In order to clarify the actual state of educational reform in high schools, Recruit Shingaku Soken conducted a survey of full-time high schools across the country regarding new curriculum guidelines, student selection, use of ICT, career education, career guidance, school reform, and more.

 According to the survey, when it comes to the state of engagement in "Comprehensive Inquiry Time," 6% of students found "setting the tasks" to be the most difficult step. "We want students to develop an inquiring attitude throughout the three years, and we want the results to be material for the recommendation entrance exam. Therefore, if we set tasks that require a quick conclusion, or tasks that require specialized knowledge that high school students cannot understand, the inquiry becomes meaningless and the results are only half-baked" (Okinawa/Private/General Education), showing the difficulty of making it into a curriculum.

 The highest percentage of people who "agree" with the changes that students have experienced as a result of the initiative was "improved autonomy, diversity, and collaboration" at 14.4%, and if "somewhat agree" is included, the total was 66.9%. The most common challenge in implementing the initiative was "heavy burden on teachers" at 82.4%, followed by "lack of common understanding among teachers" (50.5%) and "lack of knowledge and understanding among teachers" (49.4%). "Even if we try to complete it in one year, it is very difficult to be in a position to make a plan with a bird's-eye view of the entire grade. Also, while we would ideally like to complete it in three years, we anticipate personnel transfers and reassignments, making it even more difficult to make a plan with a bird's-eye view of the whole" (Saitama/Prefectural/General Education).

 Regarding "early entrance exams," 48% answered "not very desirable," which was nearly half, and when combined with "very undesirable," the "undesirable - total" was 63%, meaning that more than 6% answered "undesirable." Looking at the type of school provider, there was no difference between public and private schools, with over 6% of respondents choosing "undesirable - total." However, looking at the location of the high school, the percentage of "undesirable - total" was high in Tokai and Kansai, at over 7%, while in Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kyushu and Okinawa it was low at around 5%, showing regional differences.

 Reasons given for considering earlier entrance exams as "undesirable" included "the burden on teachers is heavy. There is a significant loss of motivation to study after passing. Basic academic ability is large and is sure to decline" (Oita/Prefectural/General Course), "It makes lessons and instruction difficult to have a mixture of students who decide early and students who study until the general entrance exam" (Shiga/Prefectural/General Course), and "The gap in students' academic ability and an increase in students with low academic ability. Many of the entrance exams for "F-rank universities" that take place within the year do not require any consideration of academic ability, so almost anyone can pass, and I feel that these exams only produce students with low academic ability. On the other hand, teachers' time is spent on writing application essays and the like, so effort cannot be focused on essential subject learning, and the exams are merely a way to secure university admissions quotas, so I feel that there is little benefit to the students or the high school itself" (Hiroshima/Prefectural/General Course).

Reference: [Recruit Shingaku Soken] Survey on high school education reform

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