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Survey reveals children in Japan are stressed over having to adjust to distance learning.

By on April 8, 2020

A month ago, children were happy about the school closure which many thought would last just a few weeks.

But as coronavirus cases rise in Japan and disruptions to daily life continue, experts say, the crisis isn’t going to end soon.

Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, has declared a state of emergency in 7 places including Tokyo where the case count has reached  more than 1,000. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has been closely monitoring the situation and urging people to stay home.

The state of emergency has prompted local schools in Tokyo and other areas where coronavirus case counts are increasing, to remain closed for an extended period until after the Golden Week on May 6. Given that the impacts of COVID-19 are continuing to ripple across Japan, many mainstream international schools across Tokyo have started announcing that they would be continuing with distance learning through the end of the school year in June.

While staying home has created an opportunity for families to regroup, the emotional tensions imposed upon them as children get bored, has shaken domestic harmony.

According to a survey by The Motivation Switch Group Co., Ltd.,  a comprehensive education service that has temporarily closed its schools to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus infection, the school closure has given rise to a string of issues at home.  Despite the overwhelming pressure to immediately adjust to distance learning, a one-size-fits-all autonomous approach may not always be a convenient choice for some children in Japan.

70% of 500 parents say their children are having insufficient exercise and 56.9% say being off-school has disrupted their children’s ‘daily rhythm’.  Here’s what kids are saying.
 
Children can’t concentrate.
“Even though elementary school upper grades can do moderate learning independently, lower grades do not have an hour.” (preschool children, 1st to 3rd grades, 4th to 6th grades)

“I couldn’t concentrate on my study because there were TV and games in my house.” (4th to 6th graders)

“I feel that I couldn’t stay focused when studying at home.” (Junior high school students)

Anxiety

・”I do not do it myself, I do not do it spontaneously, I do not get motivated.”
・ “Students did not spontaneously learn, only the minimum learning necessary, such as completing what needs to be submitted.” (1st to 3rd graders)
・ “I can’t do the prints distributed by the school voluntarily. I feel extremely uneasy because the learning time was extremely short.” (4th to 6th graders)
・ “Depending on the nature of the child, motivation and autonomy are completely different.” (preschool children, 4th to 6th grade junior high school students)

Short learning time, source of trouble and anxiety of home study
・ “It was good that the new unit was over at school and it was time to summarize it, but I could concentrate at home for about 15 minutes at best. One kanji drill and one math drill were the best.” (Elementary school Grades 1-3)
・ “I bought a drill and worked on it, but it is difficult to study for a long time like when you’re at school.” (1st to 3rd grade elementary school students)
・ “It is difficult to secure enough study time to go to school, so study time is extremely reduced, and I am worried about it.” (4th to 6th grade elementary / junior high school students)

In addition, some children say, “I will do my favorite subject, but I will not do anything I do not like.”

“I am worried about the contents of the course work. Just copying?”

“I worked on online materials, but basically there was no teacher who could teach me easily when I had questions or I did not understand how to solve a problem.”

“It’s such a problem when children study alone, I have been working daily with commercially available drills, but I also have concerns about the new semester and the future. I’m worried if I can keep up with the beginning of the new semester this way.”

“Each person can make a difference”. Some positive responses (7.4%) indicated that they were able to study calmly because they had time.

Takumi Niwano, director of the think tank Motivation Switch Group, said, “In order to work on learning autonomously, the three processes: planning, execution management, and reflection, are important. It is difficult to do all of this on your own from the beginning, and so it is necessary for schools to provide some external work and create an environment where there is a lesson plan, coaching, etc.”

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