本研究では、園生活の中で問題行動や保育者や友達とのコミュニケーションに困難を示す、発達障がいを持つ4 名の対象児に対してABA を用いたグループ指導を実施し、その効果を実証的に検証した。各対象児の初回セッションをベースライン期として行動観察を行った。行動観察では、問題行動を定義し、その問題行動の先行条件、対象児の行動そして後続条件を特定して機能分析を行った。その後、問題行動の機能分析の結果に基づいた支援計画をまとめた。計画表には、行動が起きる前の対応策と行動が起きた後の対応策を具体的に記入した。介入期にはグループ指導に携わるセラピスト全員で対応を統一し、セッションごとに問題行動と代替行動の生起回数と、対象児ごとに設定された標的行動の評価を測定した。その結果、すべての事例において、ベースライン期と介入初期に比べて問題行動の回数の減少、代替行動の回数の増加が見られた。また対象児別に設定された標的行動の評価も上がった。これらの結果より、グループの全員に対してABA の手法である問題行動の機能分析を用いた指導を実践することの有効性が示された。一方、より正確なデータ集計を可能にするツールを開発することや、対象児たちの幼稚園での場面般化・状況般化を進めて行くための指導法などが課題として挙げられ、今後の研究の方向性が示唆された。

In 1950, Indian Constitution declared to provide free and compulsory primary education to all the children of the country up to 14 years of agè within ten years after its commencement. Till date, however, this commitment to the universal primary education remains to be fulfilled. Given the importance of the basic education to the nation's overall development and the fact that India has the biggest illiterate population in the world, it is urgently required for India to achieve the substantial improvement in the performance of its primary education.

This paper examines the current status of primary education in India based on the past studies and the author's experiences, and identifies some of the critical issues which need to be addressed on a priority basis. The author first presents the current status of primary education in India in three aspects, i.e. enrolment, retention and the quality of education. He then examines the causes of low achievement in these areas in terms of four factors, i.e. wide prevalence of poverty, low level of resource allocation by the government, limited access to primary education due to physical and social factors, and the low quality of education. Although the poverty plays a critical part in lowering the level of enrolment and retention, it is only one factor among many others. Among other important factors is the poor quality of education in many of the government primary schools which works as a disincentive for the poor households to send their children to school. This in turn is due to a low political priority attached to the basic education in India, and correspondingly low level of resource allocation to education sector in general and primary education sector in particular. Another critical factor is the existence of social norms which work against the schooling of certain disadvantaged groups such as girl children and the children of schedule castes and schedule tribes. The present status of primary education in India need to be understood as a result of interplay between the system failure and the existence of these social norms, as Drèze and Sen put it. In the end, the author comments on the issues to be addressed on a priority basis under five heads, viz. more prioritised resource allocation to primary education sector; substantial improvement in the quality of education and its relevance to the life of the majority of Indian population; improvement of the quality of teachers; collection, use and dissemination of reliable data on the status of primary education; implementation of the realistic programme for decentralization and community participation; and formation of social alliance to advocate universal primary education as the national goal.