Abstract
The philosophy of “Teacher's Reference Materials for Environmental Education (Elementary School Version)” published in 1991 and the junior and senior high school version in 1992 was based on the “Belgrade Charter” in 1975 and the “Tbilisi Declaration” in 1977. The concept of cross-curricular environmental education shown there was influenced by the British curriculum guidelines which raises children awareness of environmental education issues through each subject of the National Curriculum. On the other hand the “Period for Integrated Study” carried out from 2002, emphasizes environmental education under the learning view reform which makes much of the learning process instead of knowledge-inducting education. Furthermore the report “Environmental Education/Environment awareness in the Future-in the Cause of Sustainable Society” by the Central Council for the Environment in 1999 intends to foster problem solving ability through experience-type learning, and to achieve a sustainable society, and the enactment of the “Increase of Environmental Conservation Awareness and the Promotion of Environmental Education” law opened up a new vista of Japanese environmental education. Today's environmental education in Japan has been thus molded as a multilayered inheritance reflecting international movements.
