Revolutionizing Education in a Changing World: Key Challenges and Opportunities for 2024 and Beyond

■ Background of the event

As the population continues to age and the birthrate declines, and the “2030 problem” approaches, in which a labor shortage of 6.44 million people is predicted, the labor shortage in educational institutions is becoming more apparent.

Furthermore, as a result of the declining birthrate, the competition rate for high school and university entrance exams is decreasing, which is resulting in changes in the environment and motivation in which students study, and a diversification of high school and university entrance exam formats.

Along with these changes in the external environment, the education industry is also undergoing a major turning point.

There is a need to adapt flexibly to new business models and technologies, and to changes in educational needs, in order to continue providing educational services to children now and into the future.

In this context, Studyplus held an online event in June 2024 called “Studyplus Agenda 2024 – Issues in education and management to consider now.” A wide range of people from the education industry, including education-related ministries, schools, cram schools, and teaching materials companies, took to the stage to give presentations on current issues and specific strategies that the education industry needs to consider. Many people involved in education participated in the event.

At the upcoming “Studyplus Agenda 2024 AW,” we will discuss what educational institutions need to do now to survive and what their vision for the future is as they face challenges such as declining birthrates and labor shortages.

■ Event Outline

SESSION１ 10:00～10:55 “The Function of Headquarters in an Era of Decreasing Population”

The labor shortage across Japan is also present in the cram school industry.

While it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit employees and tutors, each location requires high-quality services and high productivity to continue providing them.

What is the ideal way for headquarters to work together with each location to manage operations?

He will talk about the future of cram school management, touching on specific examples.

• Shuneikan Co., Ltd. Shuneikan Flex Business Division Manager Kenta Inoue

  He is the regional manager for the western Tokyo area, which includes Machida Minami-Otani School, Koganei School, Fuchu School, Koigakubo School, and Musashi-seki School, and also serves as the classroom head at Machida Minami-Otani School.

  While retaining the benefits of the traditional human-mediated learning style of group classes and one-on-one instruction, the school is proactively introducing ICT tools to create a new learning model that provides individualized instruction and learning management, with the goal of becoming “the region’s number one cram school, supported by the market.”

  He is also a supporter of FC Machida Zelvia, a J1 League team, and is a big fan!

• Kosuke Kitahara, General Manager of Yokohama Suiran V and Prestigious High School Entrance Exam Courses, Shonan Seminar Co., Ltd.

  In addition to serving as the business manager for the specialized courses for Yokohama Suiran High School and the courses for students entering prestigious national, public and private high schools, he also serves as the person in charge of career guidance and academic affairs.

  We use Studyplus in our daily teaching to further improve the quality and quantity of communication between students and instructors.

SESSION２ 11:00～11:55 “Creating classrooms where students can continue to attend for a long time in an era of declining population”

As the birthrate declines and labor shortages (difficulty in recruiting employees and tutors) continue, the key for cram schools that have elementary, middle, and high school students is how to keep them attending, how to recruit good personnel, and how to maintain and improve the quality of their services.

Two cram schools with elementary, junior high, and high school divisions will introduce specific initiatives that will provide hints for improving student retention rates and better recruitment, with a focus on “management from a medium- to long-term perspective to continue being chosen by students.”

• Masaki Sakiyama, CEO of TASUKE Co., Ltd.

  After working as a private tutor and a lecturer at a group tutoring school, he spent 17 years as a classroom manager at a major private tutoring school. He has developed the school into a popular one, winning the award for best classroom manager in the country (ranked #1 in the FC nation) multiple times. He runs “TASUKE Juku” by making the most of the experience and know-how he has gained from working in the education industry for over 20 years. His motto is to value communication between the students themselves and the parents who support them.

• Hiroyasu Yanagida, Representative Director of the Japan-America Culture Institute Ltd.

  Born in Chiba Prefecture in 1971, Yanagida became CEO of the Japan-America Culture Institute in 2008, which was founded by his father, Shinji Yanagida, in 1983. Since then, Yanagida has run a cram school rooted in the local community, producing students who have passed the entrance exams for the most difficult schools in junior high, high school, and university, with over 300 students in one classroom.

The themes and speakers for SESSION 3 (13:00-13:55), SESSION 4 (14:00-14:55), and SESSION 5 (15:00-15:55), which will be held on the same day, will be announced at a later date.

■ Overview of “Studyplus for School,” a communication platform for educational institutions

“Studyplus for School” is a communication platform that connects with students anytime, anywhere through learning records, helping to improve student grades and classroom management. By centralizing and visualizing all learning records of paper and digital teaching materials that differ for each student’s school and preferred school, we help to streamline learning instruction, which accounts for the majority of the work of educational institutions, and provide better education even in the face of manpower shortages. At the same time, in addition to learning records, all information necessary for classroom management, such as attendance records, entrance records, grade records, and interview records, is consolidated in “Studyplus for School,” making it easy for anyone to streamline their work.

It has now been introduced in over 2,700 schools and cram schools across the country.

■ Overview of Studyplus Co., Ltd.

• Address: 4F NMF Surugadai Building, 2-5-12 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

• Representative Director: Takashi Hirose

• Business description: Operation of the learning management app “Studyplus” and the communication platform for educational institutions “Studyplus for School”

• Established: May 20, 2010