Restructure of Forest Management Contents in Forest and Forestry Education in Japanese Agricultural Vocational High Schools:

Analysis Based on the Ministry's Official Guidelines for School Teaching

Abstract

Vocational education has been changing with the times. We worked on restructuring educational contents about management of the subject “Forest management” in vocational high schools in line with revised Education Ministry Guidelines (2017). Based on analysis of previous educational reforms and school textbook contents, forest management was revised. Previous textbook contents were categorized with nine details (fundamentals, sustainable forest management, forestry operation, planning, forest utilization planning, organizations, production control and financial management, forest information system, and multiple-use forest management). Analysis showed five central issues for restructuring: 1) organizing fundamentals of forests and forestry; 2) reconstructing contents by emphasizing practice; 3) understanding the relationship with other fields in agriculture; 4) understanding the whole of forests and forestry, environmental protection, management, and service industries; 5) sustainable forest management. Restructured forest management objectives and organization particularly emphasized sustainable forest management. The restructured contents included in three parts: 1) Definition of forest management: sustainable forest management in harmony with utilization and conservation; 2) Organization: administrative organization and forestry enterprise that involve various forestry occupations; and 3) Planning: forest planning systems, specific survey items, geographic information system and various types of forest utilization and management. Forest and forestry education has high potential for environmental education, so, revision of entire educational contents of forest and forestry education would be necessary.