The school attendance problem in Japanese compulsory education: the case of a public junior high school
The school attendance problem in Japanese compulsory education: the case of a public junior high school
Main Article Content
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to collect accurate data on the School Attendance Problem (SAP) in Japan at a local level while using an explicit definition of legitimate attendance. Attendance data on 35 students at a junior high school (M=13.9 years, SD=0.9) were extracted and 11 fundamental factors related to SAP were examined. The analysis showed that the number of absences in the previous year was a strong predictor of SAP in the current year; that more than 90% of the subjects did not take advantage of special institutions; that parents’s attitude was a significant predictor of the prolongation of SAP; and that school withdrawal type (SW) was the most common form of SAP. Regardless of their attendance record or academic performance, all SAP students were advanced to the next grade at the end of the school year. Close cooperation between parents and school is identified as a key factor in addressing SAP. To give effective support to SAP students in Japan, it is necessary to review aspects of the educational system that may be encouraging students not to attend school.
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Bulletin of Tokai Gakuin University, 4, 185–201.
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treatment in school. The Journal of Tokai Gakuin University, 9, 101–118.
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Hiroshima: An option survey for staffs and principals. Bulletin of Research Center for
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Warnecke, R. (1964). School phobia and its treatment. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 37,
71–79. doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8341.1964.tb01308.x.
Yamamoto, H. (2008). Problems with official statistics on Futoko Children: Seeking alternatives
through the statistical verification of prefectural variations. The Journal of Educational
Sociology, 83, 129–147.
Japanese Journal of Psychotherapy, 4, 57–63. (in Japanese).
Blagg, N. R. (1987). School phobia and its treatment. London, England: Croom Helm.
Elliott, J.G., & Place, M. (2017). Practitioner Review: School refusal: developments in
conceptualisation and treatment since 2000. The Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry. Version of record on line: 2. doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12848.
Fremont, W.P. (2003). School refusal in children and adolescents. American Family Physician, 68,
1555–1561.
Glaser, K. (1959). Problems in school attendance: School phobia and related conditions.
Pediatrics, 23, 371–383.
Hersov, L. (1972). School refusal. British Medical Journal, 3, 102–104.
doi.org/10.1136/bmj.3.5818.102.
Heyne, D., & Rollings, S. (2002). School refusal, parents, adolescent and child training skills 2,
BPS Blackwell.
Heyne, D., Gren-Landell, M., Melvin, G.A., & Gentle-Genitty, C.S. (2018). Differentiation
between school attendance problems: Why and how? Cognitive and Behavioral Practice.
Advance online publication, doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2018.03.006.
Higashimura, T. (2004). An educational attempt to help young people who cannot adapt to
institutionalized education: A case study of support school. The Japanese journal of
experimental social psychology, 43, 140–154.
Hirata, Y. (2018). Study of a multifaceted support system utilizing a separate room for children
who refuse to attend school. Cultural science reports of Kagoshima University, 85, 29–40.
Inagaki, T., & Wake, R. (2007). Adaptation to correspondence school among students having
exhibited school non-attendance. Japanese Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
48, 155–160.
Inamura, H. (1994). Futoko no kenkyu (The study of school non-attendance). Tokyo: Shinyo-sha.
Ingles, C.J., Gonzalvez-Macia, C., Garcia-Fernandez, J.M., Vicent, M., y Martinez-Montaeaqudo,
M.C. (2015). Current status of research on school refusal. European Journal of Education
and Psychology, 8, 37–52. doi.org/10.1016/j.ejeps.2015.10.005.
Ishikawa, R. (2007). Futoukou kara dasshutsusuru houhou (The way out of school refusal). Tokyo:
Seikyu-sha.
Kawai, I., & Sakurai, K. (2003). School Refusal: Support for School Return (Futokou: Saitoko no
shien). Kyoto: Nakanishiya-shuppan.
Kearney, C.A., & Albano, A.M. (2007). When children refuse school: A cognitive-behavioral
therapy approach. New York: Oxford.
Kearney, C.A. & Bates, M. (2005). Addressing school refusal behavior: Suggestion for frontline
professionals. Children and Schools, 27, 207–216. doi.org/10.1093/cs/27.4.207.
King, N.J., Tonge, B., Heyne, D., Prichard, M., Rollings, S., Yong, D., Myerson., N., & Ollendick,
T.H. (1998). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of school-refusing children: A controlled
evaluation. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37,
395–403. doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199804000-00017.
Maeda, N. (2011). Present situations and issues with treatment of school refusal behaviour, and the
effect of school-based behavioural approach: Through support for parents with school
refusal child. Progress in Social Welfare Research, 6, 63–73.
Maeda, N. (2016). School-based behavioural consultation for school-refusal behaviour.
International Journal of Psychological Studies, 8, 40–52. doi.org/10.5539/ijps.v8n1p40.
Maeda, N. (2017). School refusal after the summer holiday: School-based behavioural approach
for school refusal. Kyoiku to Igaku (Education and Medicine), 65, 812–820.
Maeda, N., Hatada, S., Sonoda, J., & Takayama, I. (2012). School-based intensive exposure
therapy for school refusal behavior. Clinical Case Studies, 11, 299–311.
doi.org/10.1177/1534650112457456
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology-Japan. (2017). Report on school
basic survey. Tokyo.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology-Japan. (2009). Research on
issues over teacher guidance toward student’s misbehavior. Tokyo.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology-Japan. (2016). Research on
issues over teacher guidance toward student’s misbehavior. Tokyo.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology-Japan. (2005). The review of
compulsory educational systems. Tokyo.
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. (2017). Population census. Tokyo.
Nakahara, S., & Ito, T. (2008). Korehodomadeni futoko hikikomori wo umidasushakai toha
nannanoka (Why the society creates so many school refusal and hikikomori). Kitaojishobou, Kyoto.
Okuyama, M., Okada, M., Kuribayashi, M., & Kaneko, S. (1999). Factors responsible for the
prolongation of school refusal. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 53, 461–469.
doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1819.1999.00585.x.
Richardson, K. (2016). Family therapy for child and adolescent school refusal. Australian and New
Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 37, 528–546. doi.org/10.1002/anzf.1188.
Sakata, M. (2007). A case of the non-attendant supported by a “counselor at the hearty classroom”:
Considering through the special supports and the collaboration with the teachers. Faculty
of Education Wakayama University bulletin of Center for Educational Research and
Training, 17, 1–7.
Sewell, J. (2008). School refusal. Australian Family Physician, 37, 406–408.
Sonoda, J., Hashimoto, K., Ishibashi, C., & Kamohara, Y. (2008). Contemporary subjects to
support of school non-attendance: From viewpoints of behavioral science, Journal of Kibi
International University Research Institute of Clinical Psychology, 5, 1–22.
Sonoda, J., Takayama, I., Maeda, N., Tanaka, Y., & Kuriyama, K. (2004). School refusal and
social withdrawal: The development, treatment and prevention. Journal of Kyushu
University of Health and Welfare, 5, 77–84. (in Japanese). doi.org/10.15069/00000529.
Terada, M. (2010). The treatment of non-attendance child: What we can do in our school now.
Bulletin of Tokai Gakuin University, 4, 185–201.
Terada, M. (2015). The Treatment of non-attendance children (11): The framework of the
treatment in school. The Journal of Tokai Gakuin University, 9, 101–118.
Wakita, Y., & Iwata, N. (2005). The activities of private support-schools for students in
Hiroshima: An option survey for staffs and principals. Bulletin of Research Center for
Clinical Psychology of Hiroshima International University, 5, 61–68.
Warnecke, R. (1964). School phobia and its treatment. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 37,
71–79. doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8341.1964.tb01308.x.
Yamamoto, H. (2008). Problems with official statistics on Futoko Children: Seeking alternatives
through the statistical verification of prefectural variations. The Journal of Educational
Sociology, 83, 129–147.