ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes curriculum change from a slightly different perspective. As a strategy, the chapter specifically investigates the implementation of Seikatsuka [life environment studies] into the national curriculum in 1992 and discusses the factors that delayed the implementation of this subject for over two decades. Then, the introduction of Sogo Gakushu no Jikan [the Period of Integrated Study] in the curriculum revision in the late 1990s is discussed. Since the introduction of life environment studies can be regarded as preparation for the introduction of the Period of Integrated Study, the investigation of the process of the introduction of the former is indispensable in order to understand the process of curriculum change that enabled the insertion of development education into formal education.
