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https://nobl.io/changemaker/use-cynefin-framework-for-decision-making/

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https://psychsafety.com/ikigai/

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An example of a board with attention-grabbing features, nameplates, and highlighters. Image: Supplied.

'Chalkboard? Who uses those anymore?'. As smartboards, tablets, and laptops have become commonplace in classrooms, the humble chalkboard that was once a pretty big deal in teaching practice has been relegated to the role of a relic of the past.

However, before we dismiss the chalkboard as a 'dinosaur,' let's take a moment to consider its true potential, and how you can bring it into your own teaching practice.

My first encounter with Japanese board writing

My experience as a teacher and researcher in Japan has allowed me to observe and study classrooms in depth. The first thing that caught my attention was the use of chalkboards. Sharing the same astonishment as Ermeling (2015), I wondered, 'Why does Japan seem to lag in adopting 21st Century technology despite its reputation for technological advancements?'

I gradually learned how this seemingly rudimentary instructional medium is an indispensable teaching practice in Japan, termed 'bansho'. Teachers plan and organise what to write on the board and use it to engage students in the lesson actively. This practice allows for an immersive learning experience that encourages student participation and collaborative knowledge building (Tan, 2022)

So, what do the different elements of bansho look like, and how can you implement it into your own teaching practice?

Six strategies for an effective bansho

Balance: The balance and segmentation of the board can have a significant impact on its overall composition and effectiveness as a classroom tool. When you plan your board, consider how to divide the space to serve different purposes. This action is termed a 'stage setting' by Greiffenhagen (2014). Building on Chiba's work (2016), one approach is the divisional style (below), which involves dividing the board into 2 or 3 segments horizontally.

Another approach is the aggregate style (below), which involves diffusing information from the centre, or converging from the periphery towards the centre.

A is for Attention-Grabbing: As educators, we know that capturing students' attention is key to maintaining engagement in the classroom. You can incorporate attention-grabbing features in your board, such as colourful cut-out pictures, photos, and manipulatives. But keep in mind that the materials you choose to display are intended to aid in students' understanding and should not be considered mere decorations.

Nameplate: Nameplates may seem like a simple tool, but they can have a powerful impact on the classroom environment. By assigning nameplates to students, you can create a sense of ownership over their ideas, and students will feel valued and heard. When a student shares an opinion or response, you can place their nameplate next to it to acknowledge their contribution.

Furthermore, nameplates can serve as a visual aid to help your students see the connections and differences between their ideas and those of their peers. As discussions or group work progresses, you can move the nameplates around or group them to show how ideas evolve or connect. This can also help your students see how their individual contributions fit into the broader conversation.

S is for Space: It's natural to feel like we must fill every inch of the board during a lesson, but leaving some blank space can be beneficial. This creates a sense of openness and possibility for discussion and allows unexpected ideas or student contributions to be added to the board. From a student's perspective, seeing the board slowly fill up with interactions between teachers, classmates, and learning materials shows how the bansho is built collaboratively as a classroom artefact.

So, don't be afraid to leave some blank space on the board during your next lesson. Embrace the possibilities of open discussion and collaborative learning and see where the bansho takes you!

H is for Highlighter: Using highlighters such as lines, arrows, and different colours can connect students' ideas and draw attention to key points during a lesson. For example, you can use lines or arrows to connect related ideas or concepts, making it easier for your students to see the connections between different pieces of information. This can be especially helpful in subjects like science or history, where there are often many interconnected concepts to understand.

Using colour to emphasise key points or important vocabulary can help students focus on the essential information. How the colour serves different functions (e.g., white as a standard colour; yellow for key points; blue for 'pros', red for 'cons') can also be decided beforehand and shared with your students.

O is for Order: When preparing for your board, it's important to consider what information to include and when to write it. This can help create a coherent and well-organised story that guides students through the material logically. For example, starting with a key question may be helpful, followed by a learning goal.

From there, you can use the bansho to build on students' solutions and ideas while presenting thought-provoking prompts. Finally, end the lesson with a summary or reflection, preferably from the students. Anticipating students' responses can be a valuable approach when planning the order and layout of the bansho. One way to do so is to examine their notebooks and other classwork. This can give you valuable insight into how they understand the learning content and help you to identify areas where additional clarification may be needed.

Final thoughts

While many may consider the chalkboard a relic of the past, the Japanese teaching practice of bansho has shown us how this seemingly outdated instructional tool can be a valuable asset in our modern classrooms, enhancing your teaching and promoting collaborative and active learning among our students.
References
Chiba, N. (2016). Bansho juu soku: bansho no kihon to kanousei (The Ten Commandments for Writing on Blackboard by Teacher : The Basic Rules and The Possibilities). The Japanese Journal of Primary Education, 17, 80-90. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/120005960741

Ermeling, B. (2015). Lessons learned from a chalkboard: Slow and steady technology integration. Teachers College Record, 13, 1-6.

Greiffenhagen, C. (2014). The materiality of mathematics: Presenting mathematics at the blackboard. The British journal of sociology, 65(3), 502-528. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12037

Tan, S. (2023). Variations of Board Writing Styles in Japanese Schools: How Is It Related to the Teaching of School Subjects?. The Teacher Educator, 58(3), 347-367. https://doi.org/10.1080/08878730.2022.2140237

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Enhancing your teaching with traditional bansho board writing

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Dr Shirley Tan shares how the traditional Japanese technique of bansho board writing can enhance teaching and learning in your own classroom.

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Please share on one to two slides your observations of your IV country on

(a) The macro assessment system

(b) One or two examples of school based assessment

(c) Any synergies between system and school assessment?

(d) Any distinctive assessment practices/concepts?

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Block 1 Consolidation Slide Template_updated 13 May.pptx

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Systems Thinking and Complexity in Organisations

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Systems Thinking and Complexity in Organisations

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Curriculum Leadership (Educational Philosophy) 

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Curriculum Leadership (Educational Philosophy) 

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To what extent has Japan moved from Plato to Rousseau philosophies since Meiji Restoration? What are the deliberate moves made and ongoing efforts? - adapted from Dr Chris lesson

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Module-based

1. Curriculum: What are the assumptions made in the design of the national /school curriculum?

2. Assessment: How are the value and values of assessment enacted in the system/school?

3. Leading change: How have leaders enacted change (B&D)?

4. Infrastructure: Good practices in schools to support learning.

Futuring

5. Lowering the temperature yet maintaining student achievement. How has (or hasn't) the system achieved this?

6. HR matters. How are good people recruited and retained?

7. What is Japan’s preoccupied with now and how does it impact us or what can we learn?

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Summary

Presentation mode to consider for 7 July: Mega mind map (classification from Mori Art Museum)

SG in Japan

Themes -

1. Energy - Grounds-up work, cultural awareness and adaptive capacity

2. Hope - SG brand name (reliability, predictability, integrity, efficiency and diligence), setting up of SCC grounds up, a closely knit SG community in Japan

3. Impact - JSS entrepreneur programme and NOC sheds light on our SG exposure opportunities that opens minds and start of cross cultural awareness

Learning points:

1. Contextualised only in Japan - our strengths in Japan doesn’t mean it’s the same in other countries (our dispositions are a value add in Japan but doesn’t mean in other countries, we will be appreciated in the same way)

2. Our strengths are also our weaknesses eg. We are less hungry than china chinese, less risk taking

3. Impact is considered from lag indicators thus far, to be mindful to consider lead indicators

Japanese Values (which reflect their education and culture and current direction and focus)

Ref:

-Important Projects by Tokyo Met Board (2023) which suggests the key directions

-Basic Plan on Japan (100 pg doc)

Values (embedded in culture) -

1. Resilience - geography surrounded by water, plagued by natural disasters, perspective on sustainability —> implications on educational changes: prepare for 100 year life era - recurring education

2. Human centricity - public education teaches to the last child but loses the highly competent child hence losses to private schools —> implications on educational changes: promote private education, welcoming foreigners and donations

3. Self respect and dignity - Comparison of aspiration for child of China, Korea, SG and Japan mother - “don’t want child to trouble/burden others” —> implications on educational changes: focus on human rights education, enhance moral education

4. Perspective of work - masterfulness, deep tech, specialisation and craft / expertise, take pride in work —> implications on educational changes: expand abilities to lead continuous development of society

5. Fixed, closed mindset - inward mindset due to fear and perspective of financial situation of family, people don’t travel out, innovation but incremental not leapfrog —> implications on educational changes: consider global challenges and how that can transform behaviours at home, foster Human Resources capable of succeeding globally eg setup of Tokyo Global Gateway etc.

6. Wellbeing, ikigai, mindfulness —> identify well being indicators (eg cram schools) to be tracked to focus on “flourishing” —> implications on educational changes: grow sound bodies and foster abilities to live healthy and safe lives

Learning points:

1. Besides lag indicators, what other lead indicators can we look at to consider our impact

2. The above Jap values are deep seated strengths but have also become their hindrance increasingly, hence for SG, while we don’t share that strong culture of values, we are adept at changing even when we are doing well, which could be more helpful for our system- we are always asking ourselves “what’s next?”

Reflections on LKY’s article - what remains relevant?

1. Top, mid, bottom tier talent - which tier actually goes out to other countries to seek employment or become entrepreneurs and to which industries? - stretch the top, encourage talents throughout all tiers esp top and middle tiers and focus on building discipline and self respect all tiers, impact is a lag indicator hence mindful what we do is an impact of something we do years ahead

2. Importance to build resilience - the need to provide exposure and opportunities to open minds and grow CCE skills, help students to be more receptive to feedback

3. Importance of NE - build crisis mentality, understanding of how small we are and why humility is important

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For LEP 308 Scholarly Academic Purpose Seminar

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For LEP 308 Scholarly Academic Purpose Seminar

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Professor Ota’s Seminar Slides

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INZ of HE Policies and Practices in E. Asia-HO

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Building on a sound character foundation, the following Emerging 21st Century Competencies enable students to thrive in and beyond school while living, learning and working in rapidly changing, highly digitalised, and interconnected environments:

* Critical, Adaptive and Inventive Thinking

* Communication, Collaboration and Information Skills

* Civic, Global and Cross-Cultural Literacy

SG compared to what Japan is trying to focus on:

1. Civic, Global and Cross-Cultural Literacy

Issues in Japan and need to transform -

-Xenophobia

-Fear of going overseas to study (affected by inflation and financial situation of families too)

-Complacency “Japan is the best, the cleanest, the safest” - what defined them culturally as “the best” has become a hindrance for their youths now….

(Values and dispositions or mindsets of Japanese - served the country well but now may need to change)

2. Communication, Collaboration and Information Skills

Issues in Japan and need to transform -

-Increased diversity in Japan - cannot continue to expect students to work in groups in school or at work and step up to help weaker others all the time- group accountability kind of work ethics is passé

-mindset about learning English and other languages (beyond Japanese) well, cannot expect international students to be attracted to Japan to learn Japanese as the international business language is English

3. Critical, Adaptive and Inventive Thinking

Issues in Japan and need to transform -

-given economic pressures and the way private and public education tuition fees are structured, Japanese turn to Humanities and Social Science courses

-need for a disciplined mind (rigour and depth in thinking ) before students can even think deeper and interdisciplinary - Trend in Japan to lower the rigour of Math and Science to allow more high school students to enter private universities which affects / compromises the rigour and depth of study, fewer and fewer students going into post graduate courses

-Vocational institutes enrolment on the rise- might this be a soft option

-Japan’s employment rate straight after university is 98.1% so most don’t continue to study or do post graduate studies

-total curriculum move which meant less homework - students have less rigour in school possibly

Using Bolman and Deal’s 4 frames,

As an SL in Japan:

Structural

-evidence based policy making is greatly impacted by politics and agenda of the government

-funding from government comes with many KPIs hence schools do not want to be onboard despite the extensive funding which resulted in failed government project

Political

-Education is culturally embedded and affected by politics hence educational policies are greatly impacted by the economy and politics

-Public school scene is greatly impacted by private school situation

-Enrolment is an issue at high school and Uni level hence many educational policies have to be linked to enrolment and how to attract foreign students into their system

Human Resource

-Trend towards Total / Holistic education and curriculum to reduce workload of teachers - causes backlash as teachers will not have PTMs at 7pm or give more homework (unlike in US)- manage the tensions between staff well being and student well being

-Teaching to the last child - might that be not helpful

Symbolic

-need to attract more foreign immigrants given economic context and need for foreign employment- to nuance narrative to citizens and reduce xenophobia - educational narrative has to be shaped to suggest a widening definition of highly skilled workers (no longer just about deep tech etc but also about hairdressing etc.)

As an SL in SG:

-Might we have more leeway given we are managing public schools and there is a general clear direction for all (centralised decentralisation) which is helpful for a small nation like ours

-Japan has deeper personhood and social constructivist focus for curriculum, but given economic context, they are forced to move to pragmatic purpose and we are witnessing this trend now- there is always a tradeoff-in SG we are also trying to strike a balance between these tradeoffs (we started from pragmatic ability driven education and trying to move to more personhood and social constructivist focus)- need to beware of the great pendulum swing as Prof Ota warned (eg Japan’s pendulum swings with the changes in PISA ranking)

-Japan’s strengths in Community learning is worth learning - students go out in the community to work and learn at various places and then return to share with others (this sort of learning is found in all parts of Japan) (consideration of value of work)

-Need to seek balance between Japan’s “Teaching to the last child” vs stretching the top and missing out the bottom tier - hence our move towards DI (Prof Ota felt that the impression is that SG focuses on the top tier but the bottom tier is left out)

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Miraikan - Structural / Systemic approach to reducing damage caused by hazards in Japan

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1. Disciplinary Thinking (Scholarly Academic)

2. Personhood (Development and Growth)

3. Citizenship (Social Reconstructionism)

4. Pragmatism (Situated)

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Reflection on and Consolidation of Leadership and Purpose of Education - Mori Art Museum, Miraikan and Toyota Commemorative Museum

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Reflection on and Consolidation of Leadership and Purpose of Education - Mori Art Museum, Miraikan and Toyota Commemorative Museum

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What caught my eye -

1. Uzbekistan - More than 60% population are under 30 years old, they see education as the key to the development of the country. The pavilion showcases a future where the country interconnectivity is highly increased through an expansive HSR network, and innovations that focus on sustainability hold the key to building Uzbekistan's future that is forward looking and proud of its culture and heritage.

2. Futuring - What is on my Mind now - we are now focused on building stronger relationships and deeper understanding with our ASEAN neighbours, particularly Vietnam and Indonesia, which are fast developing economies with a very youthful population. Central Asia is the next region that is fast developing and geographically near us. Some of the countries are resource rich, and have been learning from Singapore earlier on (e.g. Kazakhstan) Should Singapore schools, perhaps starting with tertiary and IHLs, also start looking at this region? Building future capacity for our people to understand this region of the world better too.

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School Visits:

1. Tokyo Gakugei University Takehaya National Elementary School and Nursery (National)

2. Aoyagi Elementary School (Public)

3. Seifu Nankai Junior and Senior High School (Private)

4. Koishikawa Secondary School (Public)

5. Ichikawa Junior and Senior High School (Private)

4 Purposes of Curriculum:

Pragmatic -

1. National and Public schools are generally focused on educational reforms to improve thinking. Nonetheless, private schools are more focused on boosting enrolment and more profit oriented hence politics does interfere with the school planning and direction.

2. The challenge faced by Japan is that the country is generally too inward looking. To help the country and students become more outward looking, all schools are looking at trying to encourage students to learn English well and be open to studying or going for attachment overseas.

Scholarly Academic -

1. The typical 3 pillars for the schools are Thinking, Knowledge and Attitude/Dispositions, similar to our focus on Total Curriculum and CCE.

2. Schools go deep into the Math teaching where students are required to consider a problem using different methods and given time to think about their learning through note-taking and reflection. Student notes involve own observations, conclusions and reasons - metacognitive abilities are honed

3. Productive failure is promoted where students are given the opportunity to talk about their challenges in solving the problem and made to talk through the challenges and how he / she got to the answer, which promotes a disciplined mind.

4. Even for physical education, students are made to restart when there are false starts at elementary school sports festival, to instil clear rules and understanding of the sport from a young age. The disciplinarity-focused education is evident in physical education too.

5. The Japanese Math textbook includes trigger questions that relate the Math concept to life and extends understanding, which promotes deeper understanding of the topic as well as authenticity of learning

Social Reconstruction -

1. Extra curricular activities, school events and student leadership opportunities are leveraged to build competencies and social awareness esp at junior and senior high level

2. In Koishikawa and Ichikawa, students are made to engage in research into real world problems e.g. at Koishikawa, student was investigating more efficient way of growing rice given the rising price of Japanese rice. These projects are then submitted for local and overseas competitions too.

Personhood -

1. Moral education is focused on at elementary school where discipline and experiential learning is focused on. As students move on to junior high and senior high, the focus is on extra curricular activities and student leadership. Collaborative skills and relationship building is focused on.

2. According to Tokyo Met Board, community features strongly in the decision making of the school’s curriculum where school’s direction and plans are shared with the community leaders for inputs. Also, the community comes in to support for moral education where they come together to discuss themes like bullying and student well being and come up with joint understanding of different perspectives (ref. Bruner’s concept of experts being brought in to give inputs to curriculum)

3. In the elementary school festival, all students are affirmed through a joint run round the audience after the competitive run, which promotes sportsmanship, support for their friends and the worth of every child.

Pedagogy

1. Generally, teaching is Uni-directional with more teacher talk and bansho

2. Students in some of the private schools are used to collaborative learning (able to move quickly into collaborative classroom setting)

3. Ed Tech use is uncommon but use of digital technology to do interleaving and activating schemas of past lessons and concepts was seen in one school, which was effective. Nonetheless, the infrastructure and assimilation of digital tools are well considered when it is in use in the classroom eg. Portable whiteboard screen for short throw projection, curved blackboard, hybrid use of blackboard and digital projection of shots of previous blackboard work (bansho)

4. While Ed Tech use is not pervasive, in Tokyo, there is an ICT lead (GIGA leads) in each national and public school trained by Tokyo Met Board and return to school to upskill others. Nonetheless, there is generally a slow take up of Ed Tech and digital tools.

5. Parents have the mindset that national schools pitch to the lowest and hence students who are more competent feel bored in school and are therefore sent to cram schools to be stretched. Nonetheless, this could be just a parental mindset, which does not reflect all schools. Takehaya highlighted that for new topics, they will pitch at the lowest to support.

Assessment

1. Elementary schools focuses on experiential and joy of learning (no tests, only descriptor feedback for parents) while Junior High stage onwards, school based tests come into the picture - purpose is to focus on character building and discipline at elementary school level before moving on to focusing on assessment

2. Assessment items are still generally content based while schools are moving towards building competencies

3. School based assessments has components of assessing academic, thinking and dispositions / knowledge, thinking and attitude / motivation, thinking skills and knowledge generally for all national, public and private schools

4. Assessment for Learning (AfL) - reflection is always worked into the student’s learning where student worksheets have a component that allows them to write reflections e.g. Takehaya, and also class based assessment where each class has a class diary with rotation of duties by students to note down the day’s attendance, lessons and general reflections e.g. Ichikawa

5. In all schools, students are generally progressed upwards hence making national entrance exams to universities high stakes, causing private schools to become more popular given no entrance exams and allowance of teacher’s letter to enter affiliated private universities eg. Waseda and Keio Universities

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Application of Insights from Japan Visits and Learning to SG Context

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Application of Insights from Japan Visits and Learning to SG Context

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Expo

- Sustainability is a key direction. Our people need to continue to be open to foreigners and have the crisis mindset given the global economy and market and trends in the world. Harnessing the natural resources is what Singapore is trying to do too and we need to strategically strengthen some of these disciplines and industries and build the pipeline (biomedical).

Met Board Discussion

- Japan is aware of its strengths and weaknesses and exploring untapped markets like what Singapore did previously. Hence they are working with the 11 countries where the country does not have so much engagement to form global programmes.

Singapore Embassy in Japan

-Singapore need to have a value for others otherwise we could be ignored given our size. Deep gratitude that we were well hosted throughout by schools given that Japan knows the strengths of Singapore hence reputation has been positive - our students need to be aware of this reality and continue to help students be a positive value add to others

School Visits

-Open mindset of Singapore students is important as building enduring relationships helps to build up strong connections and pave the way for new collaborations to come for our own people. Again, our students need to continue to strengthen these relationships and understand our role in the world.

-Need to help our students understand that it is important to explore unchartered paths as our students typically go through chartered path - are our people ready for new uncertainties in the world ahead and whether our strong support for teachers and students will create a crutch mentality

-Social Reconstruction goal - Curriculum of Singapore needs to be strengthened as we don’t focus so much on “giving back” and betterment of people and society following education.

-Need to equip our youths (of all backgrounds) to be able to serve the community e.g. Taman Jurong youth grassroots programme - may want to learn from the success of such local programmes to inspire and build competencies and openness to consider how we can do it similarly in our school contexts - may also point towards the strengthening of community role to build competencies instead of only relying on schools

-Japanese students focus a lot on reflection and metacognitive awareness (inductive approach, interleaving) - might we want more of this in the classroom to promote deep thinking (mindful about the profile of students and if explicit teaching is a pre requisite, and if curriculum already has it, might our teachers not be doing it and the focus should be on such teacher competencies)

-Structure of Japanese timetable is helpful (50 mins learning and 10 minutes break) and cognitively more do-able and Singapore schools should consider this more intently

Japan as Cautionary Tale

-Singapore cannot rest on its laurels and must continue to improve while we are doing well - important mindset to help Singapore teachers and students understand

-Given the challenges, Japan is trying to encourage their people to open up and respect the diversity of all coming into Japan (Japan 10 years later might become quite different with these focus) - importance of Singaporeans to continue to appreciate diversity given the world challenges and conflicts and learn from the transformation that Japan is undergoing now.

Reflections on Leadership

-Singapore system has been very deliberate in supporting and coaching teachers for leadership which we may have taken for granted and ought to appreciate better - something that perhaps we should help our teachers appreciate better too esp in terms of Ministry support for Professional Learning and opportunities to build competencies

-Systemness of Singapore and our Civil Service has contributed greatly to our structured system and strategic level thinking, however, we need to be mindful about whether over-structure can also lead to our own blind spots (be over stifling) where we only approach problems in a certain way - we need to continue to be mindful of multiple perspectives

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Sports Meet at Aoyagi Elementary School and Bunkyo Ward Policies

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Sports Meet at Aoyagi Elementary School and Bunkyo Ward Policies

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What Caught My Eyes and Ears -

1. Schedule of Sports Meets in Public Schools have generally shifted based on 2 considerations:

1. Weather - Sports Meet were traditionally held in the autumn in Sept/Oct. Due to climate change, the temperature could still be relatively high in these two months, hence many schools have shifted their sports meet to May, before the hot summer arrives.

2. Parents' participation - As there are increasingly more dual-income families these days, many schools have scheduled part of their sports meets on Saturday mornings, so that parents/families can be present for their child's event.

2. Symbolic Run after race - Students take part in a symbolic round the course run after their race, so as to acknowledge everyone's participation, and allow every child to receive acknowledgement from the crowd.

What I found out additionally

Policies in Bunkyo Ward supporting families against the backdrop of low-fertility rate and super ageing population.

1. School gates are open later these days. School starts at 830am, and students are only allowed to enter school at 8am. Consideration behind this - Teachers have to take care of their families first, before they are ready for work. Teachers may reach school around 730am, before students enter next. School ends around 3.10pm for students, and additional classes end around 4pm - 430pm.

2. Part of the taxes collected in this ward is allocated to procure professional After School Care services for the public schools. Current provider for the ward is Benesse, a large Japanese company that specialises in education services.

Lessons for SLship -

1. Taking care of staff can be done through some structural shifts, besides exercising flexibility in supporting those who need more support. (There are primary schools which have already implemented a system for students not to enter school too early - need to find out more and understand the context to the decision too. )

2. While Japan is also making shifts to support teachers' work-life balance and reducing work hours/workload, they take a holistic view towards the issue. In the schools we visited, schools are the extension of education from the families, and schools are the partners of families. Holding the sports meets over two days, to allow parents to come by for that hour of participation on a Saturday morning, is symbolic in terms of how Japanese view and support the family as the first place for education. Student-centricity is considered holistically, along with the environments they grow up with. Singapore society is different from Japan. Communications of intention will be paramount to help both staff and parents understand some of our decision making.

3. Students are taught to compete, at the same time, to develop sportsmanship and respect for everyone through small designs that are symbolic of the intention

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Neriage - (練り上げ)

The abstract from this paper seem to described what we witnessed in Mr Yamada and Mr Suzuki's class that day. The focus of our observation was on how the teacher used carefully planned board work to support a rich and extensive plenary discussion (neriage) in which he shifted the focus from individual mathematical solutions to generalised properties.

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The use of carefully planned board work to support the productive discussion of multiple student responses in a Japanese problem-solving lesson - Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education

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In this paper, we analyse a grade 8 (age 13–14) Japanese problem-solving lesson involving angles associated with parallel lines, taught by a highly regarded, expert Japanese mathematics teacher. The focus of our observation was on how the teacher used carefully planned board work to support a rich and extensive plenary discussion (neriage) in which he shifted the focus from individual mathematical solutions to generalised properties. By comparing the teacher’s detailed prior planning of the board work (bansho) with that which he produced during the lesson, we distinguish between aspects of the lesson that he considered essential and those he treated as contingent. Our analysis reveals how the careful planning of the board work enabled the teacher to be free to explore with the students the multiple alternative solution methods that they had produced, while at the same time having a clear overall purpose relating to how angle properties can be used to find additional solution methods. We outline how these findings from within the strong tradition of the Japanese problem-solving lesson might inform research and teaching practice outside of Japan, where a deep heritage of bansho and neriage is not present. In particular, we highlight three prominent features of this teacher’s practice: the detailed lesson planning in which particular solutions were prioritised for discussion; the considerable amount of time given over to student generation and comparison of alternative solutions; and the ways in which the teacher’s use of the board was seen to support the richness of the mathematical discussions.

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An Outsider Mathematics Teacher's Description of Neriage in Japanese Math

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An Outsider Mathematics Teacher's Description of Neriage in Japanese Math

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In Japanese mathematics classes, there is a unique approach called  "Neriage" that emphasizes step-by-step learning, student-led discovery, and collaborative problem-solving. This method fosters a deep understanding and appreciation for mathematics.

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The Role of Neriage (練り上げ) in the Japanese Math classes.

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I began my career in supporting the teachers and trainees and implementing curriculum in schools across South India since then I had the privilege of visiting and observing the classes in several schools throughout South India. I am curious about the Mathematics classes and I have learned that teach

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Pedagogy

Kindy is play based and child-led. One class can be dispersed both indoor and outdoor, children can choose to play outside (1 staff supervising) and others indoor taking turns to use ipad to prepare for sports carnival over the weekend; there was a parent event on the day that we visited, evidence of school-community partnership

some exchange students at Hitosubashi commented that the uni provides them with more collaborative and presentation opportunities than their own unis, and their lecturers take more personal interest in knowing them

overall landscape for pedagogical approach is very variegated, with examples of student inquiry-led learning and exploration (from kindy to elementary to high school) to uni-directional direct instruction (from elementary)

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Information on Assessment System in Japan

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Information on Assessment System in Japan

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Teachers at all levels of schooling assess their students through teacher-developed tests and other forms of student work.

Since teachers often spend many years with the same group of students and are generally expected to conduct periodic home visits, build relationships with students’ families, and attend sporting events and other extracurriculars to support students, the assessment process for individual students is often more consistent and the information is often more accessible to parents who know teachers well.

Japan has national assessments—the National Assessment of Academic Ability (NAAA)—in grades 6 and 9. These assessments are in mathematics, Japanese, and science, and since 2019, in English. NAAA was first administered in 2007 to a sample of students for the purpose of informing curriculum and policy planning. Since 2013, the assessments have been administered annually to all sixth and ninth grade students, with the goal of providing more performance data to districts and schools. The test includes items assessing subject-matter knowledge as well as items assessing the ability to apply knowledge to real-world situations; in 2019, these sections were combined to reflect the revised curriculum. The same items are administered to all students simultaneously and are made public after the test has been administered. The government announces mean NAAA subject scores for each region annually and ranks prefectures accordingly.

Municipal boards of education and schools have the option of releasing their results; generally, they use the scores to identify areas where teaching and learning could be improved.

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Japan has ranked among the top performers on PISA since 2000, particularly in mathematics. Japan’s results also show greater equity than in many other OECD jurisdictions.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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The Algae Hello Kitty in Osaka Expo 2025

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The Algae Hello Kitty in Osaka Expo 2025

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Algae have existed all over the earth for a longer time than humans. Although we are barely aware of algae, they have recently been attracting attention as a key solution to common challenges for all humans, including global warming and food problems.

Aiming to further increase people's interest in various algae as a possible solution to such challenges, Hello Kitty, a mascot loved around the world, will appear dressed as algae and introduce to visitors the attractiveness of and infinite potential for algae.

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Positive Insights and Application to our own Schools in Future

1. Evidence based reforms - implications on school leadership and decision-making  (systems thinking leadership) (pragmatic)

2. Rigour and problem solving - influencing classroom practices and rigour of teaching (scholarly academic)

3. Bansho - interleaving and effective use of Ed Tech - influence the infrastructural setup (scholarly academic)

4. Productive failure - influence pedagogical directions and PL

5. Student voice, patchwork assessment - leading in curriculum design of school (scholarly academic)

6. Lesson from the Embassy - Reminder to students that we need to remember that people are talking to us and listening to us only because we have value to them (pragmatic)

7. Focus on subject disciplinarity - review subject syllabus to focus on discipline standards instead of only focusing on academic grades only during review with Heads - “rise above” as an SL to guide Heads in building such a competency and the culture within school and the depts (scholarly academic)

8. Value of contribution to society - sustainable UN goals - to elevate SG students’ understanding of contribution, building sustained agency through VIA (social reconstructivist)

9. Internships - not really in huge companies but in local supermarkets to build community contribution and understanding (social reconstructivist)

10. Reflection - how to make reflection a more useful tool for local students (scholarly academic)

11. Reconsider teaching of FCE - question purpose of education - An entire year of Masterchef integrative approach can bring FCE syllabus together and achieve E21CC too (scholarly academic and personhood)

12. Teach for exams vs teach for enduring understanding - question how Heads want subject to be taught, clarity from the Heads - build up the competencies of the Heads and nudge them to get there (scholarly academic)

13. Value of project work and authentic learning - implement PW in school such that students pick a theme and real life problem to work on (eg smart nation, health, environment) (social reconstructivist and personhood)

14. PEOPLE - Staff well-being - need to be teacher centric and support well-being, helpful deployment - negotiating meaning of work (human resource leadership)

15. CURRICULUM - negotiating meaning of learning, help students understand the need to respect diversity (scholarly academic, personhood)

16. EXPERIENCE - Consensus building in staff, Student voice to be respected, every voice is heard (human resource leadership) (personhood)

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Updated Science Syllabus (May 2024)

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Sharing a summary slide of the neuroscience book on How We Learn (2018) that I've shared with my heads a couple of years back. See if useful for learning science portion. While not directly aligned in terminologies, there's some resonance in some key points of scholarly academic.

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Michael Schiro's Four Curriculum Ideologies

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Michael Schiro's Four Curriculum Ideologies

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Michael Schiro’s Curriculum Ideologies

Schiro identifies four curriculum ideologies that shape how educators design and implement curricula:

1. Scholar Academic Ideology – Focuses on transmitting disciplinary knowledge (e.g., math, science, history) as the primary goal of education.

2. Social Efficiency Ideology – Emphasizes preparing students with practical skills for societal roles (e.g., job readiness, standardized testing).

3. Learner-Centered Ideology – Prioritizes student interests, experiences, and personal growth (e.g., progressive, constructivist approaches).

4. Social Reconstruction Ideology – Views curriculum as a tool for social change, addressing inequality and justice.

Schiro’s framework is about how educators conceptualize the purpose of curriculum and what outcomes they prioritize.