International or Japanese School? Seibu Gakuen Bunri Elementary and a New Trend in Japanese-Style International Education

Principal Marques: In Japan, pursuing an international education has traditionally meant choosing between an international school and a traditional Japanese school. But I have always questioned this either-or approach.

When children attend an international school, their Japanese, their identity as Japanese people, and their academic Japanese tend to end up half-formed.

On the other hand, when they attend a conventional Japanese school, their English skills may not develop to the same level.

Rather than separating the two and sacrificing one for the other, I believe we need to bring them together. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I don’t believe the education of the future can exist without bilingual schools.

Marques: The foundation of our curriculum is the national Course of Study set by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).

Therefore, this is not an international school, but rather a fully accredited Japanese school.

With that in mind, Japanese-language classes are taught in Japanese, English classes are taught in English, and for subjects such as mathematics, we alternate between English and Japanese on a weekly or unit-by-unit basis.

Overall, the balance is approximately 60% Japanese and 40% English.

In our classes, we also use a team-teaching approach, with international teachers who have subject-specific expertise working alongside Japanese teachers.

Marques: Our goal is to create an environment where children from Japanese families who want to improve their English can learn alongside returnees and non-Japanese children who are strong in English but want to develop their Japanese. By learning together in the same classroom, we hope they will support one another.

In the future, we also envision developing a personalized curriculum that allows students to flexibly adjust the balance between English and Japanese instruction based on their individual language development and strengths.

Marques: If our role is simply to impart information, that is something a dictionary or encyclopedia can already do.

In the future, teachers will increasingly move away from simply delivering information and instead focus on helping children develop their perspectives and ways of thinking.

We need to cultivate a mindset that enables children to make effective use of AI rather than becoming overly dependent on it.

Meanwhile, prolonged screen time on smartphones and tablets has become a concern worldwide for its effects on children’s ability to concentrate and express their emotions.

Precisely because digital tools now provide stimulation so readily, schools must nurture non-cognitive skills such as initiative, judgment, and creativity even more than cognitive skills such as knowledge and arithmetic.

Marques: What matters is that adults don’t get ahead of children and become overprotective.

When we overmanage risk, telling children not to play in the sandbox because it’s dirty or not to climb because it’s dangerous, we deprive them of valuable opportunities to learn through failure.

Falling down, bumping into a wall, or getting hurt, and then reflecting on why it happened, is the kind of real experience that builds resilience and the drive to take on something new.

Another challenge today is the echo chamber created by social media and AI algorithms, where people can become surrounded by views that simply reinforce their own.

It is through encountering people with different values and linguistic backgrounds, engaging in discussion, and sometimes experiencing disagreement or conflict that children learn to step back and examine their own thinking objectively. These experiences foster metacognition, the ability to look at one’s own thinking objectively, as well as the broader perspective needed to drive innovation.

Marques: The “Gachi Projects” [gachi: slang for “the real thing”] go beyond textbook learning, giving children the opportunity to work in teams to tackle practical challenges directly connected to real-world society and the operation of the school itself.

Marques: For example, at our middle and high school, students work with the local government of Sayama City to organize a Halloween event for the community. Using a budget provided by the city, they plan and run the entire festival from scratch.

They make all the decisions themselves, from securing parking and arranging waste disposal and security to selecting the food vendors and other stalls.

Other projects include redesigning the school uniform themselves every six years, as well as creating and updating the school’s promotional materials and official website while learning to use design tools such as Adobe.

We wanted elementary school students to experience this kind of hands-on learning as well, so we introduced five Gachi Projects in 2026.

Marques: The objective is not to produce professional-quality work that is perfect from the outset.

If children create a website or brochure, it is natural for their first attempts to be imperfect. If they make a mistake, they can apologize, learn from it, and move forward. Since May, our students have already been taking the lead in running the school’s information sessions. The children on the uniform design project have also worked with a company on next year’s PE uniforms, so I hope you’ll look forward to seeing the results.

What matters most is the learning that takes place through these real-world experiences. Having the opportunity to step into a real situation and take on a genuine challenge in the safe environment of a school gives children experiences that can directly translate into the skills they need for their future careers and lives.

Marques: To support classes centered around dialogue and project-based learning, we are transforming our traditional, old-fashioned classroom layouts into flexible learning spaces where students can learn independently or in groups.

Organizationally, we have also opened up the space previously occupied by the principal’s office, based on the idea that we no longer need a traditional principal’s office. In its place, we have created an individual support center, the Wellness Room, staffed by specialists such as psychologists.

The goal is to create an environment where students who need emotional or mental support can drop in whenever they need help and return to the classroom as soon as they are ready.

We have also introduced a team-based homeroom system, in which multiple teachers work together to support students. This gives children more adults they can feel comfortable turning to when they need someone to talk to.

Marques: Japan has a wonderful culture and many admirable qualities, including a strong sense of order and consideration for others.

I hope children will hold on to these strengths while also developing a global outlook and the flexible thinking that produces innovations nobody else would come up with.

Their roots and pride as Japanese people, and the adaptability to succeed anywhere in the world: there is no need to give up either one.

Precisely because digitalization is accelerating, we will keep providing experiences in the real setting of a school, where people face one another and take on challenges together without fear of failure.