일본 노인교육의 형성과 중심 아이디어

Historical Milieu and Main Ideas of Japanese Education for the Elderly in Its Formative Era

Japanese education for the elderly is a good model to be reckoned with, facing the ‘aging or aged society’. However, it is not easy to benefit from simply modeling it, without knowing the socio-historical context in which the ideas and practices of the system were moulded. This study seeks to investigate the historical milieu and main ideas of Japanese efforts for the elderly education around the 1970’s. Especially, it focuses on the context of changing image of older people, the relatedness of ‘la culture vivante’ and ‘collaborative learning’ with their moto ‘ikigai’(a Japanese word for raison d être). For conclusion, it concedes that Japanese efforts for the elderly education are distinguished for their self-motivated impulse in start, and voluntary activities and services for society on the part of participant elderly learners.