The IAFOR Journal of Education
Volume II – Issue II – Summer 2014

The IAFOR Journal of Education
Volume II – Issue II – Summer 2014

The IAFOR Journal of Education
Volume II – Issue II – Summer 2014

Considering the great impact the first PISA-results caused in Germany and Japan, this study seeks to
provide an explanation for the continuous higher achievement rates of students in the PISA-winner
country Japan compared to their German peers. Another great difference between the two
participants that was detected in PISA is the correlation between students’ social origin and
educational achievement, which is still very strong in Germany but not in Japan. The author assumes
the reason for these differences lay outside the formal school system, in the sector of shadow
education. The so called juku-industry in Japan provides out-of-school lessons that seem to enable all
Japanese students to achieve top results regardless of their social origin. In Germany the increased
use of Nachhilfe is seen as an indicator for the downfall of the compulsory school system and a
problem that seem to widen the gap in education levels all the more. If in Japan almost every
household regardless of its social status sends its children to out-of-school classes, the assumption
that people do invest in further education in terms of extra classes at juku believing this will have a
neutralizing effect on disadvantaged family background suggests itself. Consequently the author
intends to refute the prevailing assumption of researchers in Germany and Japan stating that out-of-
school lessons just contribute to the reproduction of class structure. Using secondary data as well as
PISA-data the author wants to show that shadow education helps to counteract educational
disadvantages through the provision of various educational opportunities.

Keywords: Shadow education; Comparative education; Out-of-school education; Social disparities;
Germany, Japan, PISA 2009.

Bernard Montoneri