ongoing in Japan and other countries.

As it is important that young people be self-aware of their own roles and responsibilities in society in ensuring their sound development, national youth forums are held to allow exchanges of opinion and debates among high school students on activities by high school students to contribute to society and on effective measures to promote these activities.

## Part 4 Creating a Sound Environment to Nurture/Protect Children – School Approaches

## 1 Sound Development of Youth

## (1) Enhancing Physical Education Classes

School-based “physical education” builds the foundations for enjoying exercise for the rest of one’s life, and physical education at schools has grown all the more important given the decline in schoolchildren’s physical fitness in recent years.

In the Courses of Study, the mind and body are considered an integral whole in “physical and health education,” which seeks to cultivate the qualifications and skills needed for actively enjoying exercise and to improve physical fitness through greater understanding of exercise and rational application of this knowledge. This Outline went into full implementation at elementary and junior high schools in FY2002, and will be first utilized at high schools with the class entering in FY2003, implemented as that class progresses.

MEXT has been preparing instructional materials for developing appropriate educational guidance in line with the new Courses of Study, holding curriculum briefings and holding central workshops for school physical education instructors and other training sessions to improve the instructional skills of teachers.

## Key points in Courses of Study (physical education)

• Using home education learning opportunities to help parents understand the importance of reading

• Adapting the curriculum to enable a greater choice of activities suited to differing levels of development among schoolchildren, with content focused on improving physical fitness

• Incorporating warm-up exercise with the aim of having students take new notice of their own bodies while improving their physical well-being

• Enabling guidance to be provided more flexibly to suit the particular circumstances of schoolchildren and schools so that schoolchildren are able to engage in learning in accordance with their own abilities, and newly developing a variety of ball sports for exercise matched to conditions at schools and in communities

## (2) Supporting Extracurricular Sports Club Activities

The rate of participation for schoolchildren in school sports club activities has held constant over recent years. However, the drop in the number of schoolchildren participating in school sports club activities attributable to lower numbers of schoolchildren, the aging of instructors, and a decline in practical athletic instruction skills mean that some schools are unable on their own to organize teams or cannot provide sufficient instruction; in certain sports/events, schools may even find it infeasible to continue particular sports clubs (Figure 1-1-10, Figure 1-1-11, Figure 1-1-12, Figure 1-1-13).

For that reason, MEXT has launched programs to promote the use of outside instructors for school sports club activities, has designated certain test communities, and has carried out research on promoting general school sports club activities so that multiple sports are available each season and on cooperation between