The Current State of Japanese Language Education in Australian Schools

2.6.3 When ‘Year 12’ Is Not Year 12

The figures provided in Table 4 (pages 30–31) are somewhat different from those provided by sectors relating to participation in language courses by Year 12 students. One reason for this is that the numbers do not include students taking the International Baccalaureate (Reference to footnote 13). Another cause for this discrepancy is the fact that in some jurisdictions (Tas and ACT) there is no clear distinction between Year 11 and 12, and students complete a range of units across the final two years of schooling.(Reference to footnote 14)

Footnote 13 It should be added that the figures, while more reliable than those for enrolments in lower year levels, are not entirely comparable, as it is usually not clear at what point in the year the data was collected. On the website of one of the major state authorities three different figures were obtained for the total number of students enrolled in Japanese in 2008. Two different figures in the same document varied by 37 students.

Footnote 14 In Tas, students typically do not take a language across both Years 11 and 12, but only in one of these years (normally Year 11) so the situation is not directly comparable with that in the other states and territories, and (especially considering the fact that secondary education has traditionally commenced in Year 8, not Year 7) both average total years of study and level of final achievement will be lower than elsewhere.

In addition, in Vic in particular, many students with a strong background in a subject take units normally taken in Year 12 (VCE Units 3 & 4) in Year 11 (or even earlier). If students complete six Year 12 level subjects (Units 3/4) (Reference to footnote 15) rather than the standard five, this provides a significant advantage in gaining a place in competitive tertiary courses as 10 per cent of the total score for the sixth subject is included in calculating the Tertiary Entrance Ranking. It is common practice to take one Unit 3/4 subject in Year 11, leaving adequate time to give proper attention to five subjects in Year 12. This allows good students to take units up to the senior secondary level that they would otherwise have to discontinue due to lack of space in their Year 12 study program. This practice provides a significant boost to language study – not only because students can take a language early if they are able to accelerate, but because they can take other final level subjects early, leaving more room for a language in Year 12. Students are encouraged to include a language among their six subjects by the bonus marks awarded for languages for university entry in Vic. As well, some of the students who complete Japanese early may then choose to continue their studies by taking a tertiary level unit during their final year. They can thus finish their schooling (and later, if desired, a tertiary degree) with a higher level of competence in Japanese than their peers around Australia who are not offered such opportunities.

Footnote 15 Ten per cent of the score for the sixth subject is counted towards the TER.

The number of students undertaking Japanese early in Vic is significant – although not as great as in some other languages (such as Chinese). In 2008, 11.4 per cent of those who completed ‘Japanese Second Language’ were in either Year 11 (134) or Year 10 (6). The average over five years of those taking the units before Year 12 was 12.4 per cent, with one student in 2006 taking the units in Year 9. It is probable that many of these students had a home background in Japanese. Anecdotal evidence suggests that home background learners generally have a strong underlying competence in Japanese and often take it before their final year as a sixth or seventh subject, whereas for school-based learners language study is strongly cumulative and difficult to accelerate. Motivated school-based learners who have participated in an accelerated program in their school (perhaps after studying at primary school), or have visited Japan as an exchange student can accelerate their study, but this is relatively uncommon.

For ‘Japanese First Language’, in 2008 77.4 per cent of students took the subject before Year 12 (37 in Year 11, four in Year 10, out of a total enrolment of 53). The average over five years was 68.6 per cent.

The ‘first language’ units are thus predominantly treated as an ‘extra’ subject that students are able to take early, leaving room in their program for five additional subjects in their final year.

The Victorian figures suggest that the ability to count up to six subjects towards tertiary entrance scores, combined with the ability to take Year 12 subjects early (along with the language bonus for tertiary entry, and the fact that Japanese raw scores are scaled up substantially) is contributing to relatively high enrolments in final year Japanese. Unfortunately, it was not possible to establish how many of the students who took Japanese in their final year undertook six or more subjects in total (ie, who took another subject early to make room for Japanese in Year 12). Anecdotally it is understood that there are many such students in addition to those who take final year Japanese in Year 11. If this is correct, it would confirm the importance to the health of Japanese enrolments of incentives to take more than the minimum number of subjects at final year level, spread across more than one year. There is no publicly available research into the impact on language study uptake of a smaller or greater number of subjects taken at Year 12, and given the changes that have recently taken place in some states and territories there is a clear need for more information in this area.

2.7 Interpreting the Statistics

With the help and cooperation of all jurisdictions, this report has compiled the most complete statistics yet assembled for Japanese, and yet some important gaps remain. As so many policy decisions focus around numerical targets and measures, it is crucial that the realities behind the statistics, and the possible distortions that can result from a focus on numerical totals, are understood.

Statistics, at the primary level in particular, do not reveal information about the quality of programs or levels of achievement within them, which vary widely. Programs of 10 minutes per week should not appear in the same table as those offered on a partial immersion basis – and yet this is what regularly occurs. Even at secondary level, where more parity could be expected, final year courses in some states and territories are based on five years of study, and six in others. As discussed, the apparent comparative stability in ‘Year 12’ completions may be largely due to increasing numbers of international students (from both Japan and other Asian countries) studying in Australia temporarily, especially in beginners’ and first language courses, as well as increasing numbers of home-background learners, particularly in Vic. A focus on overall statistics conceals the fact that the number of continuing ‘classroom learners’ has declined substantially over the last seven to eight years. This is important, because it means that not as many non-Japanese background Australians are gaining the significant educational advantage of completing Japanese to senior secondary level as in previous years – both in terms of their Japanese competence, and their overall educational development.

In addition to the oft-repeated call to collect better and more nuanced statistics, there is a need for ongoing research on a language by language basis to look beyond the numbers, and examine the realities that the numbers fail to reveal, as well as those which they illuminate. As this report makes clear, a one-size- fits-all approach to Asian languages, or all languages, is no longer tenable, and the best solutions to problems will only be found when the complex conditions behind them are thoroughly understood.