Abstract
The Constitution of Japan (Article 26) sets forth basic public educational policy as follows : "All people shall have the right to receive an equal education correspondent to their ability, as provided by law. "Educational policy evaluation should thus be done from the standpoint of securing the right to receive an education. It is a useful approach to examine this question from two dimensions, one of which is an emphasis on an external guarantee of rights (the right to attend school, equality of educational opportunity) while the other is an internal guarantee of rights (the right to learn, the promotion of full growth and development, the pursuit of liberty and happiness). We note, utilizing this approach, that the serious problem of long-term absence from school or refusal to attend school by children with psychosomatic diseases or who are maladjusted in Japan can be seen as caused by compulsory attendance at school without suitable instruction, in other words, because of the conflict of these two dimentions in securing the right to an education. At the beginning of the academic year 2002, Shiki City in Saitama Prefecture, the population of which is about 65,000, started a "Home Study Project" whereby municipal school teachers visit each home or private educational institution for children refusing to attend school. This project is a trial of public home instruction, transcending the national policy of special class/room in schools or public educational institutions for long-absent children aimed at adapting these children to school. The "Home Study Project" was produced through educational policy evaluation and a children's needs assessment by Shiki City with the hope of guaranteeing every child the right to receive a suitable education correspondent to his/her needs instead of abilities. An evaluation of this project should, then, be not only quantitative but also qualitative, accounting, for example, how and what educational practices and instructions are created according to children's needs. Educational policy/project evaluation should be done from the standpoint of a guarantee of the right to receive a suitable education correspondent to each person's needs.
