law-related education

教材

the teaching materials

ルールづくり

making rules

模擬裁判

mock trial

法化社会

legalized society

Today, Since Justice System Reform in Japan, classes at Primary and Secondary schools that took up laws and rules, regulations have increased. Pupils there have recognized the relation between laws and their life. As a result, they are able to consider future society which is based on laws, and learn their active participation in our society.Some people said that today is legalized society, where the role of laws has been complicated and diversified.As a result, teachers who want to make teaching plan about laws meet with some problems. For instance, teacherscannot understand easily a concrete function of laws, in consequence depend on partial characters of laws,such as, authoritarian, compulsory character. These attitudes influence their making teaching plans about laws.Why do it become like that? And what is a preferable educational program about laws? At first, this paper aimto introduce the movement of the administrational efforts in Japan. The Ministry of Justice has arranged to put the Law-Related Education into effect in Japanese schools. And now is struggling to the new educational models oflaws. Following its policy, contents of the course of study were revised by the Ministry of Education, Culture,Sports, Science and Technology in 2008. As the second, this paper aim to analyze two typical teaching materials, “Making rules"and“Mock Trial", and clarify the cause of confusions and some problems by making teaching plan about laws. The former materials,“Making rules", aim to make rules than to consider means of rules, and understand rules as the way to solve problems. But we need to notice the negative aspect of the rule, and estimaterules after making them. The latter,“Mock Trial"is not enough to consider the ideal way of the lay judge system.

The new type of law education in schools wants to make pupils think about the role of laws or rules is to traintheir citizenship so that pupils can manage the social life. However, it is not enough and it needs more efforts. Especiallyit is necessary to consider the role of laws from many other angles.Therefore, this paper proposed three viewpoints that refer to new direction in education of laws; 1. how teachershould understand laws, 2. reconsider educational program in schools, and 3. share information and knowledgeabout laws and their society with other teachers.