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Just Mumbling around Career Education

Episode 61: August 22, 2021

  • Dear Readers:

    Welcome to the "Just Mumbling around Career Education" series. This series is part of the official website for the Career Education Research Section in the Faculty of Human Sciences and the Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan. You can read the English version from "Episode 60" here.

    First of all, please allow me to explain why I am starting from "Episode 60".

    Among the things created in ancient China and introduced to Japan during the same period were ten symbols called "Jikkan" and twelve symbols called "Junishi", which alone or in combination represented the date, year, month, time, and direction. When the decimal system "Jikkan" and the duodecimal system "Junishi" kept cycling, they would return to their initial combination on the 60th time. For this reason, "60" is still treated as a milestone number that signifies a second start. The fact that in Japan, the 60th birthday is often celebrated with a festive atmosphere is an example of this.

    Please note that the English version will be posted at a later date than the original Japanese version due to the time needed for translation.

    Shortly (or hopefully), I will be extracting some of the articles from "Episode 1" to "Episode 59" and translate them into English as well.

    Thanks,
    Teruyuki FUJITA, Ph.D.
    Professor, Faculty of Human Sciences, Univesity of Tsukuba

    ✽

    Episode 61: Falling or Bridging between Two Chairs: Resuming Schools after Summer Recess and Providing Countermeasures against DOVID-19　(August 22, 2021)

    The summer vacation for students is just about to reach its end.

    The intense heat in the first half of August, the Tokyo Olympics in amidst debates of pros and cons, the record-breaking torrential rains that followed, and the current and large-scale re-spreading of COVID-19...... I am sure that many teachers and parents are feeling anxious about the reopening of schools after the summer break.

    In these circumstances, on August 20, the day before yesterday, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) issued an administrative notice, "Thorough countermeasures against new coronavirus infections in primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary schools for the new school term."
    https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20210820-mxt_kouhou01-000007004_1.pdf (in Japanese)

    Since this has already been widely covered by the mass media, I will not go into the details.

    However, I would like to note that the administrative notice states that "schools not only play a role in ensuring learning opportunities and academic achievement, but also play a role in ensuring holistic development and growth, as well as a role in ensuring physical and mental health as a place to stay and as a safety net for the students". It also is important to note that the notice is based on the premise that "simultaneous temporary school closure of the entire region is a measure that should only be taken in cases where the whole socioeconomic activities of the region are suspended, and that needs careful consideration from the perspective of ensuring the learning opportunities for students and their physical and mental health".

    Based on these premises, the administrative notice has set forth the following two basic policies:
    1) In particular, primary and lower secondary schools should not be simultaneously closed.
    2) For upper secondary schools in the area subject to the Declaration of State of Emergency, the feasibility of staggered/dispersed school attendance and hybrid programs combining online learning should proactively be considered at the discretion of the school establishers to ensure the continuation of learning.

    In addition, if there are any confirmed cases of infection among students and/or staff at a school, the notice states that "depending on the extent of the possible spread of the infection, the school may be closed temporarily to the necessary extent after consultation with the public health authorities, such as limiting the closure to classroom or grade level basis. Furthermore, for students who cannot attend school due to temporary school closure or suspension of attendance, "it is important to provide support by combining textbooks with other learning materials (e.g., digital or analog learning materials, on-demand videos, TV broadcasts, etc.) and by utilizing the ICT environment."

    In short, the government has made it clear that simultaneous temporary school closure throughout the country will not be implemented. It is true that at this point, Japan is unable to take measures such as a mandatory lockdown. It also is clear that the Declaration of State of Emergency will no longer have the same impact as the first one in April last year. The gap between families capable of supporting their children's studies at home and having lunch with them and those who find it difficult to do so will only widen. Furthermore, if the period of school closure is prolonged, there will be frequent cases of workplace harassment, unjust suspension of employment, and illegal dismissals against workers who are forced to take leave to take care of their children.

    On the other hand, it is also true that as the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant continues nationwide, the number of cases of infection among teenagers and younger children is rapidly increasing. Many criticisms have already been made on the Internet against the policy of not implementing a blanket temporary school closure. Most of them are concerned about the outbreak in schools and the further spread of the disease and point out that many cases of infection with the Delta COVID-19 variant occur even in the younger generation. Not to mention that there are many who are concerned about the collapse of medical care as a result of this.

    In addition, some local governments have decided to extend the summer break, and there has been a mixed response to these decisions on the Internet. At present, the overwhelming majority seems to be in favor of such a policy and critical of those announced by MEXT.

    ✽

    This is just my personal view, but the policy announced in the August 20 administrative notice, is not likely to be changed for the time being (at least for the next week or two). This is because, at this point, there have been only a few clusters of infection observed in schools.

    Many of you may remember that during the nationwide temporary school closure last spring, people were critical of the necessity of the closure itself. What is the point of stopping many children from learning and depriving them of the opportunity to enjoy and grow in school settings? While children often do not develop the disease, and even if they do, it would not be serious. The MEXT does not understand the difference between a few months for a child and a few months for an adult. What are we going to do about the widening gap among families in different environments? ...... The list of criticisms would be endless.

    Given such experiences, it is hard to envision that the MEXT would immediately declare a nationwide temporary school closure. It's very sad, and I don't want to even think about it, but there will be a certain number of clusters of patients in schools, and based on that fact, the temporary school closure will be implemented as an unavoidable measure limited to the particular school, or a specific area. While such situations are occurring intermittently, we may have no choice but to hope that vaccination for youths who opt for will progress, that the outbreak in schools will not lead to further spread of the infection, and that neutralizing antibody cocktails and other therapeutic medications will be effective and the fifth wave will peak out.

    ✽

    If such assumptions become a reality, teachers after the summer break will continue to take thorough measures against COVID-19, and strive to guide students not to discriminate based on misunderstandings and prejudices against infected individuals, those in close contact, and their families, as well as those who are unable or unwilling to be vaccinated. Teachers also will resume their educational activities while giving psychological care to children facing anxiety and depression.

    Just imagining the magnitude of the daily effort of the teachers at schools, I can only admire and appreciate them.

    However, I have to anticipate that even with all these efforts by teachers, the school infection of the Delta COVID-19 variant cannot be completely prevented. Especially for the younger children in primary schools, it is difficult to be aware of social distancing at all times, and I don't think it is a realistic assumption that all students will spend the whole day wearing masks properly.

    Sooner or later, some schools will be forced to close temporarily to curb the spread of the disease. Given the current situation where the number of infected cases is spreading nationwide, it would not be surprising if such closures are implemented in any part of the country.

    I believe the following two aspects are crucial at this point.

    First, it would be extremely rare for teachers to be held responsible for such temporary closures. Even if teachers take all possible measures to prevent infection, they cannot completely control the high-risk behavior of students, especially primary school children. Even if cases of infection in the school are confirmed, PLEASE do not blame yourselves. It is the highly infectious new coronaviruses that is to blame, not the teachers.

    Secondly, in the case of temporary closures in any form, the "GIGA School Initiative" rapidly promoted during FY2020 with the aim of "one tablet device for every student with a high-speed network" is expected to demonstrate its full potential.

    The majority of schools have already completed the hardware aspects of "one tablet device for every student with a high-speed network". What is needed is creative and ingenious educational practices using these technologies.

    Even in the unlikely event that the teacher reading this episode will have to face a temporary school closure in September or later, there still is time before then.

    If the school's policy permits, please proactively provide opportunities for each student to get used to using the devices both at school and at home, and to become familiar with setting up the Internet connection by themselves. Teachers are also encouraged to explore specific ways to support children's online learning and to create opportunities for simulated practices.

    As pointed out in the administrative notice dated August 20, it is essential to take extra considerations to improve the ICT environment for children who need special care due to family circumstances, in parallel with encouraging them to go to local learning support centers or allowing them to use school facilities. At the same time, however, we should not let the "one tablet device for every student" system remain unused during the temporary closure only because there are some students who need special considerations.

    At the moment, there seems to be a wide variation in the skills of teachers using ICT.

    As far as I can tell, even though all the tablet/laptop devices that have been funded by the GIGA School Initiative are equipped with application software that promotes "individualized learning" and "collaborative learning," there are still a few teachers who do not step up to use the devices and use only the traditional paper-based printed materials.

    Preparing for unforeseen circumstances can only be done before they occur.

    I sincerely hope that as many teachers as possible will maximize the potential of the "one tablet device for every student" environment in their schools and fully utilize it.

    ✽

    It has been almost a year and a half since COVID-19 began to have a direct impact on school education. I sometimes feel overwhelmed with a sense of frustration and helplessness, wondering how much longer it will last.

    Perhaps our future will never be "post-COVID19" but "with-COVID19".

    I hope that the new coronaviruses will soon become "somehow manageable" for us as the influenza viruses. Believing that the day will come shortly, let's all get over this.

    (Translated and uploaded on September 12, 2021)

バナースペース

藤田晃之

〒305-8572
茨城県つくば市天王台1-1-1
筑波大学人間系

TEL 029-853-4598（事務室）