The purpose of this paper is to explore a further possibility of home economics education through the insights of care ethics. The ethics of care has influenced various fields of study such as philosophy, political theory, economics, pedagogics and so on. Recently the ethic of care attracts much attention not only because it urges a radical reexamination of the premises of human and social sciences and but also because it criticizes neo-liberal assumptions of human beings and society. To clarify social potentiality of home economics education in the age of mixture of neo-liberalism and neoconservatism, the article reviews first the assumption of "independence" in the discipline of western political philosophy. The ethics of care was discovered through criticizing the male-oriented idea of “independence” in the tradition of western philosophy. Whereas traditional political philosophy has idealized independent male citizens, women has been degraded as the second citizen mainly because they are forced to care for the dependent, such as children, the disabled, the infirm and the aged. To reexamine the history of devaluation of female care wo leads us not only to reevaluate the social meaning of care work but also to criticize the idea of “independent”citizens itself. It is a significant issue how to situate home economics education in a wider political context to explore its potentiality.

View full abstract

In Japan, high school students learn home economics as a compulsory subject. However, the required number of home economics credits has been reduced. Subject area of home economics is organized by the three compulsory elective subjects. In the present course of home economics one of the three subjects was reduced to 2 credits, whereas, in the past course, all of the three subjects gave 4 credits. This paper aims to examine the effects of home economics education on high school students' housework experience. Data were collected in 2010 by the Japan Education Longitudinal Study (JELS), and supported by the G-COE Program, Ochanomizu University. Questionnaires were obtained from 923 twelfth grade students living in a city located at Tohoku Region. The response rate was 97.3%. Favorite subjects, school record, study hours at home, the experience of part-time job, attendance in cram school, and the amount of housework were items included in the questionnaire. The relationship between home economics education and students' housework experience was examined using multiple regression analysis. Statistically significant relationship was found between students' learning home economics and the amount of their housework experience. Stated another way, students who like home economics were engaged in housework most frequently. In addition, significant relationship was found between the required credits of home economics and the amount of housework experience. To conclude, the learning of home economics is a strong predictor of high school students' participation in housework.

View full abstract

The Home Economics Working Group in the Central Curriculum Study Committee (Chukyoken), which played a key role in the 1960s'educational research in the Japan Teachers' Union (Nikkyoso), proposed a curriculum plan for Home Economics in January 1961. The Home Economics Working Group was highly motivated to oppose the government and to demonstrate an entirely new curriculum based on the ruling idea in Nikkyoso that curricula should be systematic and scientific-based. However, the plan brought a fierce backlash, and afterwards, the Working Group was forced to withdraw the plan and change the basis of thieir theory after August 1962. Around the same time, Sotozaki Mitsuhiro, who was an assistant professor at Kochi Junior College, and Home Economics teachers belonging to the Kochi Teachers' Union criticized the Working Group's plan, but earlier studies do not have much information on Sotozaki and the teachers'criticism. Focusing on Sotozaki's assertion, this article reveals the following: 1. Sotozaki and his followers claimed that curricula should put importance on not just academic information but also relevance to children's actual life. 2. Sotozaki and his followers'criticism caused the withdrawal of the Working Group's plan, and lead to changes in the Working Group's thought to the one that prioritizes both children's life and science, and in addition, the transformation affected the subsequent studies on Home Economics education in Nikkyoso and private educational research organizations.

View full abstract

The aim of this research is to examine a junior high school student's feeling and behaviors in early childhood education and care (ECEC) by applying the thoughts of the caring education. The girl student who showed the improper behavior during the ECEC was studied by a video tape recorded during ECEC and her narrative about the ECEC was collected in class after ECEC. The student's behaviors were checked from her narrative data. Our results show some differences between her behaviors and narrative.In the narrative, positive feelings toward younger childrenwerefound. However, in the video, the student tried to avoid a touch with the younger children, and made no reference in her narrative about this.It was also found that not all students were naturally able to hold hands of younger children.We conclude that the student in our study was unaware of the fact that her displayed behaviors were inappropriate for younger children. This result suggests that it is important to further clarify the knowledge and skillsnecessary for junior high school students in appropriately caring foryounger children.

View full abstract