This study reports how extensive reading (ER) teachers implemented ER and used reading materials at institutions in formal educational systems in Japan, Mongolia, Thailand, and Vietnam. 259 participants completed an online questionnaire. The results revealed that ER was mainly required and done online in Japan and Mongolia while it was optional…

Education for sustainable development (ESD) has for decades been a focus internationally and has been embraced in the Japanese curriculum since 2008. Given UNESCO's emphasis on teacher training for ESD and well-established in-service teacher training programmes in Japan, the aim of this study is to explore whether ESD teacher training could help…

In Japan, many high school students have severe depression. Preventive interventions for school-based cognitive-behavioral depression are effective countermeasures against depressive problems among high school students. However, since high school curriculums are time-consuming, such interventions are less common among high school students.…

The "first-grade problem" of the lack of concentration, listening, and following of instruction has been widely identified among Japanese kindergarten students. To promote their executive functioning and self-regulation to prevent this issue, we developed the Social Thinking and Academic Readiness Training (START) program. The…

Life skills (LS) training programs help individuals develop their mental health and stress-related attitudes. This study aims to build a versatile physical education program (PEP) to promote LS and examine its effectiveness. The subjects were first-year Japanese university students. We conducted the LS survey in April (pre-semester) and August…

Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) is a fast-developing field that is constantly growing and evolving in education. There is a lack of publications focusing on implementation studies of MALL as a means to enhance second language/foreign language (L2) reading comprehension. Building on Burston's (2013). Mobile-Assisted Language Learning: a…

The Early Childhood Education Quality (ECEQ) initiative is a pioneering approach toward supporting ongoing, self-organized professional development in the private kindergarten sector in Japan. The purpose of this study is to examine how kindergarten teachers and ECEQ coordinators experience this approach and view the ECEQ process. Online…

Self-direction skill (SDS) is an essential 21st-century skill that can help learners be independent and organized in their quest for knowledge acquisition. While some studies considered learners from higher education levels as the target audience, providing opportunities to start the SDS practice by K12 learners is still rare. Further, practicing…

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a concept that is gaining a following worldwide as a cost-effective means for schools to provide 21st-century skills (Bell, 2010) with limited funding. The current paper shows the results of a survey into the opinions and perceptions of parents of Japanese K1-3 students' use of technology, specifically the…

The Japanese educational system is highly competitive and applies high stakes standardized admission testing. As this approach has led to student stress and a narrow instructional focus, the Japanese Government revised educational goals toward more holistic development of well-rounded citizens who are healthy, independent, creative, and work…

Beginning in April 2020, the Japanese government continued its English education language policy reform by introducing foreign language instruction as an academic subject for Grade 5 and Grade 6 students. The purpose of this study was to investigate how stakeholders across the education system have contended with policy creation, policy…

This quasi-experimental study reports on the outcomes of a video-synchronous learning program in which an element of project-based foreign language learning was integrated. The project chosen was to cooperatively create a homepage. American students learning Japanese in the United States and Japanese students learning English in Japan made pairs…

This guidebook aspires to build a community where learning for sustainable development takes place everywhere for everyone as an ongoing practice. It introduces you to "Reflect-Share-Act," a process to discover and define sustainable development in your own contexts together with others in your community. The guide compiles resources…

Addressing the root cause of Japanese higher education problems, the present literature-based study explores Japanese higher education's power relationship with one of the most influential stakeholders, the business world. It first draws attention to the incongruity between the business enterprises' proclaimed struggle with the securement of human…