Senior High School (SHS)

Unlike ES or JHS, SHS is competitive. This means students can apply to any SHS they would like to attend, but (for public SHS) they are required to do an exam. Schools then use the exam results to select students for the coming year. Schools have different scores required for a student to be accepted, but with the declining birthrates and the increasing competition from private schools , public schools are generally easier to get into.

As mentioned, students can apply for any SHS, including schools outside their town or city. This is because, unlike ES and standalone JHS, high schools are administered by the prefecture, not the local government. This means that JETs who work in public SHS are technically employees of Ehime Prefecture, not the town or city they live in. As such, you can find SHS JET ALTs in cities that don’t use JET for their ES or JHS ALTs, because SHS JETs are in a slightly different system. This also means that some SHS JETs travel outside their own city for visit schools, especially in Nanyo.

Senior high schools also provide a variety of different courses. Although some are general, providing a broad “Academic” course that gives students a variety of skills, others train students in specific fields that would be more expected from a vocational school or university in other countries. Kogyos, or Technology Schools, are the most specialised. In Ehime, these schools can offer courses in Robotics, Architecture, Shipbuilding, Textiles, IT, Construction and more. Students graduating from these schools are guaranteed a job unless they opt to go to university instead.

In other specialisations, there are Nogyo, or Agricultural Schools, and Shogyo, or Commercial Schools. These schools focus on training students in farming and office work respectively, and provide a specialised series of courses for students. There are also Suisan, or Fishery Schools, but we only have one of those in Ehime. Many other schools will have a split focus, providing several Academic courses, but also running one or two Commercial or Agricultural courses alongside them.

For more academic specialisations, schools often have all 1st years attend a general Academic course, and then choose a focus in their 2nd year. This can be something like math, science or English, but can also be things like sports, or a course focusing on skills they’ll need to be accepted into university. It all depends on what the school offers!

Other kinds of schools include branch schools, schools that are too small to have their own entire administration, but instead share an administration with a larger, more central school. This is quite common for island schools in Ehime. There are also three Secondary schools. Although the name is a little generic, Secondary schools are schools with a combined JHS and SHS. Students broadly tend to begin immediately after ES, and continue at the same school for all 6 years, although moving from JHS to SHS is not guaranteed, and some students opt to go to a different SHS more in line with their interests/academics.