Survey and Analysis of Teachers’ Test Scoring Work and Thought Processes in Japanese Elementary and Secondary Education

Teachers in elementary and secondary education in Japan tend to work long hours, which has been raised as an issue. One of the causes of such long working hours is cited as being teacher test scoring work ("scoring work" hereinafter). In this study, a survey was conducted regarding scoring works for each type of school in elementary and secondary education in Japan. Based on the results of the survey, regardless of the type of school (elementary school, junior high school, or senior high school), it was clarified that teachers in Japan feel that all scoring work processes (correct/incorrect judgment, score calculating, and score recording) are burdensome. Also, in all school types, and in all scoring work processes, it was found that teachers try to ascertain the level of understanding of students. Our analysis of this result for each type of school clarified that teachers in elementary schools in Japan place more importance on ascertaining the level of understanding of students in scoring works than teachers in other types of schools.