrow down to students who have clearly misbehaved; it picks up students widely.

The Guidelines show three types: the smallest "mobile cooperation-type" team, which adds the student guidance director, grade leader or educational counselling coordinator to the homeroom teacher; the "in-school cooperation-type" team that crosses duty divisions and grades; and the "network-type" team made up of the school and outside agencies. The one including outside agencies is the network type. The other two are made of school staff. A "grade meeting-type" team is not one of the types in the Guidelines.

The BPS model is an assessment method that looks at a student's problems from three viewpoints: biological, psychological and social. Using school non-attendance as an example, the Guidelines give biological factors as developmental characteristics, illness and so on; psychological factors as cognition, emotions, beliefs, stress, personality and so on; and social factors as the environment and relationships at home and school. So the answer is social factors. "Educational factors" is not one of the three viewpoints.

Article 70 of the Enforcement Regulations says lower secondary schools are to have a student guidance director (though a school need not have one when it has a chief teacher (主幹教諭) or, since an amendment in force from 1 April 2026, a lead teacher (主務教諭) handling those duties, or in other special circumstances). The director is a senior teacher or teacher who, under the principal's supervision, takes charge of student guidance matters. There is no such provision for elementary schools; according to the Guidelines, they set up a student guidance department or a person in charge under Article 47, which allows heads for dividing school duties as needed. Options that swap the school types or make it compulsory for both are wrong, and there is no rule that the principal or vice-principal fills the post.

Article 65-3 says school counsellors work on support for elementary school children's mental well-being, and Article 65-4 says school social workers work on support for their welfare; Article 79 applies these to lower secondary schools. The option that swaps mental well-being and welfare is wrong. The provisions are written for elementary schools and applied to lower secondary schools, so "only lower secondary" is wrong. The Guidelines treat SCs and SSWs placed in schools as school staff who work under the principal's direction and supervision.

The definition is: those absent for 30 days or more in a year because, due to some psychological, emotional, physical or social factor or background, they do not attend or cannot attend even if they want to, excluding those absent because of illness or financial reasons. The count is days in a year, not consecutive days. The number is 30, not 60. Absences due to illness or financial reasons are excluded, so the option that includes them is wrong.

The Guidelines explain that the Act puts to the fore the idea that non-attendance is the result of various factors and backgrounds and that it must not be judged as "problem behaviour". The option calling it problem behaviour caused by the student or home is the opposite. The goal of support is social independence, not just returning to school, and pressure to attend without thought is not recommended. The Guidelines also say there are limits to seeing it only from an educational viewpoint and stress network support with outside agencies.

The Guidelines say the goal is social independence, so that students can become independent mentally and financially and live a rich life, and that the goal is not only the result of attending school. So making return to class or fewer absences the top goal is wrong. The Guidelines also say that support should not be only "waiting" but should fit the situation, so making no approach at all is not appropriate. Falling behind in study is a risk, but increasing homework is not the goal.

The Guidelines say social independence here does not mean not relying on anyone or not receiving support; it means realising oneself in society while relying on others appropriately and asking for needed support. So the option about living alone without any support is wrong. The Guidelines list many paths, such as going on to high school, the high school equivalency exam or work, so it is not limited to getting a job right away or graduating from one's current school.

The Guidelines say learning at outside public bodies or private facilities can, under certain conditions, be counted as attendance by the principal's decision. The conditions include close cooperation between parents and the school, the principal judging (with the board of education and using the guidelines) whether a private facility's counselling and guidance are appropriate, and the student attending or living at the facility to receive them. The board does not decide uniformly; it works with the principal. A parent's report or the facility's certificate alone does not make it automatic.

In August 2023, the Minister of Education decided on "school for diverse learning" as the name for what were informally called special schools for non-attending students. Under Article 56 of the Enforcement Regulations (applied to lower secondary schools by Article 79) and other provisions, these schools can set a special curriculum outside the standard rules, taking account of non-attending students' situation. Schools with night classes are night junior high schools, which are different. Facilities set up by boards of education for learning support and counselling are educational support centres. A school for diverse learning is a school under the School Education Act, not an approval scheme for private free schools.

Article 13 says that, in view of the importance of diverse and appropriate learning that non-attending students do outside school, national and local governments are to take the measures needed to give information, advice and other support to the students and their parents, taking into account each student's need for rest, so that learning fits each student's situation. There is no wording about an early return to school. Parents' employment or income and national test results are not what this article mentions.

The Guidelines explain that the 1992 notice stressed the viewpoint that non-attendance can happen to any child, and that it is important to wait rather than push children to attend without thought. The idea that it happens only to certain personalities is the opposite of "any child". Blaming home upbringing was not the viewpoint either. Strong pressure to attend is also opposite to the notice. Later, it came to be stressed that support should go beyond just waiting and fit each situation.

In the FY2024 survey, there were 137,704 in elementary schools and 216,266 in lower secondary schools, 353,970 in total, the 12th straight rise and a record high. So the option saying it fell is wrong. Lower secondary schools had more than elementary schools. Per 1,000 students the figure was 38.6 (37.2 the year before), not about 3.9. These are the latest published results as of October 2026 and are updated every year.

MEXT describes career education as education that promotes career development by fostering the abilities and attitudes that form the basis for each person's social and vocational independence (the definition from the Central Council for Education report of January 2011). Career education fosters the abilities and attitudes that form the "basis" for independence; it does not mean fostering the knowledge and skills for one particular occupation. Career education is done throughout school activities from elementary school, not only for decisions in the last year of lower secondary school. Workplace experience is one means, not a way to learn the skills of a particular job.

The basic and general-purpose abilities, set out in the Central Council for Education report of 2011 on career and vocational education, are four: the ability to build human relationships and form society, the ability to understand and manage oneself, the ability to deal with tasks, and career planning ability. So the one not included is the ability to use information. That ability appears in the Courses of Study as one of the "qualities and abilities that are the basis of learning", together with language ability, and is separate from these four.

The general provisions say to enhance career education "with special activities as the core, while making use of the characteristics of each subject", so that students can gain the qualities and abilities that form the basis for social and vocational independence while seeing the link between learning and their own future. This is the same in elementary and lower secondary schools. Integrated studies, moral education and social studies also contribute in their own ways, but the one named as the core is special activities.

After career education, the lower secondary general provisions add: within this, provide organised and planned career guidance through all school activities so that students can think about how to live and choose their path proactively. This sentence is not in the elementary general provisions. The Guidelines explain that career guidance is therefore included within career education, so the option saying it is wider is the reverse. Career guidance is done in an organised, planned way through all school activities, not only by third-year homeroom teachers.

For elementary school the items are: (a) forming the will and attitude to live with hopes and goals now and in the future, (b) fostering awareness of participation in society and understanding the meaning of work, and (c) forming a proactive attitude to learning and using the school library. For lower secondary school they are: (a) forming a proactive attitude to learning connected to social and working life and using the school library, (b) fostering awareness of participation in society and views on work and occupations, and (c) proactive choice of one's path and planning for the future. So the lower-secondary-only item is the choice of path and future planning; the other three appear at both levels.

According to the Guidelines, the career passport is a portfolio designed so that students, centred on class and homeroom activities and linked with each subject, can look ahead and reflect on their learning and career formation from elementary to upper secondary school and assess their own changes and growth. It corresponds to the "materials in which students record and keep their activities" in class activities (3) of the Courses of Study. The official record of grades and attendance is the cumulative guidance record, not the career passport. It is not a certificate written by a workplace or a document only for job seekers; all students use it from elementary school.

Article 71 says lower secondary schools are to have a career guidance director (though a school need not have one when it has a chief teacher (主幹教諭) or, since an amendment in force from 1 April 2026, a lead teacher (主務教諭) handling those duties). The director is a senior teacher or teacher who, under the principal's supervision, takes charge of career guidance matters such as guidance on students' choice of occupation, and handles liaison, coordination, guidance and advice on them. There is no such provision for elementary schools. There is no rule that the principal holds the post, or that an outside expert fills it.

For lower secondary school, "work, production and volunteer events" are to let students experience the value of work and the joy of production, gain enlightening experiences related to views on work and occupations, such as workplace experience, and develop a spirit of service through volunteer activities. The elementary version of these events mentions the value of work, the joy of production and volunteer activities, but not workplace experience. Ceremonial, cultural, and health, safety and sports events do not mention workplace experience.

The Guidelines say career education, like student guidance, supports students' social self-realisation, and that it is important to understand their interaction and work on them together. In dealing with bullying or violence, students' reflection alone is weak at preventing recurrence; it is important to think about the effects on one's own and others' lives, look at how one lives, and make future dreams and career goals clear. So the two are closely related. Options to keep them separate or to rely only on reflection are wrong. Career education also appears in the elementary general provisions.