A PISA Paradox? An Alternative Theory of Learning as a Possible Solution for Variations in PISA Scores

Komatsu, Hirokazu; Rappleye, Jeremy

doi:10.1086/690809

Cited by 52 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…And most recently, popular authors like British teacher Lucy Crehan (2016), who took time to visit the region, concluded that stereotypes she once subscribed to were false: ‘Our stereotypes about Asian education systems are misinformed; they are not all exam hellhole, devoid of joy and deep learning and nor are they all the same’ (p. 266). Our quantitative, longitudinal analyses further support these earlier efforts and contribute to (re)opening the space to think deeply about the cause of high performance of East Asian students (see also Francis & Archer, ; Jerrim, ; Komatsu & Rappleye, ; Rappleye & Komatsu, ). We hope that these deeper, more thoughtful analyses will eventually replace the superficial popular and political debate, which remains stalled at the level of scandalisation or caricature (Takayama, ), or sometimes ill‐fated attempts to borrow structural elements from East Asia (e.g.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 73%

“…The two other data sets also show a similar decline in the mean time for out‐of‐school learning, despite the differences in the sampling strategy (Figure ). When pooling all data derived during 1980–2000, the slope of the regression line ( R 2 = 0.759) determined using the least‐squares method was −13.5 minutes per 10 years with 95% bootstrapping confidence interval (Diadonis & Efron, ; Komatsu & Rappleye, ,b) between −15.9 and −11.5 minutes per 10 years. Here, it is valid to conclude that time spent on out‐of‐school learning by Japanese students has declined since 1980.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is exam hell the cause of high academic achievement in East Asia? The case of Japan and the case for transcending stereotypes

Komatsu

Rappleye

2018

British Educational Res J

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High student achievement across East Asia is often explained as an outcome of highly competitive, stress‐inducing college entrance exams across the region. This ‘exam hell’ drives students to study longer and harder than their peers worldwide, a race that leads—unsurprisingly—to higher marks in international comparisons such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Yet, the race comes at a considerable cost: psychological pressure, forfeited childhoods, regimes of rote memorisation, lack of creativity and private outlays for cram schools. In this article, we seek to refute this outdated narrative by focusing on changes in Japanese education over the past three decades. We first analyse quantitative data for learning time based on three longitudinal surveys conducted by researchers in Japan to show that learning time for Japanese upper secondary students declined during 1980–2000 (Study 1). We then turn to analyse PISA 2015 data to show that now Japanese students study less than their peers in major Anglo‐American countries: the USA, the UK and Australia (Study 2). These findings run counter to well‐worn images frequently rehearsed in both the academic and popular literature. In helping to remove one of the most persistent stereotypes about East Asian education, we seek to help make visible other explanations for East Asian student achievement.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is exam hell the cause of high academic achievement in East Asia? The case of Japan and the case for transcending stereotypes

Komatsu

Rappleye

2018

British Educational Res J

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“…We also calculated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of such parameters using the bootstrapping method (Efron, 1979;Fox, 2008), because CIs provide more information than p values (Cumming, Fidler, Kalinowski, & Lai, 2012;Ellis, 2010;Komatsu & Rappleye, 2017a). Procedures to calculate bootstrapping CIs were described in Komatsu and Rappleye (2017b) and Komatsu, Rappleye, and Silova (2019).…”

Section: Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between stem diameter and transpiration for Japanese cypress trees: Implications for estimating canopy transpiration

et al. 2019

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Previous studies reported relationships between stem diameter at breast height (DBH) and whole‐tree transpiration (Qt) across a variety of species and locations. It might be possible to develop a relationship between DBH and Qt with smaller variations when we focused on a single species. We attempted to develop such a relationship for Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa), which is one of the major plantation species in Japan. We collated Qt for 51 Japanese cypress trees from nine different‐sized and different‐aged stands using the sap flux method. We found a strong linear correlation between DBH and the reference value of Qt at a vapour pressure deficit of 1 kPa (R = .883). This was a consequence of a strong correlation between DBH and sapwood area (AS_tree; R = .973) and the absence of a correlation between DBH and sap flux density (R = −.043). We confirmed that using the relationship between DBH and AS_tree, while assuming typical responses of sap flux density to meteorological factors, provides reasonable Qt estimates. This study also demonstrated how the DBH–Qt relationship can be applied to estimate changes in EC with changing forest management.

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“…I have come to see that the nationalist political discourse offers a more radical critique of the Western modernity and its political and pedagogic discourse. Infusing the Shinto cosmologies into Japanese school curriculum might help extend different onto-epistemic premises of Japanese schooling that some international scholars identify as a viable alternative to those of Western schooling (e.g., Komatsu & Rappleye, 2017; see also Komatsu & Rappleye, 2020). Paradoxically, 58 ECNU Review of Education 3(1) some nationalists whom I have always thought to be politically conservative were pursuing a form of decolonial, as opposed to de-westernization, project in that they refuse to accept the fundamental premises of modern schooling, reason, and rationality and insist on the localized-as opposed to local-differences.…”

Section: Learning Through Disruptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaging with the More-Than-Human and Decolonial Turns in the Land of Shinto Cosmologies: “Negative” Comparative Education in Practice

Takayama

2020

ECNU Review of Education

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Purpose: In this explorative, self-reflective article, I attempt to extend the methodological discussion of a "negative" approach to comparative education that I have recently articulated elsewhere. Here, I demonstrate how I attempted to put in practice negative comparative education by drawing on my experience at the Shanghai workshop, Beyond the Western Horizon in Educational Research, organized by Iveta Silova, Jeremy Rappleye, and Yun You at the East China Normal University. Design/Approach/Methods: I conceive my participation in the Shanghai workshop as a disruptive moment wherein my previous forms of knowing and being were challenged. More specifically, I discuss how my attempt to situate the ecofeminist and decolonial literature, the two of the three main bodies of literature introduced through the workshop, within the context of Japanese education triggered me to reconsider the role of Shinto in Japanese education and question my own firm identification with the liberal-left politics within Japan.

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A PISA Paradox? An Alternative Theory of Learning as a Possible Solution for Variations in PISA Scores

Cited by 52 publications

References 18 publications

Is exam hell the cause of high academic achievement in East Asia? The case of Japan and the case for transcending stereotypes

Is exam hell the cause of high academic achievement in East Asia? The case of Japan and the case for transcending stereotypes

Relationship between stem diameter and transpiration for Japanese cypress trees: Implications for estimating canopy transpiration

Engaging with the More-Than-Human and Decolonial Turns in the Land of Shinto Cosmologies: “Negative” Comparative Education in Practice

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