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In Japan, curriculum standards have been amended several times after World War through changes in the Courses of Study.

The outline of curriculum standards currently in force is shown in Table 2-2. Now, as the upper secondary schools, due to the outstanding increase in the number of lower secondary school graduates going on to upper secondary schools, have increasingly assumed the character of the prime national institution for the education of the overwhelming majority of young adults, the Curriculum Council, since November 1973, has been carrying on research and deliberation on a curriculum suitable to the new role those schools have assumed. At the same time, the Council is also working toward producing a curriculum which throughout all levels of elementary, lower secondary and upper secondary education, would enable students to receive an education based on the finest materials available, one which would bring enrichment and fullness to their lives.

The Curriculum Council published, in October, 1975, an interim report entitled Basic Guidelines for the Improvement of Curriculum Standards, which suggested three major goals in the improvement of curriculum standards, calling for (i) raising of pupils endowed with a rich sense of humanity, (ii) establishment of ways to enable them to lead a relaxed and full school life and (iii) assurance of an education adapted to their individuality and ability, which also places emphasis on the basic and essential content commonly seen as necessary for the Japanese people and presented, as the means of attaining these goals, the following basic guidelines for the improvement of curriculum standards.

. Area of Curriculum

In the area of curriculum, the current concept is basically to be followed, that is, it is necessary to consider thoroughly its relevance in attaining the educational objectives at each school level more effectively and study it with reference to experiences gained through actual school teaching.

. Organization of Subject Areas and Subjects

As to the organization of subject areas and subjects in elementary lower secondary and upper secondary schools, it is considered appropriate to improve it under the following guidelines as a rule, taking into account the educational objectives and level of pupils' mental and physical growth at each school level and studying the proper way of differentiating teaching content in relation to actual teaching, while maintaining consistency of subject areas and subjects through all different school levels:

Organization of Subject Areas, Etc. in Elementary Schools

In elementary schools, nearly the same policy for the organization of subject areas is adopted for the first through sixth grades at present. However, certain subject areas in the lower grades, particularly the current content of social studies and science courses for the first and second grades, and the certain problem points, as seen in the proper content and realities of learning in these grades, should be studied from the viewpoint of attaching importance to pupils' acquisition of knowledge and skill and cultivation of attitudes and habits through their specific activities. At the same time, for the purpose of fostering the first graders' ability to observe and think about society and nature, it is also necessary to study the feasibility of instituting, chiefly with reference to the content of social studies and science courses, a new subject area with its objective and content designed to have pupils study the social and natural environment surrounding them, in order that effective instruction might be given from a broader point of view.

Table 2-1. Mechanism of Curriculum Preparation - International Comparison -

Table 2-2. Outline of Current Curriculum Standards

In addition while this is not the problem directly related to organization of subject areas, it is desirable to take such steps as making it easier than previously to give the pertinent instruction about each subject area in reality in consideration of the favorable effects of comprehensive instruction to the first and second graders.

Organization of Subject Areas in Lower Secondary Schools

As to organization of subject areas in lower secondary schools, the current policy should be followed in general, although it is appropriate to adopt the idea of allowing selection or addition of the content considered appropriate from the viewpoint of developing pupils' future potentialities and meeting their interests, concerns, etc. In this regard, further specific study should be made on the contents that could be selected or added.

Organization of Subject Areas and Subjects in Upper Secondary Schools

It is appropriate to study further specific ways for improvement under the following guidelines.

a. As to the required subject areas and subjects learned chiefly in the lower grades of upper secondary schools, as many subjects as feasible, dealing with the basic and essential content commonly seen as necessary, should be organized, seeking a closer correlation with lower secondary school education.

b. Subject areas and subjects learned chiefly in middle and higher grades of upper secodary schools should be organized with emphasis on elective subjects, and each school should see to it that the curriculum may be prepared in a flexible manner such as to be adaptable to students' various abilities, aptitudes, activities, etc., while taking into consideration the regional conditions, individual school conditions of students' desires and so on.

c. In view of the need to enlarge the opportunity for the students, enrolled in departments other than those providing mainly for vocational education, to learn through experiences related to actual work, study should be made of the feasibility of creating the subject areas and subjects with content conforming to such a purpose and the proper way of instituting vocational subject areas and subjects that could be learned on an elective basis.

. School Hours, Etc.

It is appropriate to improve conditions related to school hours, etc. under the following guidelines, while ensuring that the study load of students should be kept at a proper level all through elementary, lower secondary and upper secondary schools, so as to enable them to lead a relaxed school life and so that each school can further improve and expand its creative educational activities.

Annual School Days in Elementary and Lower Secondary Schools

The current provisions on annual school days in elementary and lower secondary schools should be examined further specifically in consideration of the ways they are being implemented in reality.

Annual School Hours in Elementary and Lower Secondary Schools

While it may be appropriate to keep the total hours of school attendance by pupils of elementary and lower secondary schools at the current level, specific study has to be made in the future on the feasibility of cutting back the total annual school hours for each subject area, morals and special activities in each grade with the proper allocation of hours to each subject area, etc. kept in mind, so that instructional programs could be executed on a relatively flexible schedule and school authorities could secure the time to undertake creative educational activities.

Total Number of Credits for Each Subject Area and Subject Required for Graduation from Upper Secondary Schools and Total Number of Credits for Each Required Subject Area and Subject Therein

As to the total number of credits for each subject area and subject required for graduation, there is a view calling for its reduction for flexible adaptation to the realities of diversified upper secondary school education, and for contribution to the enrichment of extra-curricular educational activities. Thus, it is appropriate to study the ways of reducing the total number of those credits in consideration of this point.

Also, with regard to the total number of credits for each required subject area and individual subject, there is a view calling for its reduction from the viewpoint of choosing those essential and fundamental courses whose content is recognized as neccessary for students as citizens to learn and making the curriculum flexible enough to be adapted to each student's ability, aptitude and future activity. So, further specific study should be made of the total number of those credits, with the characteristics of each course borne in mind.Furthermore, as to the minimum total number of credits for each required subject area and subject dealing with specialized education in the courses of specialized education, it is appropriate to study the feasibility of reducing it from the viewpoint of making specialized education further flexible in conformity to the realities of its diversification.

. Content of Each Subject Area, Subject, Etc.

As regards the contents of each subject area, subject, etc., it is imperative to improve them from the viewpoint of choosing those which are essential and fundamental while maintaining a coherent structure through all the levels of elementary, lower secondary and upper secondary schools. For this purpose, special heed should be given in all subject areas, to such needs as redistributing or cutting down the content in further consideration of their correlationship at different school levels and to the proper timing of their presentation, integrating the contents over different grades according to need, and simplifying the sphere and field of the content.

It is also necessary to examine the content of each subject area and subject, so that the students in lower grades of upper secondary schools may be enabled to learn the new subjects to be instituted, particularly in the fields of national language, social science, mathematics and science, in close coordination with what they learned in lower secondary schools with a view to further deepening their fundamental understanding, and the middle and higher graders may be able to make varied selection and study of the content developed on the basis of such fundamental understanding.

In other countries as well, the curriculum has been improved in accordance with their prevailing conditions.

In the United States, various broad-range research activities for improvement of the curriculum are carried on by various agencies, including the Federal and State educational authorities, private educational organizations, such as the National Education Association, and so on.

In England an Wales, curriculum improvement work has been under way since the establishment in 1964 of the Schools' Council for Curriculum and Examinations, charged with the task of undertaking research, development, coordination and assistance on the curriculum and examinations for primary and secondary schools. The results of this Council's research and development on the curriculum have been incorporated in the process of curriculum composition in each school in many ways. As to primary education, the Central Advisory Council for Education (England) proposed in 1967 that the educational content, teaching methods and learning mechanism conforming to individual pupils' ability and level of growth should be devised, and criticized the previous trend in primary education of distortion by the need to have pupils prepare for 11-plus examinations. As for secondary education, reorganization of its educational content is under way in order to cope with its change from the education for an elite, aiming to go on to universities, to one for young people with different levels of ability and varied desires for their future activities.

In France, amendment of the curriculum is under way, based on the recommendation presented by the Conseil Superieur de l'Education Nationale, an advisory body to the Minister of Education. As to primary education and compulsory secondary education, classification of subject areas and teaching content was kept to the minimum possible extent for maintenance of mutual correlation and integration between subject areas, with a view to promoting comprehensive development of pupils' ability. As to upper secondary education, improvement measures have been taken since 1970 such as reorganizing departments and courses on the one hand and defining the first grade as the preparatory stage for students' division into different courses after the second grade on the other, with the number of departments, into which they are thus divided, limited to three and with a similar curriculum composed for all departments.

In the U.S.S.R., clue committee in charge of organizing the curriculum for primary and secondary education, set up jointly by the Academy of Educational Sciences of the U.S.S.R. and the Academy of Science of the U.S.S.R., has been, since 1964, formulating educational content in conformity to contemporary standards of science, technology and culture, and has organized a new curriculum designed to reduce the pupils' study load in compulsory education and promoting education adapted to their abilities and interests.