Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPANESE GOVERNMENT POLICIES IN EDUCATION,SCIENCE AND CULTURE 1989 > PART Chapter2 3

PART lssues and Perspectives of Elementaryand Secondary Education

The expectation of the public on schools to promote moral education is increasing recently, in face of the significantly changing social environment surrounding children. A cultivation of a personality that can independently respond to the coming social changes is required. Also, the deterioration of basic customs of life and of desirable human relations, accompanied by the growth in nuclear families and fewer children per family, has been pointed out. In order to meet the expectation, the improvement of moral education and further enrichment of the measures for its promotion are demanded.

In the revision of the Course of Study of 1989, the first major change was made in moral education since its introduction in 1958. In order to further enrich moral education, the revision emphasized 1) the restructuring and defining of the content of moral education, 2) the enrichment of education concerning how to be and live as a human being,3) the enrichment of the moral education aspects of all educational activities of school and 4) the reinforcement of ties with families and local communities.

Various measures have been adopted to consolidate the foundation of moral education. In FY 1989, in addition to these measures. further promotion of moral education will be attempted, for example, by expanding pilot schools for the promotion of moral education (schools for the promotion of collaboration with families).