This study surveyed the state of instruction concerning the housing domain with a focus on home economics teachers in junior and senior high schools. Overall, junior high schools provided a mean of 6.9 hours of lessons in the housing domain and senior high schools provided a mean of 5.3 hours, and the teachers themselves felt that this field was not given adequate time. However, a considerable amount of the actual lesson time was spent on “house safety” and “organizing the indoor environment.” Teachers thought these areas were important and felt that students were very interested in them. When asked to name problems with instruction in the housing domain, teachers pointed to the insufficient lesson time and the difficulty of giving instruction on the topic. Teachers said they hoped to incorporate more practical training and exercises into their lessons and receive teaching and other materials they could use.
Variability between schools was observed in the content of instruction in the housing domain, the teaching materials used, and the ways that training and practice were incorporated. Furthermore, an instructional gap was observed between teachers. Of particular note, about 40％ of junior high schools had unqualified teachers teaching home economics; consequently, instruction was not adequate. Eliminating the instructional gap between teachers and developing lessons to compensate for deficient instructional abilities are urgent issues.
