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and non-educational vehicles of social mobility, relative economic and cultural
homogeneity, policies on education such as mixed ability classes and automatic
promotion throughout the compulsory years, and cultural assumptions such as the effort-
based attribution of achievement. Currently, provision for individual differences relies on
private educational opportunities outside school. Developing innovative ideas through
interactions and support for lower achieving classmates are measures commonly
adopted to stimulate achievement in students in elementary and junior high school
classrooms (Stevenson, et al. 1994). However, since the 1980s, equality in education
has gradually come to be defined in two opposing ways. Teachers prefer unrestricted
equality, which discourages competitive evaluation and ability grouping, while the
Iiberationists of the Education Commission have encouraged differentiation according to
student achievement (Tsuneyoshi, R.K. 1991). The Ministry of Education in Japan
(1999) currently recommends the provision of more opportunities for individual and
group learning, aiming to ensure all pupils’ understanding while providing opportunities
to meet individual needs and extend potential.
Some research has reported the advantages of individualised teaching methods which
have been shown to be more effective, in relation to pupils’ cognitive and affective
outcomes, than whole-class instruction (Waxman et al., 1985). Shwalb (1991) reported
that there were age and gender effects. 5th grade boys in Japan were socially interactive
and performed equally well in individualised and group conditions, while 8th grade boys
were more productive in an individual striving condition than group conditions.
Individualised teaching methods also change the role of the teacher, from authority
figure in teacher-led teaching methods to helper with the pupil’s work in child-centred
teaching methods (Langdon, 1976). However, individualised learning methods reduce
the opportunities for interaction in mathematics classroom (Romiszowski, 1979) and are
also likely to diminish the teachers’ opportunities to develop their instructional skills
because teachers rely on helping their pupils to complete the task rather than teaching
them (Costello, 1991).
The small percentage of time allocated for individual work does not indicate a lack of
emphasis on practice in mathematics classes at Japanese schools. Traditionally,
Japanese education has emphasised a practical and pragmatic approach. For instance,
calculating has been emphasised in mathematics classes since modernisation in the late
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