Analysing the Implementation of ‘Sustainable Development’ in the History Section of Japanese Primary Social Studies Textbooks

Japan has been interested in sustainable development for over 20 years and has been a major partner of UNESCO. It has gone beyond merely advocating for sustainable development and has actively sought to implement it in curricula, textbooks, and specific classroom practices. The goal of this article is to examine the implementation of sustainable development through an analysis of textbook narratives in elementary social studies and history. This study is motivated by the question of how sustainable development, which is rarely found in Korean history textbooks, has been integrated into the curricular knowledge in Japan.First, we examined the ways in which sustainable development has been discussed in Japanese education and then collected and analyzed 30 articles on how sustainable development has been studied and practiced in Japanese social studies and history. After considering the meaning of sustainability in history based on these relevant articles, five arguments were extracted to analyze three Japanese elementary social studies textbooks, which are scheduled to be used in schools from 2024.The analysis of the Japanese sixth-grade social studies textbooks revealed several key implications. First, the meaning of sustainable development can be defined more richly within a historical context. The history of sustainable development prompts us to reflect on the significance of preservation, restoration, and recovery for the sustainability of life. Second, while sustainable development has been implemented on a global scale in response to international demands, its specific practices may vary depending on the context of each society. Third, we must be cautious not to undermine the meaning of sustainable development in the context in which it originated. Sustainable development emerged from skepticism about modern growth and development, and thus must be distanced from growth-oriented national development and narratives of national success, achievement, and pride.The findings of this study should also inform the revised 2022 primary social studies curriculum, which has undergone significant changes. The revised curriculum introduces the concepts of time and evidence for the first time in elementary social studies and history, and establishes performance standards centered on living history. The emergence of life history, including daily life and cultural history, appears to be more relevant to sustainable development. In the process of integrating the new curriculum into textbooks, it is hoped that elements of sustainable development, including ecological transition issues, can be considered to reduce the risk of being confined to political history and to realize a new narrative of history.