A Comparison of Environment Education between Japan and China

Environment education in Japan started as “Pollution education” in the 1970’s. In the 1950-1960's, exhaust from factories generated great personal suffering. This damage was called, “Public pollution"", and caught attention as an environmental pollution issue. The first stage of environment education thus used the news of media that reported on pollution litigation in the 1970's. At that time, students pondered the progress of pollution litigation one of as the problems of environment in real time. The environment is now studied in Japan as a school subject. Guidance is given in “Environmental education guidance material"" consisting of ""Junior high school and high school chapters"" published in 1991, “Elementary school” published in 1992, and “Case studies” published in 1995. The junior and senior high school booklets describe the necessity of environmental preservation and the definition of environmental problems, and the meaning and the role of environmental education. In the elementary school booklets published in 1992, the aim, idea and how to advance it are described. ""Case studies"" published in 1995 gives the measures of the boards of education, and describe some concrete examples to make a rich environment in each school. This thesis introduces Fujisaki and Hatta（1998）, and Hatta（2000） as an example of taking up a research example concerning teaching material for environmental education, and the new environmental problems by “slight pollution"". The environmental education of China starts from “The 1st nationwide environmental education conference（1992）"". The environmental education at elementary school in China of the 1990's has been chiefly taught in the subject of “Nature"". Environmental education was introduced into the curriculum of compulsory education as an independent subject in 1993. The schools felt the necessity of environmental education while the pollution of the atmosphere and water increased in the region which industrialized rapidly, and China now plans “the green schools”. China made big changes in environmental policy and environmental education in 2007. The personnel evaluation system was improved, and the achievements of executives are evaluated. In the local level, the execution of environmental education is difficult because of the situation of teacher's great lack, the lack of educational expenditure, and the lack of environmental education resource in poor areas. In agricultural villages, opportunities for teachers to take training concerning environmental education are few. Awareness of importance of environmental education in China is gradually increasing. The authors think that Japan should pay attention for environmental education in China.