Study on the Curriculum to Development Competencies
Summary of Report 1
Study on the Curriculum to Development Competencies – Nurturing Competencies for the21st Century
1. Purpose and summary of the research studies(1) Purpose of the research studies
The purpose of the research studies (“Study on the Curriculum to DevelopmentCompetencies”) was to take a comprehensive look at the curriculum to nurture competencies
for the research period of FY 2014 to FY 2016, and to provide knowledge which will contributeto the planning of policies on the curriculum. Specifically, the research aimed to refine andstructure the desired competencies and to conduct an integrated, empirical study on theeducational goals, content, methods and assessments necessary to nurture the competencies,based on the knowledge gained from the “Basic Research on Curriculum Organization”
conducted up until FY 2015. Working groups were established, and they conducted theresearch with the cooperation of the related departments of the Ministry of Education, Culture,Sports, Science and Technology.
On November 20, 2014, the Central Council for Education was consulted about “TheCriteria for the Curriculum in Elementary and Secondary Education”, and arecommendation was made that, “from the viewpoint of securely nurturing the desirable
competencies to be encouraged in children, it is necessary to examine the learning andteaching methods required to nurture such competencies as well as the learning
outcomes, and to retain the perspective of enhancing the learning assessments in orderto improve the teaching. One major point in the upcoming revision will be the directionof the curriculum for nurturing competencies in order to clearly define the ability tothink, the ability to make decisions and the ability to express oneself directed atnurturing a zest for living outlined in the current Courses of Study. In the project up until
FY 2013, the Central Council for Education was able to contribute to the policy studies
through giving two presentations at the “Study Group on Assessment of the Educational
Goals and Content Reflecting the Desired Competencies” of the Ministry of Education,Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The discussions of the next meeting of theCentral Council for Education will examine improvements “looking at the educational
goals and content, the methods of learning and teaching and assessments in an integralmanner” in the context of “Courses of Study Appropriate for a New Era”. In thediscussions, weight needs to be given to the perspective of improving, in particular, the1learning and teaching methods and learning assessments, but the study will beintegrating all of the components.
(2) Summary of the research
From the start, the project set out to conduct comprehensive research on the curriculum
to nurture competencies, and to conduct an integrated, empirical study of the educational
goals, content, methods of learning and teaching, and assessments. This report gives thebackground to organizing the competencies required in the 21st century and summarizes theircontent, and provides materials to aid in integrated thinking of the educational goals andcontent, methods of learning and teaching, and assessments. Meanwhile, so as to contributeto the future discussions of the Central Council for Education, it is necessary to focus theresearch particularly on learning and teaching methods and assessments. Therefore, inproceeding with the project’s research plan, the research structure relating to “teachingmethods and assessments” had to be improved, and deeper research conducted.
2. Summary of the Research Results- Report 1 focused, in particular, on the competency goals and education towards achieving
these goals and compiled scientific findings on the basis of practical educational researchbased on the results of the “Basic Research on Curriculum Organization” conducted by theInstitute up until FY 2013 and the ongoing research for the “Study on the Curriculum toDevelopment Competencies”. At this point in time, the findings are still limited but thefollowing two recommendation have been made.
- The first is that what is required “as competencies to survive in the 21st century” is thatcognitive skills such as the thinking competency are put at the core; direction is given
to ways of using both the basic skills such as literacy, which play a supporting role; andthe practical competencies to act is developed through connections with society leading
to the discovery and resolution of practical problems.
- Second, in order to foster the “competencies to survive in the 21st century”, education whichconnects subject content to the competencies through learning activities as shown in thediagram will be effective. Namely, if we were to focus solely on the content of the subjects
given in the left side of the diagram and deliver knowledge transmission and input lessons, thecompetencies given in the right side would not develop. On the other hand, evenacknowledging the importance of the competencies, if we were to repeatedly practiceproblem-solving, it would be difficult to foster the ability to solve problems to live and work.
In this meaningful context, this problem-solving ability is first developed through organizing
learning activities which attempt to solve problems worth posing using as clues the concepts
2which stand at the core of the subject content. In addition, by repeating these kinds of lessons,the content of the subjects and the competencies come together, which in turn, is believed tolead to the development of a “zest for living”.
- It may also be possible to review the “proactive and cooperative learning towards the discovery
and resolution of problems (in other words, ‘active learning’)” referred to in theabovementioned discussions so as not to simply introduce new teaching skills, but to use theactive learning as a device to more closely connect the educational goals (right side of thediagram) with the educational content (left side of the diagram), and with the assessments.

Zest for living

Create the future (practical competencies)
Independent activities
Formation of relationships
Building a sustainable society

Learning
activities

Subjectcontent

Think deeply (thinking competency)
Problems solving and discovering
Logical, critical and creative thinking
Metacognition and learning to learn

Use tools and body (basic skills)
Literacy
Numercy
Information

Diagram Learning cycle connecting learning activities to competencies

3. Future prospects
In the future, with regard to how to best keep the learning cycle turning, a collection ofdiverse practices will be compiled and an integrated study will be conducted on the
educational goals, content, and teaching and learning methods, including methods ofassessing the competencies, and moreover, it will be necessary to conduct this study in theschools, and to improve the strategies for curriculum management so that each and every
teacher will be able to select and revise the learning and teaching methods on well-founded
grounds, and so that the goals, content and methods for each school will be integrated. To
achieve this, we plan to compile practical scientific findings.
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