2014 Volume 65 Issue 12 Pages 668-680
The curriculum for senior high school home economics (HE) includes residential improvement learning (RIL) that aims to teach students about housing conditions, issues and policies.
This study attempted to elucidate the characteristics of RIL by analyzing HE textbooks approved under both 1989 and 1999 national curriculum guidelines (CG). The results are as follows:
1) Although no mention of RIL is made in the CG for Integrated HE, all Integrated HE textbooks cover RIL. However, a third of textbooks for Basic HE, which offer fewer credits, failed to cover RIL.
2) Textbooks approved under 1999 CG tended to lack material for understanding contemporary housing conditions and issues, and sections encouraging residential involvement in housing policy.
Consequently, it can be inferred that RIL classes may be almost nonexistent as more senior high schools adopt Basic HE. It is one of the priority issues to make the significance of RIL clear and to examine measures to guarantee the opportunity to learn it.
