Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > Japanese Government Policies in Education, Science, Sports and Culture 2000 > Trends in Educational Reform Section 2 Q9 Why choose a school advisor system?

In order to foster "zest for living" while respecting a child's individual character, it is necessary to pursue creation of schools which are creative and ingenious, and which reflect the characteristics of communities. To this end, it is therefore important that people from local communities be given the opportunity to cooperate in the creation of such schools, and their opinions and advice heard. In addition, whilst it is said that schools can tend to be a closed environment, schools in the future must be more open to the community and it is important for them to utilize the resources of both community and families in tandem, to nurture children.

To date, schools have held liaison meetings with specific institutions such as the police force, and discussion groups have been established in order to create a favorable environment in the community by drawing schools together with various groups and enterprises in the community. Organizations such as PTAs have also been fostered between parents/guardians and schools. However, there has previously been no means for parents/guardians and people in the local community to make their opinions and advice directly heard concerning school activities.

Therefore, the School Advisor System has been introduced as a means of making schools open to the local community, while assuming accountability, being worthy of the trust of the community, and making use of opinions from the local community.