Junior high, year by year: the subjects, the hours, and how the marks are made

Junior high (中学校, chūgakkō) has nine subjects, plus moral education, integrated study and class activities. The ordinance lists them: 国語，社会，数学，理科，音楽，美術，保健体育，技術・家庭及び外国語の各教科 A lesson is 50 minutes, not elementary school's 45, and every year has the same total: 1,015 lessons, which over the course of study's 35 teaching weeks is 29 a week. What changes from year to year is the mix.

The hours, year by year

Lessons per year, as 学校教育法施行規則 別表第二 prints them.

Subject	中1	中2	中3
Japanese (国語)	140	140	105
Social studies (社会)	105	105	140
Maths (数学)	140	105	140
Science (理科)	105	140	140
Music (音楽)	45	35	35
Art (美術)	45	35	35
Health and PE (保健体育)	105	105	105
Technology and home economics (技術・家庭)	70	70	35
Foreign language (外国語)	140	140	140
Moral education (特別の教科 道徳)	35	35	35
Integrated study (総合的な学習の時間)	50	70	70
Class activities (特別活動)	35	35	35
Total	1,015	1,015	1,015

These are standards (標準, hyōjun). A school may teach more, and may add elective subjects (選択教科).

What shifts in each year

Year	What changes
中1	50-minute lessons; more music and art than in later years; geography and history run side by side; integrated study is shortest (50)
中2	Science rises to 140 and maths drops to 105; integrated study grows to 70
中3	Social studies rises to 140 as civics (公民) starts; Japanese drops to 105; technology and home economics halve; students choose some PE areas

Social studies runs on a three-year plan

Social studies has three fields, 地理的分野 (geography), 歴史的分野 (history) and 公民的分野 (civics), and the course of study fixes the order:

第１，第２学年を通じて地理的分野及び歴史的分野を並行して学習させることを原則とし，第３学年において歴史的分野及び公民的分野を学習させること。

It also fixes the split: 地理的分野 115 単位時間，歴史的分野 135 単位時間，公民的分野 100 単位時間 So a child arriving in 中2 joins halfway through geography and history, and history finishes in 中3 before civics.

English is taught in English

English stays at 140 lessons a year. The course of study adds about 1,600 to 1,800 new words to those learned in elementary school (小学校で学習した語に 1600 ～ 1800 語程度の新語を加えた語) and says lessons are taught in English as a rule:

授業は英語で行うことを基本とする。

PE, and clubs outside the timetable

In 中1 and 中2 every student takes every PE area, including martial arts (武道, budō) and dance. In 中3 students choose among some of them. Clubs (部活動, bukatsudō) are not in the hours table. The course of study describes them as taking part by choice (生徒の自主的，自発的な参加により行われる部活動) and as part of school education, linked to the curriculum.

How the marks are made

Each subject is marked on three viewpoints (観点): 「知識・技能」，「思考・判断・表現」，「主体的に学習に取り組む態度」 Each viewpoint gets A, B or C. Then the subject gets one overall mark, the 評定 (hyōtei), on five levels, measured against the curriculum goal, not against classmates:

評定	The ministry's words	Plain reading
5	十分満足できるもののうち，特に程度が高い	fully meets the goal, at a high level
4	十分満足できる	fully meets the goal
3	おおむね満足できる	broadly meets the goal
2	努力を要する	needs more work
1	一層努力を要する	needs much more work

The 評定 sums up the viewpoints; the viewpoints are the analysis behind it. Moral education and integrated study get no number: the record describes in words how the student has grown and what they can now do. How tests feed these marks is in junior-high tests and 内申, and how the 5-to-1 marks become high-school entry points is in report-card points and the exam.

What goes wrong

• Reading 3 as average. It is the ordinary mark for meeting the goal. A run of 3s is not a warning.
• Ignoring the viewpoint letters. Two students with the same 評定 can differ: a C under 主体的に学習に取り組む態度 points at how the student works, not at what they know. Ask which one it is.
• Arriving mid-sequence. A child entering in 中2 or 中3 from abroad has missed parts of a three-year social-studies plan and the year-1 English base. Ask what support the school offers: Japanese support at school.
• Treating the table as the timetable. Ask for the school's weekly timetable; it may add lessons or electives.

What to do now

1. Find your child's column. In 中1, expect the step to 50-minute lessons; in 中3, 140 lessons each of social studies, maths and science in the year of the high-school exams.
2. When the first 通知表 comes home, read the A/B/C viewpoint letters, not only the number. Ask the teacher for one thing to do per C.
3. Keep every 通知表. Which years' marks count for high-school entry depends on the prefecture; Tokyo's rule is in report-card points and the exam.
4. If your child is new to Japan, ask the school in the first week which social-studies field the class is on and what English level it expects.