Opens Up the Future of Family and Community

The Framework for Supporting the Learning of Students with School Non-attendance and “Personalized Learning”

EN-ICHI Editorial Team

March 11, 2026
PDF (Japanese)

Since the enactment of the Act on Securing Educational Opportunities, the goal of public support for students with school non-attendance has shifted from “returning to school” to social independence. Even if students are unable to attend school (in regular classrooms), policy frameworks have increasingly been designed to reduce disadvantages in academic achievement and attendance by securing learning opportunities tailored to individual circumstances, thereby lowering the risks involved in the transition from school education to participation in society.

Support for Learning Tailored to Individual Circumstances as the Guiding Principle

Addressing school non-attendance is a major challenge in Japanese education policy. According to the Results of the FY2024 Survey on Student Guidance Issues, Including Problematic Behavior and School Non-attendance among Students, released in October 2025, the number of elementary and junior high school students with school non-attendance in FY2024 reached 353,970.

The upward trend in the number of school non-attendance students became especially apparent in the 2010s. The number of elementary and junior high school students with school non-attendance rose from 112,689 in 2012 to 119,617 in 2013 and 122,897 in 2014. Since then, it has continued to increase every year.

As the number of students with school non-attendance continued to rise, ensuring learning opportunities for them came to be recognized as a policy issue. While it is acknowledged that a temporary period of not attending school may be necessary from the perspective of rest and recovery, it is also important to supplement the academic instruction and various experiential activities ordinarily provided by schools, given that these children will eventually need to function in society.

With this awareness in mind, the Act on Securing Educational Opportunities (Act on Securing Educational Opportunities Equivalent to Regular Education in the Compulsory Education Stage) was enacted in 2016. Article 3, Paragraph 2 of the Act stipulates that “necessary support shall be provided in accordance with the circumstances of each individual student with school non-attendance, taking into account the actual conditions of the diverse learning activities carried out by such students,” and positions the securing of educational opportunities for students with school non-attendance as a responsibility of the national and local governments.

The “diverse learning activities” referred to in Article 3, Paragraph 2 include activities undertaken by students with school non-attendance outside school. Accordingly, Articles 12 and 13 of the Act provide for the identification of, and support for, such out-of-school learning activities and the students engaged in them.

Including learning outside school, the principle of securing educational opportunities suited to the individual circumstances of each student has since become the foundation of support for students with school non-attendance.

The Purpose of Support Is “Social Independence”

The principle of securing diverse educational opportunities, including those outside school, has been clarified further through notices and other documents issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The 2019 notice, On the Appropriate Way to Support Students with School Non-attendance (hereinafter, the “2019 Notice”), can be regarded as the document that established the current policy direction for supporting students with school non-attendance. The 2019 Notice states that the goal of support should not be “simply to achieve the result of ‘attending school,’” but rather that “it is necessary to aim for students to understand their own future paths proactively and become socially independent,” thereby clearly identifying social independence as the goal of support for students with school non-attendance.

The reason that returning to school is not set as the sole goal is the recognition that, while waiting for such a return, students may suffer “academic delays” or “disadvantages in  future educational and career pathways,” which could become risks to their social independence. Based on this understanding, the 2019 Notice also refers to the need to develop mechanisms through which learning activities outside school can be reflected in school evaluations. Appendix 1 to the 2019 Notice provides that, under certain conditions, the number of days on which students with school non-attendance receive counseling or instruction at public institutions outside school (such as education support centers) or at private facilities may, at the principal’s discretion, be treated as attendance in the official school record. 

Similarly, Appendix 2 states that, when students with school non-attendance engage in learning activities at home using ICT and similar tools, these activities may, under certain conditions and at the principal’s discretion, also be treated as attendance in the official school record, and the learning outcomes may be reflected in school evaluations. The Notice also states that “while respecting the wishes of the student, support toward social independence should be provided by utilizing, where appropriate, various related institutions and arrangements such as education support centers, special schools for school non-attendance [author’s note: now called Schools for Diverse Learning], learning support using ICT, free schools, and evening junior high schools.” In this way, boards of education, schools, and others are called upon to support learning outside school in accordance with the wishes of the student. Thus, in order to support the social independence of students, the expansion of educational opportunities outside school has been placed at the center of policy.

Source: Reproduced from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), 2025f.

Note: The student cumulative record is described as “a document that records a summary of a child’s or student’s school registration, as well as the process and results of instruction, so that it may be used for subsequent guidance and also serve as the original record for external certification and related purposes” (see MEXT [2010], On the Appropriate Approach to Student Assessment).

Promotion of Measures under the COCOLO Plan

In 2023, MEXT announced the "School Non-attendance Measures toward Ensuring Learning for Every Child without Leaving Anyone Behind"(COCOLO Plan) in order to further strengthen responses to school non-attendance. The COCOLO Plan sets out three pillars: (1) securing learning for all students with school non-attendance and creating environments in which they can learn when they feel ready to do so; (2) not overlooking small signs of emotional distress and providing support through a “team school” approach; and (3) making school culture “visible” in order to make schools places where everyone can learn with a sense of safety and security. These three pillars reflect an intention to address the problem of school non-attendance in a fundamental and comprehensive manner.

Of these three pillars, the one related to securing learning opportunities for students is Pillar (1). As initiatives to realize diverse educational opportunities, Pillar (1) identifies: (a) promoting the establishment of Schools for Diverse Learning (formerly special schools for school non-attendance); (b) promoting the establishment of in-school support centers; (c) strengthening the functions of education support centers; (d) ensuring flexible, high-quality learning in high schools and related institutions; and (e) securing diverse places for learning and belonging. Below, each of these initiatives and educational opportunities is outlined in turn.

(a) Schools for Diverse Learning

First, as of November 2025, there were 59 Schools for Diverse Learning in operation (12 elementary schools, 40 junior high schools, and 11 high schools, including combined elementary and junior high schools). The Fourth Basic Plan for the Promotion of Education calls for at least one such school to be established in each prefecture and ordinance-designated city during the plan period, with a long-term target of 300 schools, including branch-classroom models. Under a system that allows flexible curricula tailored to the circumstances of students with school non-attendance, these schools have reportedly produced positive outcomes, such as enabling students to attend school continuously through subject instruction at lower grade levels than the grade in which they are enrolled, the introduction of experiential activities, and social skills training.

(b) In-School Education Support Centers

Next are in-school education support centers. These centers are established as “environments in which students who find it difficult to enter their own classrooms can study and live at a pace suited to themselves in a calm space.” They are also intended to enable students to connect online with their enrolled classrooms and receive instruction and take tests. As of November 2025, such centers had been established in 8,841 elementary schools and 7,033 junior high schools. They are said to function not only as everyday places of learning, but also as mechanisms for supporting a return to the enrolled class and preventing increases in days of absence.

(c) Education Support Centers

Education support centers are public facilities established by boards of education. They provide places for learning outside school to students who find it difficult to attend their enrolled schools, while also serving as regional support hubs that provide parents with information on various places of learning and belonging. Under the COCOLO Plan, measures to strengthen the functions of these centers include enhancing outreach support systems, establishing councils to support students with school non-attendance in cooperation with related agencies such as welfare institutions, and promoting collaboration with NPOs and free schools through service contracts and personnel exchanges. In addition, some local governments, including Tokyo, have conducted demonstration research on support for students with school non-attendance using the metaverse.

(d)Ensuring Flexible, High-Quality Learning in High Schools

For high schools, legal and regulatory reforms have been made to allow students to participate in remote classes from home and to make it possible to use on-demand correspondence education. Further efforts are planned to secure flexible, high-quality learning. In the FY2026 budget request, funds were allocated for creating model cases of learning that utilize online methods, conducting research toward achieving independent, interactive, and deep learning in part-time and correspondence high school programs, and building networks for collaboration and credit-sharing among schools within a region through the use of distance learning and correspondence education.

(e) Securing Diverse Places for Learning and Belonging

Regarding the securing of diverse places for learning and belonging, the COCOLO Plan states that, in cooperation between MEXT and the Children and Families Agency, efforts will be expanded to create diverse places outside school and home where children can connect with others in their communities, build the foundations for learning, and engage in experiential activities.

Specifically, in December 2023, the Guidelines on Creating Places for Children to Belong issued by the Children and Families Agency were approved by the Cabinet, and projects have been implemented to strengthen support systems for creating such places and to support the placement of coordinators for these efforts. Other initiatives include support hub projects for children who have no place to belong at home or school, and projects to provide uninterrupted support for children with school non-attendance in local communities.

Through these initiatives, the COCOLO Plan aims to create environments in which students with school non-attendance can learn whenever they wish to do so.

Recognition of Challenges in the Curriculum

At the same time, as educational opportunities have become more institutionalized, awareness has grown that there are issues the current curriculum cannot adequately address.

In March 2025, the Central Council for Education began discussions on formulating the next Course of Study, which is scheduled to be implemented sequentially from 2030. Measures concerning school non-attendance are also being discussed in the Working Group on Special Curricula for Students with School Non-attendance (hereinafter, the “School Non-attendance WG”), where both the evaluation of support initiatives to date and ways to further enhance them are under consideration.

Regarding current challenges, materials presented at the first meeting of the School Non-attendance WG noted that, in both in-school support centers and education support centers, “enhancing instruction that leads to the development of qualities and abilities is an issue (important for helping students make up for delays and connect to advancement or return to their enrolled classes), but at present, because there are no individual teaching plans, organized and planned instruction is not being secured.” The materials also pointed out the limitations of the current system, stating that “because there is no system of special curricula, even when students are studying content from lower grade levels, evaluations still have to be conducted based on the curriculum of the grade in which they are enrolled.”

In response to this analysis, the minutes of the first School Non-attendance WG meeting repeatedly emphasized the importance of enhancing “special curricula tailored to individual conditions.”

Convergence with “Personalized Learning”

Preparing “special curricula tailored to individual conditions” also forms the underlying tone of the broader discussions within the Central Council for Education on the next Course of Study, and this trend is increasingly being applied to support for students with school non-attendance.

In September 2025, the Special Committee on Curriculum Planning of the Central Council for Education published a Discussion Points (Draft) to serve as the foundation for deliberations in the various working groups. According to this draft, the basic concept underpinning consideration of the next Course of Study is to embody, as an integrated whole, (1) the implementation of independent, interactive, and deep learning, (2) the inclusion of diversity, and (3) the securing of feasibility, in order to “cultivate, together, people who can continue learning proactively throughout life, collaborate with diverse others, and steer their own lives in a democratic and sustainable society.” (See figure.)

Ensuring learning opportunities for students with school non-attendance falls under (2), the inclusion of diversity, while one of the means for achieving this is “personalized learning,” which is positioned as one element of (1), the implementation of independent, interactive, and deep learning.

Source: Reproduced from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), 2025g.

Expectations for “Discretionary Time”

More specifically, the use of “discretionary time” within the newly established "flexible instructional hours system" is being considered.

The flexible instructional hours system is scheduled to be incorporated into the next Course of Study. It is a system that would allow schools to plan instructional hours below the standard number of class hours ordinarily prescribed by the Ordinance for Enforcement of the School Education Act. The hours reduced from the standard can be reassigned to other subjects or used for time devoted to “effective educational programs that do not fall under individual subjects, but particularly contribute to the development of students’ qualities and abilities.” The time allocated to such educational programs that do not fall under the existing subject categories is called “discretionary time.”

As of February 2026, the School Non-attendance WG of the Central Council for Education envisions two types of educational activities within special curricula for students with school non-attendance: (A) educational activities carried out flexibly while still based on the goals and content of each subject; and (B) especially effective educational activities tailored to the actual conditions of students with school non-attendance that do not fall under existing subject categories. Of these, type (B) is considered particularly well suited for implementation during “discretionary time.” Within this time, it is expected that initiatives that were difficult to accommodate under conventional subject-based instruction—such as learning content from lower grade levels—can be implemented flexibly, thereby enhancing the motivation to learn among students who have only recently stopped attending school as well as those who are gradually beginning to re-engage with learning. Another advantage that has been pointed out is that, because different activities can be carried out in the same space as students not covered by such special measures, this approach may also support students who are in the process of returning to classroom-based learning.

In this way, the securing of learning opportunities for students with school non-attendance appears likely to proceed within the institutional framework of “personalized learning.”

Continued Attention Will Be Necessary

This article has explained the policy framework for supporting students with school non-attendance that has been developed since the enactment of the Act on Securing Educational Opportunities in 2016. To confirm once again, the goal of support for students with school non-attendance is not simply “returning to school,” but rather the social independence of the student. To achieve this, policy has sought to reduce academic delays and risks in educational and career choices by actively connecting learning outside school to institutional arrangements and securing diverse educational opportunities. The discussions surrounding the formulation of the next Course of Study also appear to inherit this policy direction and to aim for greater personalization so that learning can be secured regardless of the circumstances facing individual students.

As of February 2026, deliberations on the next Course of Study remain ongoing. Continued attention will be needed to see what effects these measures will produce.

References

Education Issue briefs and Researches
March 11, 2026
Issue briefs and Researches

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