3:30 PM - 3:45 PM
[G01-01] Disaster preparedness in schools: analysis of the current situation, practice in university classes, proposals for the future
Keywords:Disaster preparedness in schools, Teachers' training course, Hazard map
The Disaster Prevention Education Subcommittee was established in 2021 in the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU) Education Review Committee. The University Education Subgroup in the subcommittee mainly aims at improvement of disaster prevention education in the teacher training course of universities. The most important issue is to train teachers who can protect the lives of children by any means even in the event of devastating natural disasters.
From 2016, the school disaster prevention course was included in the optional compulsory area as a "crisis management issue in schools" in the teacher’s certificate renewal course. From 2019, the Ministry of Education of Japan decided that the teachers’ training course should include the subject of the school safety in the compulsory curriculum of the educational sociology. However, the lectures on educational sociology is in itself of great importance and it is difficult to spend much time for school safety in the class offered as a two-credit subject.
One of the authors (Matsumoto) offered the subject "Earth Science" in the general education in a university in 2021. In this subject he taught tsunami disasters, especially the victims of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, and also how to evacuate safely from tsunami hazards. He also taught how to read and utilise hazard maps supplied from local government in Japan and Geographical Survey Institute of Japan, as these organisations provide GIS-type hazard maps. The students studied how to operate the GIS-type hazard map during the class and found that most of the areas in and around their residence might be affected by certain natural disasters including tsunami, storm surge, landslide, flood etc. The students, especially studying in Faculty of Education, studied a lot about how they should do to save the lives of the schoolchildren in case of devastating natural hazards when they become a teacher, according to their reports after the class.
Based on the above cases, the authors will plan to summarise the issues of the school disaster prevention subjects that should be offered in the teacher training course and to make recommendations in the future.
From 2016, the school disaster prevention course was included in the optional compulsory area as a "crisis management issue in schools" in the teacher’s certificate renewal course. From 2019, the Ministry of Education of Japan decided that the teachers’ training course should include the subject of the school safety in the compulsory curriculum of the educational sociology. However, the lectures on educational sociology is in itself of great importance and it is difficult to spend much time for school safety in the class offered as a two-credit subject.
One of the authors (Matsumoto) offered the subject "Earth Science" in the general education in a university in 2021. In this subject he taught tsunami disasters, especially the victims of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, and also how to evacuate safely from tsunami hazards. He also taught how to read and utilise hazard maps supplied from local government in Japan and Geographical Survey Institute of Japan, as these organisations provide GIS-type hazard maps. The students studied how to operate the GIS-type hazard map during the class and found that most of the areas in and around their residence might be affected by certain natural disasters including tsunami, storm surge, landslide, flood etc. The students, especially studying in Faculty of Education, studied a lot about how they should do to save the lives of the schoolchildren in case of devastating natural hazards when they become a teacher, according to their reports after the class.
Based on the above cases, the authors will plan to summarise the issues of the school disaster prevention subjects that should be offered in the teacher training course and to make recommendations in the future.