On July 4, a special subcommittee of Japan’s education council met to discuss updates to the national curriculum guidelines. The Ministry of Education announced it plans to revise how teachers grade students.
Currently, grades are based on three areas:
- Knowledge and skills
- Thinking, judgment, and expression
- Attitude toward learning (how actively and independently students engage in learning)
The ministry is now considering removing the third item—“attitude toward learning”—from being directly included in grades. This is because it's hard to evaluate fairly and puts extra burden on teachers. Some schools, for example, judge it by how often students turn in notebooks, which may not reflect real engagement. It’s also hard to explain this kind of evaluation to students in a positive way.
Under the new proposal, only the first two areas will directly affect report card grades. The third will still be observed, but not used to calculate grades.
by MagazineKey4532