How should teachers approach teaching the new ‘Public’ subject in the senior high school Civics curriculum?

‘Public’ classes: Addressing students’ day-to-day questions

The current National Curriculum Standards, which have been gradually introduced since 2022 in upper secondary schools made the new subject of ‘Public’ mandatory in Civics. Accordingly, ‘Modern Society’ has been discontinued, and ‘Ethics’ and ‘Politics and Economy’ became elective courses. This represents a major change since ‘Modern Society’ became a mandatory course in 1982.

Before starting as Professor at Meiji University, I had been teaching Politics and Economy at a public senior high school in Chiba Prefecture for 32 years. The introduction of ‘Public’ will significantly change the classes in senior high schools, aligning with the emphasis on proactive, interactive, and authentic learning (so-called “active learning”), advocated as one of the pillars by the new National Curriculum Standards.

‘Public’ is, in principle, required to be taken in the first or second year. With the recent deduction of the voting age to 18, by the Public Offices Election Act revision, the aim is to familiarize students with their roles as sovereign citizens before they turn 18. In other words, the new subject of ‘Public’ is a top priority for sovereign education.

Now, let us specifically look at the ‘Public’ classes.

For example, if I open a ‘Public’ textbook, I see headlines such as “Is it possible to create a new ‘country’ and become independent?”, “Should we work in an urban area or the countryside?” and “Are school meals necessary for primary schools and junior high schools?”. These themes previously covered in Civics subject, such as “sovereign nation,” “local autonomy,” “career choice,” “depopulation and congestion,” “social security,” are now framed as day-to-day questions.

You may have the impression that the Civics subject classes you participated in were about memorizing words and phrases that are printed in bold in the textbook and were subjects to get through by overnight cramming before the exam. Then, you may be quite surprised by the textbook.

In fact, this concept to encourage students to proactively think about these questions are consistent throughout the entire National Curriculum Standards, in other words, in every subject area.

Moreover, the new National Curriculum Standards requires changing from traditional knowledge acquisition to classes that emphasize how students can apply that knowledge. It also requires classes centering on classroom lectures to classes incorporating so-called “active learning”.

Therefore, the new subject of ‘Public’ requires classes where students do not simply memorize words such as “separation of powers” and “liberalism”, but instead, solve day-to-day questions by using such knowledge.

Thus, in the classes from now on, teachers will play a role to raise a question together with students and help students to investigate and think instead of “chalk & talk classes,” where teachers just write down words on the blackboard and unilaterally explain them.

What should teachers do in the ‘Public’ classes?

As a typical example, suppose we discuss the weak yen and strong dollar in a ‘Public’ class. So far, a teacher has explained the weak yen as “the yen value dropped and in general, imports are disadvantaged and exports are advantaged.”

However, in the class of the new subject of ‘Public’, they will first raise questions such as “what caused the weak yen?” or “who will lose and who will win under the weak yen?” Furthermore, a teacher will provide data and materials to help students understand the concepts of foreign exchange and the demand- supply curve, enabling them to explain the cause of the weak yen.

Thus, ‘Public’ requires classes to allow students to think about if the interest rate of Japanese commercial banks is 0.001% and that of American commercial banks is 5%, will it cause a strong yen or weak yen, by connecting concepts of foreign exchange and demand- supply curve, and explain why the yen becomes weak.

If we read the explanation of the new National Curriculum Standards in details, ‘Public’ is divided in the major items A to C and is designed to deepen investigation progressively, like hop, step, and jump.

Students start by learning the necessary perspectives (major item A), use them to address their own questions (major item B), and finally, engage in project-based learning, where the students themselves will raise questions and investigate them (major item C). In short, it is a process of learning to learn, apply, and investigate.

The point is that it requires students to think and use the concepts from the phase of learning perspective and thoughts (in major item A), instead of memorizing them.

The National Curriculum Standards outlined several key concepts that students should learn including, “happiness, justice, fairness, individual dignity, freedom, equality, tolerance, entrustment, scarcity, convenience and safety, diversity and commonality, synchrony and diachrony of coproduction, ad hoc balancing, mutual recognition, appropriate procedure, democracy, liberty and rights, responsibility and obligation, equality, securing and distributing financial resources, peace, sustainability”.

For example, when students learn the concepts like happiness and fairness, they need to understand the philosophical ideas of (non-)consequentialism, utilitarianism, and deontology. However, teachers avoid simply instructing students that “utilitarianism means the greatest happiness of the greatest number” and that will be asked in the exam, and therefore you need to remember it.

For instance, the National Curriculum Standards indicates that they should offer learning activities such as letting students debate about which is better, utilitarianism or deontology by using famous thought experiments like the “trolley problem.” In other words, the aim is for students to think thoroughly and apply these concepts during their leaning process.

What is required for the new ‘Public’ subject is to cultivate the capability to solve the challenges in actual society through thinking by themselves. This skill is crucial for navigating the complexities in the latter half of the 21st century.

However, some teachers are critical or concerned that there is not enough time for such in-depth classes. Next, I would like address the situation from the teachers’ perspective.

A class can be established just by reading and discussing a newspaper together

Indeed the active learning needs time to some extent, and in the current situation, where the long working hours of teachers are becoming a social issue, it is natural that there are opinions saying that the burdens on teachers cannot be increased anymore.

However, aren’t teachers in a situation where there is not enough time because they are trying to teach everything? In project-based learning, students deepen their understanding by investigating by themselves. This method of self-directed exploration can be more empowering for them. Therefore, it makes it less essential for teachers to explain everything and control all classes.

If students are motivated to learn by themselves, the challenge from now on is developing a teaching method for students to pose interesting questions and guide them effectively. However, this is difficult in reality.

In my view, education relies heavily on practical experience. If it was a class that teachers actually experienced as a student or saw in an open class, it is easy to reproduce it. However, merely reading the National Curriculum Standards or textbooks can make it challenging to visualize and implement the desired teaching approach.

Originally, education was conducted based on various rules of thumb passed on from senior teachers. However, with sudden departure of baby boomers, and the increasing proportion of young teachers, there are fewer individuals who can convey the know-how of classroom practices (beyond the new and old National Curriculum Standards). Moreover, owing to the current working-style reform, opportunities for workshops and class inspections for teachers that were flourishing in the past are decreasing.

For teachers, classes are vital. Therefore, neglecting the study and development of these classes will be preposterous. Nevertheless, in reality, this is what is happening.

In response to the criticism that teachers do not have time, I can only say that in the end, time has to be created one way or another. Therefore, as I mentioned previously, instead of teachers conducting classes, why not entrust it to students more? That could be the way to go.

From my experience, more than adults can imagine, senior high school students have more questions in their daily lives, such as “Hey? Why does our pocket money or part-time job payment not increase while prices for convenience store products are rising?”

When I was actively teaching, I often brought newspaper into the classroom and used current news as basis for lessons. Why is this incident featured so much? By examining such question, students try hard to answer by investigating and thinking. This also stimulates discussion. If we can bring out students’ social interest and other interests, a class can be sufficiently established just by using a newspaper as teaching material.

I hope that young teachers in the future will try to create classes in which students’ interests will be maximized without being restricted to the classroom lectures that they have received.

As I mentioned earlier, the introduction of ‘Public’ subject will significantly transform senior high school classes. This is not simply because the National Curriculum Standards was revised and a new subject was created. In order for students to be equipped with critical thinking skills, it is essential for teachers to be innovative and adaptable in their teaching method.

* The information contained herein is current as of August 2024.
* The contents of articles on Meiji.net are based on the personal ideas and opinions of the author and do not indicate the official opinion of Meiji University.
* I work to achieve SDGs related to the educational and research themes that I am currently engaged in.

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