Morality, Integrated Studies and Special Activities

The General Provisions state that moral education is conducted "throughout all educational activities of the school, with the Morality subject (道徳科) as its core (要)." "Only within Morality class hours" is wrong: it is not limited to Morality class. "With Special Activities as its core" is wrong: the core is Morality, not Special Activities. "Mainly at home" is wrong: there is no rule that moral education is primarily the home's job (though cooperation with families is required).

Elementary: "deepening thinking about one's own way of life (自己の生き方)." Junior high: "how to live as a human being (人間としての生き方)," and it also adds "from a broad perspective." "Based on an understanding of moral values," "reflecting on oneself" and "to develop moral judgment, sentiment, and the will and attitude to practice" are shared by both levels.

"International understanding and goodwill" (elementary) and "international understanding and contribution" (junior high) are under viewpoint C. A includes moderation and individuality; B includes kindness, courtesy and friendship; D includes the value of life, love of nature, and awe.

Grades 1-2 have 19 items. Grades 3-4 add "mutual understanding and tolerance" (20 items), and Grades 5-6 add "pursuit of truth" and "joy of living better" (22 items). Junior high also has 22. No level has 24.

"Pursuit of truth" first appears in Grades 5-6 (as does "joy of living better"). "Mutual understanding and tolerance" starts in Grades 3-4. "Development of individuality" and "international understanding and goodwill" are already listed for Grades 1-2.

The Courses of Study say growth should be continuously understood and used for teaching, but "no numerical assessment is made." The guidance record describes it briefly in writing "as intra-individual assessment (個人内評価)" (MEXT notice of 29 March 2019, attachments). The 5-point scale and the three-level scale per content item use numbers or grades, so they are wrong. "No assessment is made" is also wrong: assessment is done, just not numerically.

General Provisions Part 6-1 names "the teacher mainly in charge of promoting moral education (道徳教育推進教師)." The other three are different posts under the Enforcement Regulations, not the role named for promoting moral education.

Junior high Chapter 3, Part 3-2(1) says Morality is "as a rule taught by the homeroom teacher," while also using principals and other teachers. The same elementary item starts with the participation of the principal etc. and lacks this sentence. So the answer is "junior high school only"; "elementary only," "both" and "neither" are wrong.

The partial revision was announced on 27 March 2015 and took effect on 1 April 2018 for elementary schools and 1 April 2019 for junior high schools. The "March 2017" option is wrong: March 2017 was the announcement of the whole current Courses of Study (full implementation FY2020 elementary, FY2021 junior high). The "March 2008" option is wrong: 2008 was the previous Courses of Study. "Announced March 2015; in force from FY2016 for both" has the wrong years.

Article 50(2) allows private elementary schools to add religion and to "replace the Special Subject Morality with religion" (applied to junior high by Article 79). "Only to replace the Period for Integrated Studies" is wrong: what can be replaced is Morality. "Private schools may not add religion" is wrong: it can be added. "Morality must still be taught for the standard hours" is wrong: religion can replace Morality, and religion hours may replace part of the Morality hours.

The goal begins: "Using inquiry-based ways of seeing and thinking, through cross-curricular and comprehensive learning..." "As builders of groups and society" is from Special Activities, "communication in a foreign language" from Foreign Language Activities/Foreign Language, and "through words" from Japanese language.

Part 2 says "each school shall set the goals (content) of its Period for Integrated Studies based on the goal in Part 1." "The Minister announces content for each grade" is wrong: no grade-by-grade content is given. "Prefectural boards set them" is wrong: there is no such rule. "Each homeroom teacher freely decides" is wrong: they are set by the school, not freely by an individual teacher (whole-staff teaching is also expected).

Junior high adds "themes about occupations and one's own future." Contemporary issues, themes suited to the community or school, and interest-based themes appear at both levels (elementary describes the community/school theme as "community life, traditions and culture and other themes suited to the community or school").

Junior high: 50 hours in Grade 1 and 70 in Grades 2-3 (Appended Table 2). 70 is for junior high Grades 2-3 and elementary Grades 3-6. 35 is the figure for Morality and Special Activities. 105 does not apply.

The General Provisions allow activities in the Period for Integrated Studies to replace "the corresponding school events (学校行事)" of Special Activities when similar results are expected. Only school events can be replaced, not all of Special Activities, Morality classes or classroom activities.

Part 3-2(2) says "techniques for thinking such as comparing, classifying and relating" should be used. Memorizing/repeating/copying, reading aloud/reciting/transcribing and calculating/measuring/drawing are learning activities, but they are not the techniques named here.

Part 3-1(5): "Each school shall appropriately set the name of its Period for Integrated Studies." "No other name may be used" is wrong: schools may use their own name. There is no rule that the board of education sets a uniform name, and no obligation to use the inquiry theme as the name.

Foreign Language Activities are 35 hours each in Grades 3 and 4 (Appended Table 1). Grades 5-6 take the subject "Foreign Language" (70 hours each) instead. Grades 1-2 have no Foreign Language Activities.

Foreign Language Activities set goals in "three domains: listening, speaking [interaction] and speaking [production]." The five-domain option belongs to the Grade 5-6 subject "Foreign Language." The other three-domain options include reading/writing, which are not domains of Foreign Language Activities.

The Courses of Study say letters are "handled as something that supports oral communication, while considering pupils' learning load." Spelling dictation and systematic teaching with grammar are wrong: writing and systematic grammar are not aims of this area. "Letters are never used" is also wrong: there is a goal of recognizing letters when their names are said, so they are not excluded entirely.

Elementary has four: classroom activities, pupil council (児童会) activities, club activities and school events. The set with student council activities is the junior high structure. The set with school lunch activities is wrong: school lunch is part of classroom activities, not a separate component. The set with 部活動 is wrong: 部活動 is not part of Special Activities.

Clubs are "organized mainly by pupils in Grade 4 and above who share an interest." "All pupils, organized by homeroom class" is wrong: they are mixed-age groups by interest, not homerooms. "Grade 5 and above" and "Grade 3 and above" give the wrong grades.

The Courses of Study say the planning and running of the pupil council "shall mainly be done by upper-grade pupils," while all pupils should be able to take part actively. "All grades in rotation" and "mainly middle-grade pupils" give the wrong grades. "Teachers plan; pupils mainly participate" is wrong: the core is pupils' voluntary, self-governing activity.

"Resolving adolescent anxieties and worries; responding to sexual development" is junior high (2)c. School lunch and healthy eating habits appear in (2) at both levels. Class organization and roles is item (1)b at both levels. Healthy and safe attitudes appear in (2) at both levels (junior high adds "habits").

Junior high has five types: ceremonial, cultural, health/safety/physical, travel and group-lodging (旅行・集団宿泊的行事), and work/production/service events. "Excursion and group-lodging events" is the elementary name. "Arts-and-learning events" and "student-council events" are not names in the current Courses of Study.

Junior high adds "eye-opening experiences related to views of work and careers, such as workplace experience (職場体験活動)." Volunteering experiences appear at both levels. Group lodging in nature belongs to elementary excursion/group-lodging events. Presenting the results of everyday learning belongs to cultural events.

The note says the Special Activities hours "shall be used for classroom activities defined in the Courses of Study (excluding those related to school lunch)." School events and council activities are not what these hours cover. "Classroom activities and school lunch time" is wrong because school lunch is excluded.

Junior high student council content: (1) organization and planning/running, (2) cooperating with school events, (3) social participation such as volunteering. Building the organization and cooperating with school events also appear for the elementary pupil council. Exchange in mixed-age groups is an elementary pupil council item and is not listed for junior high.

The Courses of Study contrast "guidance, which provides necessary guidance and support mainly in group settings," with "counseling (including educational counseling), which responds individually to each pupil's issues." Counseling is the individual one. Consultation and assessment do not appear in this passage.

The attachments say schools write their own assessment criteria for Special Activities and, for each activity and school event, mark a circle (○) when the pupil's activity is judged fully satisfactory. "A 3-point numerical grade" is wrong: no numerical grades are given. The written intra-individual description is the method for Morality. "Only the number of events attended" is wrong: there is no such entry.