高等学校における地学教育の現状と問題点(<特集>21世紀の地学教育の深化に向けて)  [in Japanese] A situation and problems on the Earth Science education in high school of Japan(<Special Issue> Advancement in the Education Earth Sciences)  [in Japanese]

高等学校において地学教育の機会が減少の一途をたどっている.その要因の一つは,2003年度より施行された現行の学習指導要領である.「情報」・「総合的な学習の時間」・理科の3つの総合的な選択必修科目の導入による,理科の時間数減少の中で,受験に関係の少ない地学が最も削減の影響を受けたと予想される.「地学I」の全高等学校在学者数に対する履修率は3%で,理科の7つの選択必修科目の中で最も少ない.また,地学の教員が減少していることも大きな要因の一つである.高等学校生徒数の減少に伴い教員数も削減され,地学教員退職後の補充がほとんどされてない.地学が軽んじられているのは,高等学校の教育が,進路重視,入試最優先という実情にあると考えられる.今後,教育本来の目的を取り戻し,広い視点から高等学校教育を見つめ直す必要がある.

Opportunities to study Earth Science have been decreased in high schools. Such decrease was mainly caused by the National Course of Study enforced in 2003. A school hours allotted for the existing subjects were reduced due to the introduction of new subjects "Information" and "Period for integrated study". Furthermore, at least one subject should be chosen from three new subjects of Science, "Science A", "Science B" and "Basic Science". In such a situation, Earth Science would have be most affected because it is less concerning the university entrance examination. The ratio of enrollment "Earth Science I" is only 3.1 %, which is the smallest percentage among the 7 subjects of Science. One of the serious problems is the decreasing of Earth Science teachers in high school. The total number of high school students has been decreasing since 1987. The recruitment of Earth Science teachers, to fill the vacancy of the retired teacher, has not been performed in most of prefectures for over a decade. The number of Earth Science teachers must be acceleratingly decreasing after many Earth Science teachers of the boomer-generation are recently retired. Earth Science is lightly treated in the university entrance examination because it is regarded as a less important subject. This fact is caused by the recent situation that a student's course after graduation is thought to be most dominant in school education. The high school education should be reconsidered from wide viewpoints and recover its primary aim of the study.