Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/46986

JaLCDOI : 10.14943/b.edu.113.1

KEYWORDS : childrearing culture;nurturance;developmental niche;shoushika;babysitting;malformation of nurturance

Drawing on anthropological resources on childrearing practices in Japan, this paper points out the possibility that as a result of drastic changes indevelopmental niche, currently a large section of adult population of modern Japanese society suffers serious lack of nurturance, which has led to various social problems such as the so-called ‘shoushika’(decrease in childbirth rate), childrearing anxiety, or increase in child abuse cases. It is proposed that school education can and should take some measure towards improving the situation by including materials relating to human development to current curriculum and providing hands-on learning opportunity aiming at facilitating nurturance formation of the younger generations. It is argued that through nurturance education, we can rethink what education should be for pupils as well as for the society in general.