Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
in the Cabinet Offi ce in 2005. In 2006, the liaison council composed the “UN Decade
of ESD Implementation Plan for Japan” (referred to hereafter as the Japan ESD
implementation plan). In accepting this plan, the government referred to ESD as
“education for sustainable development.” The government designated it as one of
the important priority measures for the next 5 years in the Basic Plan for Promotion
of Education, published by MEXT (
2008
), based on provisions of Article 17 of the
Basic Law on Education. Following this, the Education Ministry's Curriculum
Council defi ned ESD as “learning that fosters the abilities to contribute to the build-
ing of a sustainable society,” and added its implementation to the goals and content
of related subjects in the revised National Curriculum Standards.
According to the liaison council in 2006, the goals of ESD were “to provide high
quality education to all the world's people with a vision that the principles, values,
and behavior needed for sustainable development are incorporated in all education
and places of learning, and to bring about a change in behavior so that a sustainable
future can be realized in the areas of the environment, the economy, and society”
(Liaison Council of Ministries and Agencies
2006
, p. 3).
10.2.2
ESD Introduced into Revised National
Curriculum Standards
After some debate by the MEXT Curriculum Council, ESD was introduced into many
related courses and subjects as learning to build a sustainable society. A number
of subjects had parallel goals and content, including Social Studies and natural
science in junior high school, and in senior high school, the courses Geography A
and World History A and B. Science, Home Economics, Physical Education,
Engineering, Science, Math, and others shared common learning outcomes as
ESD goals.
Overlap between ESD and “geographic fi elds” as defi ned in the National
Curriculum Standards at the junior high school level was found under the heading
“Consideration that is centered on environmental problems and environmental pro-
tection.” This standard focuses on “thinking about how it is important to deal with
environmental problems and protection in the local area in order to build a sustain-
able society.” The importance of learning ESD is described in Civics standards, and
we argue that understanding about the building of a sustainable society has a place in
Social Studies, in general. This includes related subjects such as Geography and
History, which should be considered alongside junior high school Civics subjects.
In the revised National Curriculum Standards for senior high school, courses that
include the idea of a sustainable society include the Geography and History subject
area (World History A, World History B, Geography A), Civics (Contemporary
Society, Politics and Economy), Science (all subjects), Health and Physical Education,
Home Economics (Introduction to Home Economics, General Home Economics,
Living Design, Consumer Life), and vocational training fi elds in Engineering
(Introduction to Environmental Engineering), Science and Math, and others.
