2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

A Historical Study of Non-Fiction Materialsin Japanese Elementary School Textbooks

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22530982
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Education on school subjects and activities
Research Institution	Naruto University of Education
Principal Investigator	IKUTA Shinji 鳴門教育大学, 大学院・学校教育研究科, 准教授 (00320010)
Project Period (FY)	2010 – 2012
Keywords	ノンフィクション / 国語科教育 / 小学校教科書 / 教材史 / 教育学
Research Abstract	This study analyses non-fiction materials in post-war Japaneseelementary school textbooks and examines the transformations of a normative image ofan ideal person and the ability of the Japanese language. Educational materials until the early 1970s emphasised on creating a civilised nation, contributing to modernisation, importance of studying, effort and valuing others. In contrast, after themid-1970s, educational materials ceased to display normative images of the ideal person and increasingly criticised modernisation. In the post-war reconstruction period,textbooks adopted Yukichi Fukuzawa as a model for the establishment of democracy andas a symbol of the spirit of the Japanese who set their sights on the world. Whenmodernisation issues such as pollution emerged, textbooks began to feature ShozoTanaka.

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