Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the issues in securing basic education in elementary and junior high school from the viewpoint of collaboration between education and welfare. This paper is based on my presentation at the symposium of the 4th annual conference of JASBEL (Japan Association for the Study of Basic Education and Literacies). In the symposium, titled “The security of basic education for children confronting difficulties”, Mr. Takuya Murai and Mr. Akihiro Jinushi presented on the daily lives and school experiences of socially disadvantaged children and their parents. I was impressed by their presentations, and I wanted to reconsider how schools stifle, among others, children in poverty, children with disabilities, and children who are chronically absent from school. In section 2 of this paper, I discuss the significance of basic education, the system of securing basic education, and the educational contents which should be secured. The particular needs may change as students age, but the present compulsory education system and gakuryoku (academic ability) have many limits and problems from the perspective of securing basic education. In section 3, I look back upon the history of exclusion from school focusing on minority group children. These children have been held from the meritocracy. That is, those minority people have been suffering from institutionalized discrimination in the educational system and labor market. In section 4, I referred to the concept of kyoiku fukushi (educational welfare) which recognizes the integration of education and welfare, then I present a conceptual framework of basic education in elementary and junior high school. In conclusion, I insist that respect for the rights of the child is crucially important in educational reform toward the security of basic education.
