Abstract
The 2003 PISA report shows Japan and Germany have similarity and dissimilarity in family background influence on educational achievement. The regression coefficient of the Index of Socio-Economic and Cultural Status (an overall index of socio-economic status of family) on student performance is almost same but its correlation (the amount of variation explained by socio-economic background) is different. Although the “native” (both of student and their parents were born in test countries) students’ performance is almost the same in Japan and in Germany, 534 and 530, respectively, the relationship between test score and socio-economic background in Germany is still larger than that in Japan. In this chapter, we explore the institutional settings that make this difference. Especially we focus on educational system of both countries. The difference of “tracking” system may become a focal point.
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- 1.
Rohlen’s monograph on Japanese senior high school system describes its features well (Rohlen, 1983).
- 2.
Standard deviation of school average socio-economic status (ESCS) is not so different between General-A (0.21) and Gymnasium (0.25).
- 3.
- 4.
If we use each school average instead of school type average, a direct path from socio-economic background in Japan is almost zero. However, in Germany, it is still statistically significant and has some predictive power (0.147).
- 5.
We cannot deny the possibility that this direct path may derive from indirect path which is not measured by this model.
- 6.
Strakova (2007) points out that Czech’s tracked education system strengthens the relationship between socio-economic status and students’ academic performance in comparison to Nordic countries and Canada.
- 7.
We did not include study hours of tutors because it correlates negatively with math test scores in most countries, even in Japan. Parents whose child shows poor academic performs are inclined to use a private tutoring.
- 8.
Although male superiority is found in all school types in Germany, we can find such superiority only in the highly ranked schools in Japan. This finding is interesting, but it is not our present concern.
- 9.
Gymnasium students study nearly 2 h longer than Hauptschule students at homework. In Japan, General-A school students study 5 h longer than General-C school students at homework. In addition, General-A school students study an hour longer in out-of-school classes and spend 2 h longer in other study than General-C school students.
- 10.
The TIMSS survey results indicate that not only countries with early tracking systems, but also countries which have university entrance examination systems widen the variation of students’ achievements.
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Acknowledgment
We are grateful to Dr Jaap Dronkers for giving us the opportunity to conduct this collaborative research. During our stay in Florence from 2006 to 2007, Ojima was a visiting fellow at RSCAS, and received a research grant from the Overseas Research Program of Doshisha University and from the Japan Economic Research Foundation. von Below was a Jean Monnet Fellow at the RSCAS and on leave from her position as Assistant Professor at the Social Science Department, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main. From 2007, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research has enabled us to continue this research.
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Ojima, F., von Below, S. (2010). Family Background, School System and Academic Achievement in Germany and in Japan. In: Dronkers, J. (eds) Quality and Inequality of Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3993-4_11
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