Curriculum guideline


Curriculum guidelines is a standard issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology　 that specifies materials taught at all of elementary, junior and senior high schools in Japan, either public or private. The authority of the ministry to issue the standard is due to the enforcement regulations of the School Education Law. The ministry also publishes the commentary to the curriculum guidelines that accompanies the guidelines. Nominally, the commentary is not legally binding.

Legality

The legal extent of the standard has been unclear. While the standard is not a law per se, court cases in the past have shown that it is legally binding to some extent. For example, in 1990, the High Court in Fukuoka ruled that a prefectural high school lawfully fired its teacher who taught a course in a way that violated curriculum guidelines.