Skip to content
進学マップShingaku Map

High school, year 1 (高校1年)

High school is not compulsory: it is a school your child chose and passed into, with credits to earn, often a longer commute, and in many schools the 文系/理系 (humanities or science) choice during the year. For the child it is a new start, with new friends and much more freedom over phones, money and time.

Age 15–16

What school expects this year

  • High school: credits, moving up a year, and the 文系/理系 choice made in year 1

    高校の単位・進級（原級留置）と文系・理系の選択

    High school runs on 単位 (credits): a subject passes only with enough attendance and a passing mark, and many schools ask for the 文系/理系 choice in the autumn for the rest of high school.

    Ask the teacher: When does the school ask for the 文系/理系 choice, and what does each side close off for university?

Body and mind this year

  • What each age is working on: the ministry's stages from infancy to high school

    子どもの発達段階ごとの特徴と重視すべき課題（文部科学省）

    The ministry's paper describes the high-school years as the last step from a parent's care to an independent adult: choosing a path, holding one's own values, and taking a place in society.

    At home: Your child withdraws from friends and activities as well as from you, not only from family time.

    Ask the teacher: How does my child seem in class and with friends, from where you sit?

  • "How to send an SOS": what schools teach, and the lines a child or parent can call

    SOSの出し方に関する教育と、子供・保護者の相談窓口

    A new school, a longer commute and new friends can leave a teenager with no one to tell, and the free lines in the article take calls from high-school students too.

    At home: Your child stops seeing friends at weekends and stays in their room most of the time.

    Ask the teacher: Is there a school counsellor, and how can my child see them without going through a teacher?

Friends, rules and screens

  • Club activities (部活動) are moving to the community: the national guideline, the hour limits, what it costs

    部活動の地域展開（部活動改革及び地域クラブ活動の推進等に関する総合的なガイドライン）

    High-school clubs are a bigger commitment, and the national guideline on club hours and rest days is the yardstick to measure a club's schedule against.

    At home: Your child trains most days and weekends and falls behind in class, or wants to quit but feels they cannot.

    Ask the teacher: Does the club keep weekly rest days, and what does it cost in a year for trips and kit?

  • School rules (校則): what the 2022 national guidance asks of schools, and how to raise a rule

    校則の運用・見直し（生徒指導提要 令和4年改訂）と保護者からの相談

    High-school 校則 (school rules) on part-time jobs, hair, bikes and phones vary widely, and the ministry's guidance asks every school to publish them and explain the reasons.

    At home: Your child keeps a part-time job or other plan secret because the school's rules forbid it.

    Ask the teacher: What does the school allow on part-time jobs, and how do we ask for permission?

  • Phones, games and social media by age: what the national survey shows and what schools allow

    年齢別のスマホ・ゲーム・SNS（青少年のインターネット利用環境実態調査と学校の持込みルール）

    High schools mostly let students carry phones and limit only their use in school, so the limits outside school are now the family's own.

    At home: Your child's spending on apps or games climbs, or they are online until the small hours.

If your child came from abroad

This year's decisions

How the system works this year

With your child