## (1) Improve kindergarten education

Early childhood education is extremely important for cultivating a foundation for the personality development that lasts for one’s whole life. Also, it is said that by playing intensely in early childhood, learning later on becomes richer. Taking this into account, comprehensive guidance is provided for each child at kindergarten, building up experience through a lifestyle centered on play. This will be maintained in the new kindergarten education outline.

However, with the recent reduction in educational function in the home and community, the environment surrounding kindergarten and the children is changing, making it necessary to improve kindergarten education to deal with the changes.

Particularly, as the children’s development is different depending on the type of school, and daily life is not split between home and school, but rather a continuum, it is important to maintain the continuity of these. For this purpose, child-raising support and nursery services were established as additional roles for kindergartens. Based on these viewpoints, the main items of revision for the specifics of kindergarten education are as follows.

• Enhance early childhood education based on the continuity of development and learning

Enhance kindergarten education to cultivate the seeds of thinking ability and normative consciousness to deal with the changes in the children and society and create a smooth connection from kindergarten education to elementary school education.

• Enhance kindergarten education taking into account the continuity between life in the kindergarten and life at home

Secure the continuity between life in the kindergarten and life at home by such measures as the acquisition of basic lifestyle habits in collaboration with the home.

• Enhance child raising support and nursery

Clarify the content of nursery and child raising support and ensure that proper kindergarten education activities are implemented in nurseries.

## (2) Revising the framework of the elementary and lower secondary school curriculum

For elementary school, an increase in class hours for Japanese language, social studies, arithmetic and science is stipulated from the standpoint of enhancing learning activities that utilize knowledge and skills such as observation, experimentation and report writing while ensuring the acquisition of basic and fundamental knowledge and skills appropriate for the level of development. Additionally, in the face of a decline in children's strength, an increase in physical education class hours emphasizing basic body movements and the pleasure of exercise is stipulated.

Additionally, regarding the period of integrated study, the abilities to think, judge and express demanded in the era of the knowledge based society and required to cultivate the qualities and abilities to find the issues on one's own, learn by one's self, think for one's self, make decisions independently, and find better solutions to problems to meet the demands of an intensely changing society take on an ever more important role, and engaging in experiential learning activities and cross subject problem solving and inquisitive activities becomes ever more important. Also, regarding the period of integrated study, in order to revise the overlap in efforts between school types while opening a new chapter and clarifying both the position in the curriculum and the engagement of total cross subject learning and inquisitive activities within the courses of study, a review of the examples of learning activities of each school level is stipulated. Also, regarding learning time, about two additional periods per week is stipulated in order to enhance learning activities to utilize knowledge and skills in each subject, the implementation of which had previously been expected possible within the existing allotted time for the period of integrated study.

In lower secondary school, a strengthening of the commonality of the curriculum for compulsory education by reducing the class hours for electives and increasing the class content and hours for compulsory subjects is stipulated because the curriculum has become too complicated due to the addition of a period of integrated study in addition to elective subjects. Note that it is stipulated that elective subjects can be established outside the frame of the standard study time. Also, as in the case of elementary school, an increase in class hours for the compulsory subjects of Japanese language, social studies, math, science,