An International Comparative Study on Home Economics Text Books of Middle School

중학교 가정교과서의 국제비교 연구

This study was conducted to compare the outward aspects, objectives, and the contents of Home Economics text books of middle schools of Korea, Japan, U.S.A. and England. The results were summarized as follows. 1. The outward aspects of tex books： The Korean text books were small in size and the quality of paper was inferior to those of foreign countries. The Japanese text books were written by many authors, contained many lab works and data. Text books of U.S.A. were big in size made with good quality paper and contained many colour pictures. Text books England contained many problems and lab works. 2. Objectives of the Home Economics and Unit objectives： The objective of the subjects of Home Economics was written only in Korean text books. The unit objectives were described most concretely and detailedly in Korean text books comparing with other countries. 3. Contents： Korean text books covered all six areas of foods, clothings, housing, home management, family and occupation and theoretical explanations prevailed. Japanese text books contained numerous lab works, lacked two areas of home management and occupation, thecontents included a few practical lab works two areas of home management and occupation, the contents included a few practical lab works. In the text books of U.S.A. contained all six areas of Home Economics were covered and special emphasis was placed on self discovory and self development, and vocational guidance was also stressed. The text book of England contained only three areas of Home Economics, clothing, foods and housing； the number of area was limited but the basic theories of covered area was intended to lead to self comprehension through questions and lab works.