Since the late 1990s, a new interpretation of competency has been advocated, as global educational reform is promoted. This study thus examined current home economics curriculums in various countries in the late 2010s. In addition, a questionnaire was administered from July 2015 to September 2019 to home economics researchers and teachers from 15 countries, accompanied by interviews and following reviews. The findings were: (1) Mainly in Europe, there was emphasis on food and health as the learning content, and other contents such as family and childcare were incorporated in other subjects. (2) Acquisition of new competencies such as thinking, judgment, and problem-solving was a main objective in Sweden, Finland, Ireland, US, and Japan. (3) Although lesson study was not so much implemented, many respondents expressed their willingness to incorporate it in the future. In addition, the characteristics of all curriculums could be classified into three types: a) holistic/comprehensive, b) autonomous living/consumer citizen, and c) technology-oriented types. Through a comparative study, the characteristics of Japanese home economics, which holds holistic learning contents and is compulsory from elementary to senior high school, was also recognized. The task is to promote positive curriculum studies on educational values of home economics holistic learning and develop lesson study under international cooperation.
