教育的な「ニーズ」とは何か : 「ニーズ」概念に関する考察

Abstract

The term "educational need" is getting widely used, however, the ambiguity of the concept makes some difficulties in the discussion of need. In this paper, the concept of educational need is analyzed in terms of its specificity and elements, which lead to the importance of considering its structure. Educational need is defined as a set of learning tools and content necessary for the achievement of the educational purpose according to the child's particular characteristics. Educational need is quite different from market needs, in that the purpose related to educational need is established by social values. In the market, the decision on the purpose or what is good and what is evil is left to the consumers. Educational need consists of three elements: the educational purpose, the child's particular characteristics, and individual learning content and tools. The educational purpose means a defensible purpose that the education is to achieve. And in this sense it does not serve as a standard to measure the lack of attainment. Instead, it places a focus on the child's progress or improvement from the present state. It varies with cultural norms or social values, and is subject to change with the passage of time. The child's particular characteristics are composed of individual factors (individual differences in learning, development, and disabilities) and environmental factors (differences in school, social, local, and family environments), which result in a wide variety of learning content and tools being needed. Educational need is interpreted into 5 domains: spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical, and social needs. The child's educational need is a combination of these 5 domains. For the constructive and fruitful discussion, it is essential to specify the structure of the need in question, that is 1) whose need it is, 2) who makes the judgment, 3) which factors the judgment is based on, 4) what domains are in discussion.