A Study on the Retarding Factors of the Elective System in Senior High Schools : Concerning the Relation between Promoting Factors and Retarding Factors

Abstract

It is required to expand the elective system of the curriculum by the Course of Study, which was revised in 1989. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the retarding factors of the elective system in senior high schools. According to a questionnaire survey of teachers in 108 senior high schools in 3 prefectures, an analysis of the answers leads to the followings: (1) Opinions of the administrators have noticeable influence on the factor of "realizing characteristic curriculum", which is development of individual characteristic curriculum. However, they have no direct influence on the factor of "considering student demand", which is the teachers desire to help the students who wont to determine their own personal choice of curriculum. (2) Opinions of the educational affairs section have no direct influence on neither "realizing characteristic curriculum" nor "considering student demand". On the other hand, they have indirect influence on the factor of "realizing characteristic curriculum". The strength of this indirect influence is almost to the same degree as the direct influence of the administrators' opinions. (3) The retarding factor: "retarding professionalism of teachers" increases at the same rate as the promoting factor: "considering student demand" increases. The ratio is about 17%. These results shows the remarkable relation between promoting factors and retarding factors.