Jappans national curriculum reforms

Abstract

This article describes the process of national curriculum standards reform and the progress of applying the integrated curriculum from theory and research to practice. The curriculum council of Japanese government received an inquiry from Monbusho in August 1996 about "reform of the national curriculum". The council comprehensively discussed how to help childrens wellbalanced development and how to educate them to be sound members of the nation and the society living independently in the 21st century. In addition, the council agreed that it was necessary to constantly review the national curriculum standards for improvement focus on integrated curriculum. The purposes of national curriculum standards reform are as follows: 1- To help a child cultivate rich humanity, sociality, and identity as a Japanese living in the international community, 2- To help children develop ability to learn and think independently, 3- To help children acquire basic abilities and skills and grew their own individuality with plenty of scope for educational activities, 4- To encourage individual schools to show ingenuity in developing unique educational activities to make the school distinctive. The article shows that the new national curriculum standards emphasis on interdisciplinary and comprehensive learning clearly specified and more flexible.