일본 초·중·고 개정 학습지도요령 및 해설과 독도 관련 기술의 문제점

Abstract

Japan’s Government revised High School Curriculum Guideline(學習指導要領) and its Commentary(學習指導要領解說) on March 30th and July 17th of 2018, following the revision of the Curriculum Guidelines and their Commentaries for Elementary and Middle Schools in 2017. Until now, the Curriculum Guideline which has a legally binding nature has suggested the standard of curriculum and has been described in more details by the Commentary. However, this revised version clearly repeats the purpose of education and describes the contents and method of education in details; thus, it increases the amount of text. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that there lies an intent to ‘control’ the overall education through the revision of curriculum guidelines and commentaries. This revision decides the contents and direction of textbooks as well as the teaching in the class. In 2006, during the first term of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Basic Law of Education, perceived as the Constitution of Education, was revised in more than 60 years. In this revision, promotion of patriotism was set as one of the educational goals. Under the name of ‘reformation’, the opinions of conservative right wing parties were reflected in the educational context, and it resulted in the revision of elementary, middle and high school curriculum guidelines and commentaries. It is important to acknowledge that these revised guidelines reinforce the territorial issues related education in line with the ‘patriotic’ education emphasized by the current Abe government. It is also a problem that Dokdo, the territory of Korea, is specified in the Guideline as ‘the territory of Japan’. It can be assumed that there would be considerable changes in the textbooks of elementary, middle and high schools due to the new guideline revised in accordance with the government policy and intention. The revised guidelines will be sequentially applied to elementary, middle and high school education from 2020. Under the Abe regime, reinforcement of territorial education will be gradually institutionalized, and the Dokdo-related narrative in textbooks will increase in quantity and deteriorate in quality. The Dokdo related education in Japan will steadily and systematically become more concrete as it goes to higher grade schools based on Dokdo related education in elementary school. In the territorial issues related education of Japan, it is also a problem to teach the position of the home country alone without teaching the position of the other countries. Moreover, it becomes more problematic when the content of territorial issues related education is distorted. As Korea’s domestic countermeasure against these issues, it is essential to ensure the Dokdo related education in practical terms.