Abstract
Three years have passed since the introduction of the integrated course of upper secondary schools in fiscal 1994, as a third course, alongside the general and specialized (vocational) course. This paper aims to analyze the present state of the integrated course from next three points of view. (1) Choises of career paths of students (2) Curricula of each integrated course (3) Registers of elective subjects We categorized 45 integrated courses into next three types by their parent body. (1) General course origin type (newly established schools included) (2) Combination of general and vocational courses origin type (3) Vocational course origin type 1. Features of choises of career paths of students On the whole, the rate of students who wish to advance to post-secondary school, including university, increased, and the rate of students who wish to enter the work force upon graduation decreased than before. We could categorize the integrated courses into three types, a) university-oriented type, b) post-secondary-school-oriented type, c) diverse-career-paths-oriented type. 2. Features of curricula of 45 integrated courses We could categorize the curriculum composition into five types, a) multi-subject-areas type, b) all-round type, c) single-vocational-subject-area plus a type, d) particular subject-area type, e) few-subject-areas type. We could find next six types of distinctive curriculum, a) university-oriented type, b) sports and/or music and/or art and/or calligraphy attached importance type, c) foreign languages attached importance type, d) college type, e) vocational education type, f) qualifying examination oriented type. 3. Features of registers of elective subjects One of the feature of the integrated course is the provision of a wide range of elective subjects. In order to ensure that studies are made systematically, categorized elective subjects areas established in the integrated course. But the investigation of registers of elective subjects shows that the principle of free choice of subjects is not necessary compatible with the systematical study.
