ドイツの政治教育における労働・雇用問題の学習

―民主主義能力の育成を目指すコンピテンシー・ベースのカリキュラム構造―

抄録

In recent years, long working hours and unstable employment have emerged as serious problems in Japan, and criticism is directed at the “black companies”. In these circumstances, debates have regularly occurred regarding the type of education necessary for preparing the youth to develop desirable working lives in the future. Therefore, this paper focuses on Germany, which is internationally regarded as having high-class work environment standards and workers’ rights. It analyzes the study of labor and employment in political education (Politische Bildung: equivalent to Japanese social studies) and explores educational goals, learning content, and competency to be acquired.

German political education theory places foremost emphasis on human rights ideas under basic law (Grundgesetz) and the significance of democracy associated with the development of these rights. Therefore, it aims to achieve “learning democracy competency”. Economic learning also reviews problems with existing economic systems and policies while aiming to acquire competency to take action voluntarily.

The political education of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), well-known for its innovative educational activities, also reflects this position. In the subject “Social Science (Sozialwissenschaften)”, which addresses political and economic problems in this state’s latter-stage secondary education, seven fields of study are included (market economy, political structure, individuals and society, economic policy, the European Union, social inequality, and international politics) under the aim of fostering democracy competency. Four competencies, acquiring knowledge, understanding, judgment, and action, are established as those to be learned through these seven fields. Study of labor and employment issues is also implemented within this framework. Early-stage secondary education’s political and economic subjects deal with labor concepts, labor laws and systems, and systems of social change. The social science subject in the latter-stage secondary education covers more complex labor and employment issues such as labor agreements, working hours legislation, labor negotiations, and wage policies. This aforementioned curriculum presents a consistent view of pursuing “labor quality” from the human rights perspective under basic law. Lesson development also mainly comprises resource materials and assignments and is intended to develop learners’ judgment abilities and cultivate personal opinion.

Regarding Japan, the course of study for social studies stipulates that the subject is supposed to emphasize human rights and address labor and employment issues. In contrast, textbook explanations are dictionary-like and tasks pertaining to learners’ acquiring competencies are unclear. Therefore, by using the concept of competency with reference to the German example, it is expected that the competencies to be acquired by learners can be clarified and actual classroom situations and textbook structure can be reformulated. However, a more fundamental issue is that it is necessary for each individual to seriously and specifically reconsider the kind of life/society they want to create in terms of values addressed through education such as human rights, democracy, and behavior and whether this reflection is consistent with the reality of educational activities.