Topics of discussion about the curriculum and instructional methods for continuity and liaison between high schools and universities are confined to university entrance examinations, experience in the first year of university, and individual fields of study. I identified issues of continuity and liaison from the viewpoint of curriculum study, including learner experiences. I discuss the imbalance in the high-school official curriculum, lack of system continuity and liaison, and continuity and discontinuity of learning experiences. Each of these points has a close relationship to intention, implementation, and stages of achieved curriculum.
First, I organize the basic information on continuity and liaison and summarize the research trends according to subject. “Superification” such as the Super Science High Schools (SSH) and Super Global High Schools (SGH) designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), is included. Next, I identify the imbalance in the official curriculum, the gap between curriculum and evaluation, and the partial continuity of learning experiences. All are based on the diversification of the curriculum.
The movement toward continuity and liaison led by the national educational authorities became evident in the late 1990s. Its 30-year history has moved, as the university entrance rate rose, from the contact point phase of early admission to university to the contact line phase with consistency in the school system considered, and continues to widen toward a contact surface phase.
The discussion in this paper reminds us of the increase in the percentage of students advancing to high school and the circumstances triggered by it in the past. The percentage exceeded 60 in the 1960s in Japan. This is similar to the percentage who go to university and junior college today. Today's situation is a variation of the process of the spread of upper secondary education. Therefore: What have the last 70 years of upper secondary education in Japan meant?
When fewer students proceeded to university and junior college, the gaps experienced by those who graduated from high school provided a rite of passage into adulthood, although the method was controversial. Recently, university freshmen have been ridiculed for being immature and seeming like “freshmen who require remedial study” or “high school fourth years”. Immaturity can be recognized as a result of weakened or changed rites of passage as well as smooth continuity and liaison. On the other hand, lowering the voting age from 20 to 18 (June 2016) is a new gap. In the not very distant future, the end of secondary education and the start of higher education will be the day of coming of age.
As continuity and liaison advance, the question connected to educational contents and methods must be answered — What should be taught in high school? The standpoint of curriculum study that includes the experience of learners is thought to be effective.
