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ERIC Number: EJ1191984
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-4985
EISSN: N/A
The Invention, Gaming, and Persistence of the "Hensachi" ("Standardised Rank Score") in Japanese Education
Goodman, Roger; Oka, Chinami
Oxford Review of Education, v44 n5 p581-598 2018
This paper explores the development of the "hensachi" system in Japanese education from the 1960s when it first appeared as a "de facto" measure for scholastic achievement. Unlike absolute scoring systems (such as A-level grades) "hensachi" gave an indication of the probability of getting a place on a particular course at a particular school or university rather than telling applicants where the bar was set in order to have a chance of being offered a place. Private companies quickly saw the opportunity to collate the huge amounts of data needed to obtain accurate "hensachi" bell curve distributions and began operating practice exams ("mogi shiken") in schools across Japan. From the mid-1970s onwards, "hensachi" increasingly became seen as the source of many educational 'evils' in Japan and there were many attempts to ban its use. It was blamed for cramming, examination hell, and a focus on educational scores rather than learning. The system was also being used by teachers and schools to short cut the real examination system. The final section of the paper explores why, despite these concerns, repeated predictions of the demise of "hensachi" have proved to be premature.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Japan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A