Literacy in Japan
| Primary languages | Japanese |
|---|---|
| Total | 99.9% |
| Male | 99.9% |
| Female | 99.9% |
| Primary | 10.9 million |
| Secondary | 3.8 million |
| Post secondary | 3.7 million |
| Secondary diploma | 94.3% |
| Post-secondary diploma | 59% |
|
International educational scores (latest, 2007) (8th graders average score, TIMSS International Math and Science Study, 2007) |
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|
Countries: (sample) |
Global rank |
Maths | Science | |||
| Rank | Score | Rank | Score | |||
 Singapore
|
1 | 3 | 593 | 1 | 567 | |
 Taiwan
|
2 | 1 | 598 | 2 | 561 | |
 South Korea
|
3 | 2 | 597 | 4 | 553 | |
 Japan
|
4 | 5 | 570 | 3 | 554 | |
 Hong Kong
|
5 | 4 | 572 | 9 | 530 | |
 Hungary
|
6 | 6 | 517 | 6 | 539 | |
 England
|
7 | 7 | 513 | 5 | 542 | |
 Czech Republic
|
8 | 11 | 504 | 7 | 539 | |
 Russia
|
9 | 8 | 512 | 10 | 530 | |
 Slovenia
|
10 | 12 | 501 | 8 | 538 | |
 United States
|
11 | 9 | 508 | 11 | 520 | |
 Lithuania
|
12 | 10 | 506 | 12 | 519 | |
 Australia
|
13 | 14 | 496 | 13 | 515 | |
 Sweden
|
14 | 15 | 491 | 14 | 511 | |
 Armenia
|
15 | 13 | 499 | 17 | 488 | |
 Italy
|
18 | 19 | 480 | 16 | 495 | |
|
Maths Highlights from TIMSS 2007 |
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In Japan, education is compulsory at the elementary and lower secondary levels. Most students attend public schools through the lower secondary level, but private education is popular at the upper secondary and university levels.
Education prior to elementary school is provided at kindergartens and day-care centers. Public and private day-care centers take children from under age 1 on up to 5 years old. The programmes for those children aged 3–5 resemble those at kindergartens. The educational approach at kindergartens varies greatly from unstructured environments that emphasize play to highly structured environments that are focused on having the child pass the entrance exam at a private elementary school. The academic year starts from April and ends in March, having summer vacation in August and winter vacation in the end of December to the beginning of January. Also, there are few days of holidays between academic years. The period of academic year is same all through elementary level to higher educations nationwide.
Japanese students consistently rank highly among OECD students in terms of quality and performance in reading literacy, math, and sciences. The average student scored 540 in reading literacy, maths and science in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the country has one of the worlds highest-educated labour forces among OECD countries. Its populace is well educated and its society highly values education as a platform for social mobility and for gaining employment in the country's high-tech economy. The country's large pool of highly educated and skilled individuals is largely responsible for ushering Japan’s post-war economic growth. Tertiary-educated adults in Japan, particularly graduates in sciences and engineering benefit economically and socially from their education and skills in the country's high tech economy. Spending on education as a proportion of GDP is below the OECD average. Although expenditure per student is comparatively high in Japan, total expenditure relative to GDP remains small. In 2015, Japan’s public spending on education amounted to just 3.5 percent of its GDP, below the OECD average of 4.7%. In 2014, the country ranked fourth for the percentage of 25- to 64-year-olds that have attained tertiary education with 48 percent. In addition, bachelor's degrees are held by 59 percent of Japanese aged 25–34, the second most in the OECD after South Korea. As the Japanese economy is largely scientific and technological based, the labor market demands people who have achieved some form of higher education, particularly related to science and engineering in order to gain a competitive edge when searching for employment opportunities. About 75.9 percent of high school graduates attended a university, junior college, trade school, or other higher education institution.
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