Japan** accelerated plans to digitize classrooms during the coronavirus pandemic, but the program faced an uphill battle as the percentage of elementary and middle school students using newly provided digital devices on a daily basis was inadequate.
The lack of familiarity of teachers with this new technology, which is being provided by *** under the GIGA School Program, has created a challenging situation where teachers are not adequately trained to use the new technology properly. Only about 30% of students use these devices on a daily basis, and there is a lot of variation between schools.
Progress in teacher training has been uneven across cities in Japan to meet the goal of GIGA, the "Global Innovation Gateway for All," a program that aims to "provide every student with a device with high-speed internet."
As an example of how local ** can address this issue, the Kumamoto City Education Center held a conference in December to provide digital training to teachers at Toyota Elementary School.
During the meeting, Mihoko Arakawa, a 47-year-old supervisor at the Education Center, instructed more than a dozen teachers to use tablets in the classroom to play the role of students.
She asked the teachers to create their own stories with animations. They made slides with handwritten drawings and put them on tablets and showed them to each other. Some people are confused about how their colleagues can use tablets to create slideshows or about the work of others.
Noriyuki Matsuo, 54, who teaches science at the school, said he would use tablets in the classroom "as a new teaching tool" and said he hoped the devices would help children express themselves more thoroughly.
Others, like 44-year-old Tomi Shimokawa, who has just returned to work as a school teacher after raising children for many years, said, "I sometimes get confused about digital changes and it's hard to keep up," even though she is well aware of the importance of technology. Importance.
Many teachers still prioritize the use of notebooks, pencils, and other simulated writing materials in class, arguing that tablets are "unlikely to make a lasting impression on students."
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which promotes the GIGA school concept, aims to provide a portion of the expenses for local ** to establish and operate the "GIGA School Operation Support Center" to promote the use of digital devices.
Through cutting-edge information and communication technologies, it is hoped that teachers will also be able to firmly establish interactive lessons that adapt to the needs of different students according to their educational needs and understandings.
According to a survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, by fiscal year 2022, about 70% of public school teachers in Japan had received digital training.
By prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture has the highest proportion at 95%, while other prefectures have a 50% to 60% ratio. Starting in FY2023, the Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education will make it mandatory for all teachers in prefectural junior high schools, high schools, and special schools to receive digital training.
Another survey conducted by the Ministry of Education in FY2023 found that in the first five years of elementary school, only 28 of all sixth-graders in Japan lived4% of students use digital devices in class "almost every day". A head of the Kyoto Board of Education said the finding showed that the gap in teachers' familiarity with digital instruments was widening.
Kazunori Sato, an associate professor of educational technology at Shinshu University, said that allowing teachers to continue using digital devices will "depend on whether they realize that they can be more productive and improve working conditions as a result of using the technology." He stressed that teachers still need to continue to train digitally.
He also pointed out that it would be better to have a "companion", such as a technical advisor at the school or municipality, who could work with teachers and students to think about how best to use the terminal in the classroom.