Computer Science Education - What Can We Learn from Japan?

Foreign perspectives help to advance and refine computer science (CS) education; however, existing international research frameworks for CS Education (CSE) in schools are mostly Western-centric. This paper aims to complement these findings with insights into CSE in a non-Western country, by isolating specific approaches in teaching CS. Due to the cooperation between the German and Japanese universities, to which the authors belong, an exchange about Japanese CS education was found to be particularly profitable. This paper seeks to establish this insight from two perspectives: the intended and enacted CS curriculum. Background research to the revised Japanese CS curriculum standard from 2018, governmental initiatives and studies of Japanese CS literacy provided a theoretical frame of Japanese CSE. To complement these findings, four interviews were conducted with Japanese CS teachers from different schools. Statements of this enacted Japanese CS curriculum were isolated and, in context with the background research, related to Western implementations. Therefore, this paper summarizes findings of Japanese CSE which differ from Western-centric approaches as learned concepts that are worth considering for enhancing future CSE. These include a holistic way to implement CS in elementary schools, a resource for extensive standards regarding social impacts of CS, and structures for integrated teacher training.