Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
schools does not end with teaching class, as they are involved in all kinds of activities
like special education and students' clubs. As evidenced by the hours they work,
their days off are almost nonexistent.
11.4
Issues in Disaster Prevention and Geography Education
11.4.1
Direction of Disaster Education
What form should disaster education take in schools? If school education is learning
from textbooks, how can disaster prevention be systematized to cope with a wide
range of disasters? A limitation of disaster prevention education is that its imple-
mentation in schools is very broad, from natural science to the humanities and
Social Studies. What is needed is a comprehensive approach to disaster education.
Furthermore, there are underlying problems that require solutions, such as how
disaster education in the schools can be related to social education.
Society makes demands on school education. In response to the advent of an
information-based society and the building of a sustainable society, there are many
voices calling for information literacy and a responsibility to the environment. As a
result, the course named Information, are now being introduced in senior high
schools and the Integrated Studies has been established as a compulsory subject.
Frontline educators are overwhelmed with these new learning movements, however,
initiatives on disaster education are being taken. For example, Hyogo Prefectural
Maiko Senior High School (
2012
) started the fi rst department in Japan on environ-
ment and disaster prevention. Their website states, “There were no precedents
anywhere in the country for a department specializing in disaster prevention, and
in putting together the educational process, there were repeated trials and errors.
The teachers responsible for leading this study repeatedly visited universities and
attended disaster prevention conferences and seminars, read books and articles, and
sought the advice of government disaster prevention sections, and amassing all this
together somehow or other worked it up into the shape of a curriculum.”
A variety of demands are being placed on school education. There is not enough
time in the school day for teachers to devote to students. Moreover, the teachers are
burdened with administrative tasks, summarized by “There is a lot of school-business
paper work that has to be written up, and I can't fi nd enough time to prepare teaching
materials (Hyogo Prefectural Maiko High School
2012
).” There is a real need for
those involved in school administration to listen much more to the voices of teachers
who are in the classroom.
The national curriculum explains how to include disaster-related topics within
each subject, such that students are taught with suffi cient rigor to develop solid
disaster preparedness skills. Geography education, in which students learn about
their communities and local areas, is capable of introducing disaster prevention in
such a manner that problems become relevant to students. Geography provides a
great way to contribute to disaster education.
