Country Case Study: Interview Questions

Brenda Estupinan, Jacqueline Grundberg, and Krista Irish

Submitted toDr. Tamara Blesh

EDTC 645

University of Maryland University College

July 23, 2013

Introduction:

Japan appears to get a lot right when it comes to education. The Programme for

International Student Assessment (PISA) is given every three years to 15 year old students from

over 70 countries and economies. In the Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD) 2012 report Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education:

Lessons from PISA for Japan, Japan is highlighted as having a high achieving education system

“grounded in a deep commitment to children, a first-rate teaching force, a judicious use of

resources and a curriculum that has consistently centered on core topics with high standards”

(17).

The “first-rate” teaching profession in Japan is highly selective and competitive, at both

the education program level and the hiring phase: only 14% of applicants are admitted into

schools of education, and of those who graduate after rigorous school board exams and

evaluations, only 30-40% find work in public schools (CIEB, 2012). Because of this system, the

majority of Japanese teachers remain in the profession until retirement age. According to USJP

(2005), teachers enjoy more respect and occupational prestige than most white-collar workers;

teachers are addressed by honorifics such as “sensei,” the same as medical doctors, politicians

and professors. In addition to lesson plans, paperwork, school events, extracurricular clubs and

meetings, Japanese teachers are responsible for guidance and counseling (USJP, 2005). This

often puts much pressure and extra duties onto the teacher, including after school time spent

advising students. 

Despite its competitive teaching profession and consistent high performance in reading

mathematics, and science assessments on the 2009 PISA, Japan appears to fall behind many

OECD countries in technology integration. Japanese students report below-average frequencies

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in several categories involving information and communication technologies (ICT) use (OECD,

2012). Such categories include computer use in home and school and Internet use in home and

school. In fact, the report noted that, “The findings for Japan are striking in that Japan is the only

top-performing country in PISA that shows below-average Internet use by students both at home

and at school (OECD, 2012, 62). Japan appears to get a lot right in educating its students yet the

Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education report suggests that ICT integration is

a minor factor in Japan’s educational system’s success.

Interview Questions and Initial Rationale:

We wondered to what degree technology integration exists in the Japanese education

system yet we found it difficult to research ICT integration in Japanese elementary and

secondary schools within the timeframe of this assignment. While we planned to investigate ICT

integration as it related to professional development (Ms. Jacqueline Grundberg), curriculum

integration (Ms. Brenda Estupinan), and infrastructure issues (Ms. Krista Irish), we encountered

difficulties discovering relevant, current research. Rather than delaying the interview phase of

the project until we were satisfied with our research, we decided to develop a survey using

Google Forms to distribute to potential interviewees. Our survey includes nine broad questions

regarding technology integration and lacks details specific to the Japanese education system (See

Appendix A). We distributed the interview survey to several teachers in Japan and also

considered sending the interviews to officials in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,

Science & Technology in Japan (MEXT).

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Results from Interviews:

Although our interviews yielded 3 responses (See Appendix B), we focused on the

feedback provided by Mr. Tatunori Kato and Ms. Midori Hori, two Japanese teachers from

government schools (See Appendix C). In addition, Ms. Estupinan was able to conduct an

interview with a former schoolteacher in Japan who provided some clarification to questions we

had in regards to the survey responses we received (See Appendix C).

Brief Biography of the Our Selected Interviewees:

Ms. Kato and Ms. Hori are both teachers at Tokyo Metropolitan Hoya High School in the

city of Nishitokyo, a suburb of Tokyo, Japan. Hoya High School, founded in 1971, is one of

three government (public) schools for the city of Nishitokyo. Mr. Sakai Hidetoshi, Hoya High

School’s principal, communicates that the school’s aim is to train a “self-learning force,”

(preparation) for “school college,” and supporting “basic academic skills” (Hoya High School,

2013). 

Ms. Hori is a high school chemistry teacher. She has 25 years of teaching experience. Ms.

Hori was chosen because of her previous relationship with one of the interviewers of this project,

Ms. Grundberg. While living in Tokyo, Japan, Ms. Grundberg was employed by Ms. Hori as a

private English language tutor. Ms. Hori and Ms. Grundberg also had a connection in that they

both taught high school science during Ms. Grundberg’s stay in Japan. It has been over 12 years

since Ms. Grundberg has left Japan, yet she has remained friends with Ms. Hori. 

Mr. Kato is the technology specialist at Hoya High School. Mr. Kato was recommended

by Ms. Hori. None of the interviewers have personal met with Mr. Kato, and the interview was

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conducted through a survey. He has 27 years of teaching experience since graduating from the

university. The most recent nine years he has been responsible for educating the students on

information and communications technologies (ICTs). He is considered a chief teacher. 

Interview Analysis:

In analyzing our results, we found that ICT integration seems to be lacking in the

Japanese education system. One study that compared Japanese schools and US schools found

that “nearly 75% of people both in Japan and the U.S. have access to a computer at home and use

the Internet (Suzuki, 2012; U.S. Census 2010). However, when it comes to technology

integration in the classroom, Japanese schools tend to take more conservative approaches than

US schools (Salcito, 2010)” (Kusano et al, 2013). From the information collected, Japan seems

to take a more traditional approach to teaching. The responses from our interviews confirmed

this information, especially the interview from Ms. Hori. She is chemistry teacher but doesn’t

use technology in her classroom. This was difficult to understand and comprehend because it has

been observed in American high school science classrooms rich opportunities where computers,

the internet, videos and other technology enhance lesson plans.

When we think of Japan, we tend to think of them as innovators in the field of

technology. We expected to find the teachers in Japan using technology to teach students about

the world. In looking at our responses, we didn’t see any evidence of this. What we found that

besides the technology specialist in the school, the other teachers at the school aren’t really

trained on how to use and integrate technology. In noting the responses for technology funding,

it is evident that there is problem with the lack of funding. There is also a no evidence of making

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sure every student had equal access to technology. None of our interviewees could answer the

question, so it seems as though that is an area of need.

If time allowed, we would have benefited with a follow-up questionnaire. This would

have given us more of an insight as to how technology was integrated into the classroom. One of

the interviewees omitted several of our questions. This was frustrating for us as a group. One

thing that could have been done to enhance our interview questions was to state in the directions

to please elaborate. Our responses brief and not detailed enough which left a lot of room for

questions. We could have also added, “If this question doesn’t pertain to you please explain

why.” This might have given us a little better understanding as to why technology wasn’t used in

the classroom.

Overall this was an eye opening experience. Technology is changing our world on a daily

basis. “Businesses around the world have embraced technology, yet many schools preparing the

workforce of the future are not making the same strides” (Kusano et al, 2013). It is time for

schools all over the world to embrace technology and use it to help students become global

citizens.

Project Reflection:

After completing this assignment, we wish we would have conducted the project tasks in

a different order. We were worried that we would not receive feedback from our interview

requests if we did not disseminate our surveys early on in the project timeline. Although this

concern was valid, we did not conduct enough research prior to developing the interview

questions and survey. Our survey provided interviewees with a starting point for sharing but was

too broad for the purposes of our assignment. We may have been more satisfied with the

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feedback provided had we integrated Japan-specific questions in the survey or if we had

indicated on the survey that we planned to follow-up with more specific questions. Developing

such Japan-specific questions would have been easier to do if we would have collaborated on the

group interview report after completing our individual synthesis reports.

After conducting additional research and working on our individual synthesis reports, we

have a better understanding of the Japanese education system and the ways it integrates and fails

to integrate ICT. According to Yoshida (2010), MEXT developed “Educational Media In-

Service Teacher Training Curriculum Standards” in 2006 to accommodate the rapid development

of ICT and educational media. According to the U.S. Department of Education, MEXT

published a National ICT plan in 2010 titled Visions for Informatization of Schools: Designing

Leanring and Schools for the 21st Century (2011, 207). MEXT also “surveys all public schools

about their ICT infrastructure and teacher ICT proficiency” (U.S. Department of Education,

2011, 204). Had we had access to the Yoshida and U.S. Department of Education articles (as

well as others) earlier in the process, we would have been able to reference specific Japanese

education policies and standards in our interviews. While we thought Japan was doing little to

integrate ICT into primary and secondary education, we better understand how the government is

trying to achieve its goal of “informatization of education”. It would have been interesting to

learn more about recent Ministry efforts and whether such efforts are being felt in such schools

as Tokyo Metropolitan Hoya High School.

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Appendix A: Sample Email and Survey Form

When coming up with our questions, we agreed we wanted to keep our interviews consistent. We drafted questions and then created a survey in Google Forms to collect our responses. Below is the sample e-mail we sent out as well as the nine interview questions.

To whom it may concern:

Our names are Brenda Estupinan, Jacqueline Grundberg, and Krista Jennings Irish. We are graduate students at the University of Maryland University College, in the United States. We are currently taking the course Integration of Technology: Global Perspectives and are working on a group project. We selected Japan as our country to research and develop a case study. We will focus on learning about technology integration in Japan in grades Kindergarten through twelfth grade.

We are asking for your help and support in completing this assignment, by answering a few questions. Please take a look at the questions and answer them to the best of your knowledge and ability. We appreciate your time. Thank for your help in this matter. You can reach us by e-mail: Brenda.estupinan@gmail.com, jacqueline.fung@hotmail.com, and istakirish@gmail.com.

1. What is your current position? 2. Please take a moment to provide a short professional biography.

3. What is your experience with technology and education?4. How does your country integrate technology into the curriculum?5. What kind of technology is available for students to use in your schools?

A. ComputerB. InternetC. iPad/TabletD. Smartphone ApsE. TVF. Other: Please describe.

6. How do you ensure that every student has equal access to technology?7. Is there a person at your school to assist you and other teachers with technology use and support?8. Is there an organization that establishes educational policy, specifically technology integration policy, for schools?9. How do schools get their funding for technology?

Kind Regards,

Brenda, Jacqueline, and Krista

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Appendix B: Screenshot of Google Form Interview Results

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Appendix C: Interview Transcript and Summary

Interviewee: Mr.Tatunori Kato

What is your current position?

I am a chief teacher now.

Please take a moment to provide a short professional biography.

I have been a high-school teacher for 27 years after graduating from an university. My school is managed by the Tokyo government.

Please describe your experience with technology and education.

Nine years have passed since I started the education on information and communications technologies (ICTs).

How does your country integrate technology into the curriculum?

30 % of the curriculum on ICT is spent for lectures. Basic digital technologies and morals for ICT are taught. The rest 70 % is spent for practical exercises including Internet, Excel, Word and Powerpoint.

What kind of technology is available for students to use in your schools?

Computer, Internet

How do you ensure that every student has equal access to technology?

Not in particular.

Is there a person at your school to assist you and other teachers with technology use and support?

Yes, our school has a contract with an ICT company. Support and maintenance is by it.Simple support and maintenance are done by myself.

Is there an organization that establishes educational policy, specifically technology integration policy, for schools?

No, I establish educational policy. Our school has PC committee. PC commitee is made up of 4 members. The task of PC committee is,(1) to determine the amount for budget request(2) to maintain the home page of our school(3) to maintain PCs and Internet network

How do schools get their funding for technology?

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Our school doesn't receive funds for technology. Our school get funds for all needs in our school. The funds for technology is divided in the funds for all needs.Interviewee: Midori Hori

What is your current position?

I am a teacher of Chemistry.

Please take a moment to provide a short professional biography.

My name is Midori Hori. I have been a high-school teacher for 25 years after graduating from an university. My school is managed by the Tokyo government.

Please describe your experience with technology and education.

I can use PC and I can make a lecture with it. But I don't use PC in my classroom.I have two reasons that I don’t use PC.

One reason; Every class has one PC. However it is locked. It takes more than 5 minutes to unlock it and put on screen on the black board. It is waste of time.

Another reason; I think that to understand the subject of Chemistry, handwriting on notebook is more effective than using PC.

How does your country integrate technology into the curriculum?

As I don't use PC, I omit to answer the below questions.

What kind of technology is available for students to use in your schools?

None

How do you ensure that every student has equal access to technology?

Omit

Is there a person at your school to assist you and other teachers with technology use and support?

Omit

Is there an organization that establishes educational policy, specifically technology integration policy, for schools?

Omit

How do schools get their funding for technology?

Omit

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Interviewee: Aya Kinjo

An extra interview was conducted by Brenda in Japan. A Japanese friend helped translate and it was difficult to get some of our questions answered because she couldn’t understand what was being asked.

In talking to Aya Kinjo, she said that it is uncommon to use technology in government schools. From what was understood and translated, there are government schools, public schools, and private schools. Private schools are rare and have been popping up recently; they are also more westernized. The people have to pay for school, even government ones, but they pay fees not taxes like we do. I was a little confused by government and public schools, but she said that most people attend government schools because it is cheaper and teaches the basics. Public schools are more expensive and usually tied to Universities so people who want their kids to do better and have more money send their kids there. Public schools are more rigorous from what she said. She said that most schools teach technology separately as a class and don’t integrate it. She said students learn about technology and how to use it but teachers don’t use it to teach, or least in her experience they didn’t. She wasn’t taught about technology integration and I asked her if she thought it had changed and she said no, because that’s not how Japanese schools work in Okinawa.

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References

Center on International Education Benchmarking. (2012). Japan: Teacher and principal quality. Retrieved from http://www.ncee.org/programs-affiliates/center-on-international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/japan-overview/japan-teacher-and-principal-quality/ 

Center for US-Japan Comparative Social Studies. (2005). School teachers. Retrieved from http://www.usjp.org/jpeducation_en/jpEdTeachers_en.html

Kusano, K., Frederiksen, S., Jones, L., Kobayashi, M., Mukoyama, Y., Yamagishi, T., ... & Ishizuka, H. (2013). The effects of ICT environment on teachers’ attitudes and technology integration in Japan and the US. Journal of Information Technology Education, 12.

OECD. (2012). Strong performers and successful reformers in education -   Lessons from PISA for Japan . Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/education/school/programmeforinternationalstudentassessmentpisa/49802616.pdf

Tokyo Metropolitan Hoya High School. (2002). From the principal’s office. Retrieved from http://www.hoya-h.metro.tokyo.jp/index.htm 

U.S. Department of Education. (2011). International experiences with technology in education: Final Report. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/technology/research/

Yoshida, H. (2010). Development and formative evaluation of the “Educational media in-service

teacher training curriculum standards.” International Journal of Education and

Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT) 6(3), 37-55.

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