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Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPANESE GOVERMENT POLICICIES IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE 1994 > PART II Chapter 12 Section 1 1

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PART II Recent Trends and Developments in Government Policies in Education, Science and Culture
Chapter 12. Educational Facilities for the Twenty-first Century
Section 1. Developing Educational Facilities for a New Era
1. Measures to Create Enriching and Pleasant Educational Facilities


The development of educational facilities is a fundamental requirement for the implementation of policies in education, science, culture, and sports. Educational facilities cover a wide spectrum, from elementary and lower secondary schools and local community buildings, such as citizens' public halls, to the high-tech facilities of universities and research institutions. The development and improvement of such facilities is extremely important to the promotion and expansion of policies in all these areas.

The learning needs of Japanese people are becoming increasingly sophisticated and diverse as a result of changes in the social environment, including advances in science and technology, the shift to an information-oriented society, the trend toward internationalization, and the aging of society. To meet these needs it is necessary to address a number of priorities in relation to the development of educational facilities.

First, educational facilities must be able to accommodate diverse needs for learning, cultural activities, and sports throughout people's lives. Second, it is necessary to build friendly and comfortable school facilities that reflect the diversification of educational content and methods and provide appropriate life spaces for schoolchildren. Third, steps must be taken to alleviate the problems of aging buildings and inadequate space in national universities and to create facilities that are capable of accommodating today's increasingly sophisticated educational and research activities. Fourth, the functions of facilities must be enhanced to meet the needs of the rapidly evolving advanced information society.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture is working to develop and improve educational facilities in preparation for the twenty-first century. This is a vital step toward the creation of an enriching and pleasant learning environment in which people can acquire knowledge and technology at all stages of life, from childhood to old age, and in which people can foster richness of spirit.


(1) The Plan for Intelligent Schools

The ongoing maturing of society accompanying such changes as rising income levels, the expansion of leisure time, and the aging of society is reflected in increased motivation toward learning activities and the increasing diversity and sophistication of demand for learning. The report of the National Council on Educational Reform recommended the restructuring and development of educational, research, cultural, and sports facilities in each region to provide advanced information and communications functions and create pleasant learning and living spaces. The aim of this plan for intelligent schools is to create community bases for shared learning and information activities.

On the basis of this recommendation the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture initiated a program of research and surveys on making educational facilities more intelligent. In March 1990 the Ministry issued a report titled "Making Educational Facilities More Intelligent" that presented future approaches to the development of educational facilities. The report focused primarily on

(1) the provision of diverse and sophisticated functions to meet increasingly diverse and sophisticated learning needs,
(2) the organic linking of facilities and environments to enhance the varied functions of educational facilities,
(3) the introduction of information communications and processing functions to meet the needs of the progressive shift to an information-oriented society, and
(4) the creation of enriching and pleasant environments that provide a humanistic and cultural atmosphere and harmony with nature.

On the basis of this report the Ministry commissioned local governments and other organizations to carry out pilot model research on making educational facilities more intelligent beginning in fiscal 1990. Under this research the formulation of specific plans for making educational facilities more open has been studied. Currently these plans are being promoted and corroborative studies are being conducted.

Since fiscal 1992 the Ministry has been implementing a program to make school facilities in public elementary schools, lower secondary schools, upper secondary schools, and special education schools more intelligent. The aim of this program is to encourage the development of sophisticated, multifunctional school facilities.

Pilot Model Research on Making Educational Facilities More Intelligent

Sixteen organizations, including boards of education, conducted pilot model research on making educational facilities more intelligent between fiscal 1990 and fiscal 1993.

>From a research report submitted in fiscal 1993 (Toga Village Board of Education, Toyama Prefecture)

Plan for the development of an integrated intelligent educational complex consisting of elementary and lower secondary schools, a citizens' public hall, and a library

An educational environment that gives children the abilities they need to live in the twenty-first century (elementary and lower secondary schools)

- A media lounge in which children can enjoy independent study and learning at their own pace
- Small dens to encourage energetic activities by younger schoolchildren
- Semioutdoor spaces (galleries, etc.) for use in a variety of educational activities

Provision of a base for lifelong learning (citizens' public hall, etc.)

- A citizens' public hall with facilities that include a multipurpose hall, training rooms, conference rooms, regional resource rooms, and meeting rooms
- Community access to school facilities, such as computer rooms, music rooms, cooking rooms, tatami rooms, creativity rooms, etc.
- An outdoor theater with a circular stage, a lookout tower to symbolize the region, etc.

A place to acquire the latest knowledge and technology and access the latest information (library)

- A salonlike open-stack reading room with a children's reading corner and regional-resource corner
- An information center with links to other facilities through information networks
- An audiovisual center equipped with the latest audiovisual media, etc.


(2) The Development of Educational Facility Complexes

The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture is promoting the development of educational facilities as complexes centered on social education facilities, such as citizens' public halls. This approach is based on various perspectives, including efficient facility development. Many technical problems remain, however, and so far there have been few cases in which school facilities and other educational facilities have been integrated into complexes. The Ministry has therefore carried out research and surveys with the cooperation of experts in various fields.

In March 1991 the results of this research were distributed to prefectural boards of education in a notice outlining the special care required in facility planning, design, and management in connection with the development of school facilities as complexes. This notice identified the purpose of developing school facilities as complexes as

(1) the development of comprehensive lifelong learning infrastructure at the local level and
(2) the qualitative improvement of the school education environment to revitalize school education.

The notice also stated that to ensure a suitable environment for the learning activities of schoolchildren and the local community, in planning complexes boards of education should select facilities that can be functionally linked and spatially integrated with school facilities and that have the potential to enhance the learning environment, and should avoid linking schools with facilities that will have a negative or hindering effect on the learning environment.

The development of educational facilities as complexes has become a priority, especially in metropolitan centers, because of factors that include the growing difficulty of acquiring sites for public use in recent years, as well as the expansion of demand for learning activities. It is necessary to implement appropriate complex-development methods that reflect the aims of the complex concept and contribute to the formation of sophisticated learning environments in schools and communities.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture has administered its subsidy systems with a view to ensuring the smooth implementation of complex-development programs that involve the integration of social education facilities and cultural facilities with other educational facilities. Since fiscal 1993 the Ministry has also provided subsidies to cover the cost of alterations necessary for the integration of school facilities and other educational facilities, such as the construction of entrance halls and stairs.


(3) Accommodating Educational Facilities to the Shift to an Information-oriented Society

Advances in science and technology in recent years have led to the use of computers, advanced information networks, satellite communications, broadcast satellites, and various other information media in many sectors of society. A special priority in many sectors recently has been the development of information communications infrastructure for the multimedia era.

This shift to an information-oriented society is reflected in the new Courses of Study, which call for the use of computers and other technology in learning and instruction in various subject areas and other facets of education at all levels, from elementary school through upper secondary school. It is also necessary to develop appropriate facilities to meet the needs of the advanced information society. The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture is implementing a number of measures in this area.

First, the Ministry is promoting the development of computer rooms in elementary and lower and upper secondary schools by providing prefectural boards of education with guidance in the development of an appropriate educational environment through the preparation of design materials for computer learning spaces and guidelines for computer learning furniture. The Ministry also provides subsidies for the construction of computer rooms in public schools and for the conversion of ordinary classrooms into computer rooms in private schools.

Second, the Ministry is promoting the development of intelligent campuses as venues for educational and research activities. Efforts in this area include the establishment of campus information networks (campus LANs) in national universities and other institutions. In addition, as part of its efforts to encourage active adaptation to the shift to an information-oriented society, in fiscal 1993 the Ministry produced a report titled "Making University Hospital Facilities More Intelligent," with a view to developing comfortable and sophisticated university hospitals that provide advanced medical care and patient service.


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