Current Points of Contention on Technology Education in the Next Revised National Curriculum in Japan

To determine the new national curriculum standards (NCS) in Japan that are to be introduced from 2020, the Central Council for Education (CCE) has disputed the rationale of NCS. The CCE has already determined that the emphasis and further substantiality of “consideration, judgement and expressive ability” such as genetic problem solving ability and core skills,. In the current NCS, the “technology assessment abilities and their proper utilization” have been emphasized in order to allow students to develop consideration, judgement and expressive ability. The technology subject working group in the CCE has suggested that the major factors and processes for developing technology assessment abilities and their proper utilization shall consist of four factors: 1) Framing and designing problem solutions, 2) Technology assessment and trade-off, 3) Technological management and its practical use, and 4) Reflective evaluation. The working group also decided to retain the current contents of the 7-9th grades: 1) Technology of materials and their processing, 2) Technology of energy conversion, 3) Technology for nurturing living things, and 4) Technology of information processing. In the subject of informatics, one of the ordinary and compulsory subjects for 10th and 12th grade students, the contents of information technology such as programming will be emphasized.