Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > Japanese Government Policies in Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology 2001 >Chapter8 Section1.2

Educational reform has become a global trend and is now discussed as a major issue at international conferences. Part of the reason for this is the rapid and drastic socio-economic change that has taken place on a global scale.

  The first element of such change is the intensified international competition in the economic field in the post-Cold War era. While economic activity across national boundaries has grown more intense, many countries have experienced cyclical economic recessions and a growth in unemployment. It has been recognized that in order to maintain a favorable position in an era of increased economic competition the development of a trained, high quality workforce with the skills to support the scientific, technological and economic activities of a nation is critical.

  The second element is the IT revolution. IT has rapidly developed and become widespread, changing not only how society and the economy work, but also our daily lives. In the face of such an IT revolution, how one gathers, utilizes and sends out information increasingly affects the quality of our work and life.

  The third element is the advent of a knowledge-based society. Brought about by the IT revolution, a society formed on the basis of the accumulation and management of knowledge and intellectual creativity is rapidly expanding. In such a society, those who simply continue to produce and distribute standard goods run the risk of being left behind; it is more important than ever to continually renovate and create. Also, it is indispensable to foster human resources with rich creativity to cope with change in a flexible manner.

  In addition, internationalization, integration of the European Union in particular, is causing a great stir in many countries. Urbanization, the dwindling birthrate of children and an aging population are also changes that many advanced countries share.

  So the issue is how education should adapt to these dramatic changes in society and the economy to make people ready for them.

In addition to the changes in society and the economy, one can point out the change in the situation surrounding education and children as a backdrop to the promotion of educational reform.

  After the Second World War, Japan and countries in the West made efforts to quantitatively expand the education system to secure equal opportunity, ensuring all people could have the chance to receive the same level of education at a similar level. This objective was achieved as far as basic education was concerned. However, more than a few countries have developed regrets over their failure to guarantee all children scholastic ability or to enable children's individual characters and abilities to flourish. Consequently, such countries are moving their emphases from quantitative expansion to qualitative improvement.

  In addition, social problems such as spiritual degradation, ethical and moral degradation, and an increased crime rate, as well as family problems like an increase in divorce, dysfunctional families and child abuse are becoming more evident, casting a dark shadow over children' s minds. The effects are showing themselves in the form of an increase in the number of misbehaving children and incidents of juvenile delinquency. These cases of juvenile crime are becoming increasingly atrocious in their nature as shocking reports coming from both Japan and abroad demonstrate. Within school education, bullying, violence and non-attendance are on the rise. These problems of the mind cannot be solved within the educational field alone, but the tendency to expect schools to play the role of fostering the sound growth of the mind is common in many countries.