Learning Competencies in Action : Tenth Grade Students' Investment in Accumulating Human Capital under the Influence of the Upper Secondary Education System in Japan

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  • MATSUOKA Ryoji
    Center for the Study of Social Stratification and Inequality (CSSI), Tohoku University

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  • Socioeconomic Inequality between Schools and Junior School Students' Non-academic Behavior : A Comparative Investigation of Compulsory Education Systems Using TIMSS 2007

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Abstract

 Kariya (2009) proposes a concept of learning competencies to understand how social reproduction occurs in the current context of Japanese society; he argues that students' learning competencies are not equally distributed but shaped by their family background, a foundation of unequal socioeconomic inequality. While he contends that learning competencies are "the core engine that structures and runs the accumulation and distribution of this new form of human capital" (p.111), his study does not show if students differently engage in learning activities because of their level of learning competencies. Also, he does not address any relationship between school characteristics and learning competencies. Thus, this study is designed to investigate whether students' current learning competencies, under the influence of the school system, shape their attempts in improving academic and learning skills that likely lead to the accumulation of human capital, revealing how learning competencies function in action. <br> By employing a nationally representative data called the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009, four multilevel logistic regression analyses were carried out to test how school and student-level variables are related to four types of students' learning activities: attending additional lessons in mathematics outside regular lessons for enrichment and remedial purposes, studying mathematics (as opposed to not studying at all), and studying for improving their academic skills. Findings of this study show that tenth grade students' learning competencies and school's ranking shape their engagement in the learning activities. As students from high socioeconomic families are more likely to have higher learning competencies and to attend competitive schools, the Japanese high school ranking system, known as school-based tracking, functions to differentiate students' degree of engagement in learning, contributing to the unequal distribution of learning opportunities.

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