Extra Lessons Research Articles

English

Recently, there have been concerns that equality of educational opportunity has been lost and that this is leading to the stratification of Japanese society through the widening of income differentials, in a 'gap society'. In such a disparity society, secure full-time jobs are increasingly becoming limited to those who graduate from prestigious universities, and entry into those institutions is becoming connected more clearly with family income and investments. Parental attitudes towards their children taking extra lessons after school, going to cram schools, getting into university, and getting into a relatively highly-ranked university have influenced educational costs. This article examines the historical formation of the concept of equality of opportunity, which has been applied to the educational policy in Japan, particularly from the end of World War II to the new millennium. This paper also expands on the existing literature on educational policies in contemporary Japan by examining how the current educational reform efforts have affected equality of educational opportunity among children from different family backgrounds.

Carys Margaret Bannister

Carys Margaret Bannister was born in Recife, Brazil, in 1935. She was the daughter of an engineer in the Great Western Brazilian Railway, the son of a vicar from Oswestry....

Promoting physical activity in children: the stepwise development of the primary school-based JUMP-in intervention applying the RE-AIM evaluation framework

BackgroundThere is a lack of effective intervention strategies that promote physical activity (PA) in school children. Furthermore, there is a gap between PA intervention research and the delivery of programmes...

Who benefits from intervention in, as opposed to screening of, overweight and obese children?

StEP TWO is a school- and family-based intervention consisting of extra lessons, healthy nutrition and physical education for overweight and obese children in primary schools, aimed at reducing body mass index by maintenance or reduction of weight, and improving motor abilities. We analysed differences in changes in anthropometric, cardiovascular and obesity parameters between children who underwent intervention, non-participants in intervention, and controls. Anthropometric data and waist circumference were recorded for 1678 children; body mass index and body mass index-standard deviation score were calculated. Blood pressure was measured after 5 minutes at rest. 121 overweight and obese children enrolled at 3 schools involved in programmes of intervention were invited to take part; 40 of them completed the programme from November 2003 to July 2004. Of these overweight children, 74 were invited, but did not take part. As controls, we enrolled 155 overweight and obese children from 4 other schools. After the programme, the children involved in intervention showed a lower increase in the body mass index (0.3 plus or minus 1.3 versus 0.7 plus or minus 1.2 kilograms per metre squared) and an approximately three times higher diminution of the body mass index-standard deviation score in comparison with their controls (-0.15 plus or minus 0.26 versus 0.05 plus or minus 0.27). Systolic blood pressure was significantly lowered by 9.5 plus or minus 19.6 millimetres of mercury in those involved in intervention, but increased in the control group by 0.5 plus or minus 16.5 millimetres of mercury. Among those invited but not participating, the increase of the body mass index (0.5 plus or minus 1.3 kilograms per metre squared) was less, and the reduction of the body mass index-standard deviation score (-0.09 plus or minus 0.31) and systolic blood pressure (-5.3 plus or minus 15.6 millimetres of mercury) was higher than in the control group. Overweight but not obese children seem to benefit from a screening examination alone. Early preventive measures in schools are necessary and effective for overweight and obese primary school children. The screening itself seems also to have a minor positive effect, especially for overweight children. Sustainability of the observed improvements over a longer period remains to be confirmed.

The concept of extra physical education lessons and the first experience of its implementation

The concept of extra physical education lessons and the first experience of its implementation

First Impressions of Eastern European Education

eachers are moving about in a room crowded with tables. Some are kissing, others are probably relating summer news. Dressed up in suits or down in jeans, this might be the first day of school for teachers at Maine South High School, my school in Park Ridge, Illinois-except for the European cheek kissing and the opening remarks in Hungarian, that is. Today is opening day for all teachers. My assignment as a Fulbright exchange teacher this year is to teach conversational English at Kassik Gimnizium, a secondary school located in Budapest, Hungary, only a few blocks from the Danube River. The director introduces me to a group of about sixty teachers, mentioning to them the five words I know in Hungarian. They smile, and I am suddenly a part of their community. I meet the other four English teachers who make up our department. They are very anxious to help. Our first day together lasts only one hour. I am given my schedule at the end of the day; I have ten hours of classes a week. For every teacher, each day begins and ends at a different time. In Hungary, high school classes are scheduled like college classes in the United States. The average teacher has eighteen lessons per week; the salary for eighteen lessons is roughly one hundred and eighty dollars. Many teachers, therefore, teach extra lessons a week or give private lessons before or after school.

A controlled study of eight months of physical training and reduction of blood pressure in children: the Odense schoolchild study.

To examine the effect of physical training on physical fitness and blood pressure in children aged 9-11 years. Prospective randomised controlled intervention study of a sample of children drawn from a population survey of coronary risk factors in children. Odense, Denmark. 69 children with mean blood pressure greater than or equal to 95th centile (hypertensive group) and 68 with mean blood pressure less than 95th centile (normotensive group), randomly selected from a population of 1369 children. 67 children were randomised to receive three extra lessons a week of an ordinary school physical education programme for eight months. Physical fitness assessed by calculation of maximum oxygen uptake and blood pressure recorded by one unblinded observer. After three months neither blood pressure nor physical fitness had changed significantly. After adjustment for values in weight, height, heart rate, and the variable in question before training physical fitness rose significantly at the end of eight months' training, by 3.7 mlO2/kg/min (95% confidence interval 2.2 to 5.3) in the normotensive training subgroup and by 2.1 mlO2/kg/min (0.1 to 4.2) in the hypertensive training subgroup compared with that in the controls. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures in the training subgroups fell significantly by 6.5 mm Hg (3.2 to 9.9) and 4.1 mm Hg (1.7 to 6.6) respectively in the normotensive group and by 4.9 mm Hg (0.7 to 9.2) and 3.8 mm Hg (0.9 to 6.6) respectively in the hypertensive group. Physical training lowers blood pressure and improves physical fitness in children and might have implications for an important non-pharmacological approach to primary prevention of essential hypertension.

Explicit Instruction in Mathematics Problem Solving

AbstractThis study examined the effectiveness of a method that teaches fourth graders to translate word story problems into mathematical equation form in a step-by-step explicit manner. This explicit strategy method was compared to a method developed from a composite of the four basal arithmetic texts adopted for use in the state of Oregon. The study also examined the effects of providing extra lessons to students who failed to master each of three units in the 11-lesson curriculum packages. The target population was 73 skill-deficient fourth graders. Students were randomly assigned to teaching conditions. The dependent measure was a 26-item test that asked students to translate word problems into equation form. Posttest results indicated a significant positive effect for the explicit translation strategy (KTS) but no effect for provision of extra review lessons (regardless of teaching methods). On a parallel form maintenance test administered two weeks later, however, only students in the explicit group ...

Remedial Reading: Effects of Tokens, Material Back-up Reinforcers, and Response Cost

Children of 8 to 10 yr. received 20 individual remedial reading lessons each. Four groups ( ns = 4) were given token reinforcement with either material or nonmaterial back-up reinforcers and with either a response-cost contingency for errors or not. A fifth group received equal lessons but no tokens, and a sixth had no extra lessons ( ns = 4). The remedial program had a limited effect on reading achievement; token reinforcement, however, did not enhance the effect of extra lessons. Material back-ups were associated with less favourable ratings of the lessons than were nonmaterial back-ups. Deducting tokens for incorrect responses led to fewer errors when the token system was in operation but more when it finished compared with having no response-cost contingency. Results are taken to demonstrate the value of control groups, and the complex operation of “reinforcement” in human cognitive activity is discussed.