Abstract
It is true that, nowadays, more attention is being paid to global education. But, taking account of the already-crowded school curriculum, there seems to be little chance of introducing global education as a new school subject into the present school education system. Therefore, as the second best policy, we have to explore subject-based approaches to global education, that is, how the infusion of global education concepts into an existing subject such as social studies or English, which has a global dimension, can be effectively and sufficiently achieved. I am of the opinion that in particular English education in Japan should, and can, take more responsibility for global education, and that the contents of English textbooks should be improved in accordance with the new movement for a global-oriented society. Global education has some important matters of concern and interest, of which the question of human rights will be specifically addressed in this paper. First, I will show in detail how English textbooks now in use deal with the question of human rights. Second, after considering their contents from a viewpoint of education against discrimination, I will explore their contents from a global point of view. As a conclusion, I will offer some suggestions for improving the contents dealing with the question of human rights in English textbooks.
