Concerning moral education, this report clarified where emphasis should be placed at the various school levels (kindergarten, elementary, lower secondary, and high school) and in the various school years based on the circumstance of children and declared the necessity for providing more effective instruction. The report stated that when providing such guidance it was necessary to consider: (1) in kindergarten, cultivating fledgling of normative consciousness, (2) in elementary school, making all-out effort of instruction aimed at forming the sense of moral values that are the foundation upon which people lead their lives and enhancing instruction about how to live in one's own way, (3) in lower secondary school, improving guidance to encourage students to examine their way of living as human beings, taking into account the special nature of adolescence and students' relationship with society, and (4) in high school, improving guidance for deepening students' self-awareness concerning how they should live their lives as human beings, including the search for their own approach to life as a member of society. What is important, above all, is first instilling moral qualities including the minimum normative consciousness needed as a human being to live life in society, which means developing basic lifestyle habits and knowing what one may not do as a person; respect for one's own and other's lives; self-esteem, including self-reliance and self-confidence; and empathy for others. Then, on the basis of these moral qualities, schools should develop people who understand the significance of laws and rules and of observing them, who can make decisions independently, and who can act appropriately.

Regarding teaching materials, the above report points out the need to devise materials appropriate for school level and school year based on a prioritization of the content of moral education by school and school year concerning subjects including the minimum degree of normative consciousness, human relationships, approach to living, and laws and rules. The report also stresses the need to encourage the use of subject matter that underscores the beauty and power of that which moves people, such as nature, tradition, culture, and our predecessors' approach to living.

In addition, the report states that experiential activities, such as exchanges with adults other than parents and teachers and with children in the community, group outings in nature, workplace experiences, and service experiences are extremely important in that they offer the opportunity to look back on oneself in direct relationships with other people and with society, nature and the environment, and thus contribute significantly to the development of morality. It is therefore necessary to provide such experiential activities according to children's level of development.

Furthermore, improving moral education requires the cooperation and collaboration of schools with households and local communities, which fulfill key roles, and these three entities must work together to improve moral education. Examples of such collaboration include the participation of local people in moral education in schools; expanding practical activities; and efforts to have children acquire good eating and sleeping habits and good manners. The report stresses the importance of society as a whole, including schools, households and local communities, in considering the most fundamental issues of moral behavior.

There are various opinions regarding issues such as where to position moral education in the curriculum, but securing an adequate amount of class time to devote to moral education and correcting deficiencies in moral education are seen in common as the key issues. Given that all agree that moral education should be improved and expanded, it is necessary to improve teaching materials which play a major role in the actual teaching of the subject. For example, measures could be devised to assist children during moral education time in using, as they would textbooks, appropriate materials based on the aims of the Courses of Study.

Based on this report, MEXT plans to revise the Courses of Study for kindergarten and the Courses of Study for elementary school and lower secondary school during FY2008 and to continue expanding related measures.

## 3 Dealing with children’s undesirable behavior

Bullying has become a major social problem in Japan, with an increasing frequency of incidents in which children are driven to suicide due to bullying. In addition, with the continued occurrence of serious incidents by boys and the increase in classroom violence by elementary school students, the undesirable behavior of children continues to be a major issue for education. Another problem that has emerged recently is a new form of bullying using the Internet and mobile phones, which means that measures to deal with such incidents must be devised.