Akira NAKAGAWA

Atsushi KIUCHI

Etsushi HASEGAWA

Kazuhiro KAJITA

Kyungjin PARK

Po-Hsiu LIN

中川 昭

木内 敦詞

長谷川 悦示

Tsukuba Repository

57??????????Bull. Facul. Health & Sci., Univ. of Tsukuba 42 57-61, 2019
A comprehensive and comparative survey study reveals the current status of
physical education in liberal arts higher education courses at colleges and
universities in Japan, Korea and Taiwan
KAJITA Kazuhiro ? , KIUCHI Atsushi ?? , PARK Kyungjin ?? ,
LIN Po-Hsiu ??? , HASEGAWA Etsushi ?? and NAKAGAWA Akira ??
1.  Introduction
Previous studies revealed that the rate of colleges 
and universities (hereafter, CUs) compulsory physical 
education (hereafter, PE) in liberal arts higher education 
(hereafter, PEHE) courses in Japan was 100% in 1991, 
70.7% in 1997 6) and 63.5% in 2000 7). However, no 
comprehensive survey of PEHE courses in CUs has been 
done since 2000, and the current status is unknown. In 
order to grasp the current status of PEHE courses for all 
CUs in Japan a detailed study is essential for a meaningful 
outcome towards the aim of the research. Also, given the 
current social issues in Japan and the resulting decrease 
in the 18-year-olds population, the number of CUs is 
expected to decline.
On the other hand, previous studies from around the 
world have shown the status of practical PEHE at CUs in 
other countries 6), 7), 11). For example, there are 78% and 63% 
PEHE courses at most CUs in North America and Europe, 
respectively. In addition, it is reported that in Asian CUs, 
41% of the PEHE courses are compulsory 12). Previous 
studies have also shown that the rate of CUs compulsory 
PEHE courses in America was 97% in 1930, 65% in 1988, 
63% in 1998 2), and 39.6% in 2010 1); and had a further 
decrease in 2017 5). Although around 1990s, the rate of 
compulsory PEHE courses in all CUs in Japan (1991), 
Korea (1989) and Taiwan (1994) were reported to be 
100%, a comprehensive survey of the PEHE courses in 
CUs has not been performed since then. Currently Korea 
and Taiwan have also confirmed having PEHE courses, 
but only few details are available. Thus, the current PEHE 
status (of CUs) remains unknown, particularly in Japan. 
Therefore, this report presents the results of an 
investigation into the current status of PEHE courses for 
all CUs in Japan with the aim to understand the current 
status (Study 1). The current status of educational system 
of PEHE courses in CUs 3) in Japan, Korea and Taiwan was 
studied to present useful information (educational system; 
curriculum, faculty profile, etc.) contributing to better 
PEHE courses in CUs in East Asia neighboring countries, 
and categorizing the similarities and differences in PEHE 
courses in CUs (Study 2).
2.  Method
Study 1: 1) Survey subjects: 742 CUs (national-81, 
public-86, private-575) excluding graduate universities 
and PE colleges. 2) Survey contents: (1) offered of 
PEHE course, (2) compulsory or optional, (3) number 
of credits necessary for graduation, (4) course type, (5) 
subject name. 3) Survey method: Web search survey by 
CUs regulations and syllabus on the website of each CUs. 
The investigation period was from August 2016 to March 
2017. The above survey has been published (in Japanese 
with English abstract) in 2016 4).
Study 2: 1) Survey subjects: 742 Japanese CUs in 
2016 (national-81, public-86, private-575), 190 Korean 
CUs (national-44, public-1, private-145) excluding 10 
CUs that were difficult to investigate from 200 CUs in 
2017, and 143 Taiwanese CUs in 2017 (national-48, 
public-1, private-94). Each country excluded graduate 
school universities and PE colleges. 2) Survey contents: 
The current status of PEHE courses of all CUs in each 
country and PEHE courses of educational system such as 
curriculum and faculty profile of CUs extracted for survey 
subjects. 3) Survey methods: Mainly a web search survey 
for all CUs regulations and syllabus in Japan and Korea, 
research data of the Sports Administration, Ministry 
?  Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences?Joint Doctoral Program in Advanced Physical Education and Sport for 
Higher Education, University of Tsukuba.
?? Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba.
??? Graduate Institute of Sport, Leisure and Hospitality Management, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
58 KAJITA Kazuhiro, KIUCHI Atsushi, Kyungjin Park, Po-Hsiu LIN, HASEGAWA Etsushi and NAKAGAWA Akira 
of Education in Taiwan 10), and questionnaire survey 
for each CUs in each country, including interviews and 
observations of PEHE courses in Korea and Taiwan. The 
investigation period was from November 2017 to October 
2018.
3.  Result
Study 1: Out of the 742 CUs surveyed subjects, 
97.7% (725 CUs) offered PEHE, except for 17 CUs 
(2.3%) that did not offer PEHE. The 725 CUs offering 
PEHE were categorized into courses of mainly practical 
skills 98.2% (712 CUs), lecture 63.4% (460 CUs) and 
compulsory from all departments 28.0% (203 CUs), 
and compulsory from some departments 40.8% (296 
CUs) including practical skills 94.6% (280 CUs),lecture 
31.1% (92 CUs), practical skills and lecture 25.7% (76 
CUs) in the undergraduate departments. The number of 
PEHE credits to be offered as compulsory subjects was 
2.15 ± 0.84 (mean ± standard deviation) and 0.5 to 5.0 
(minimum - maximum) credits. When studying the terms 
included in the integrated titles of PEHE courses group 
for 725 CUs offering PEHE, “Sports” 42.8% (310 CUs), 
“Physical education” 39.9% (289 CUs), “Health” 37.8% 
(274 CUs), “Health education” 18.6% (135 CUs), “Health 
and physical education” 17.8% (129 CUs), and“Science” 
14.8% (107 CUs).
Study 2: Current status of PEHE courses offered rate 
was 99.3% (142 CUs) in Taiwan, 97.7% (725 CUs) 
in Japan, and 90.0% (171 CUs) in Korea; compulsory 
from some departments the rate was 100% (142 CUs) in 
Taiwan, 40.8% (296 CUs) in Japan and 8.8% (15 CUs) in 
Korea and compulsory from all departments the rate was 
100% (142 CUs) in Taiwan, 28.0% (203 CUs) in Japan 
and 7.0% (12 CUs) in Korea. Offered rate of practical 
PEHE courses was 100% (142 CUs) in Taiwan, 98.2% 
(712 CUs) in Japan, and 90.4% (150 CUs) in Korea; and, 
the offered rate of PEHE courses in lectures were 63.9% 
(106 CUs) in Korea, 63.4% (460 CUs) in Japan and 0% (0 
CUs) in Taiwan. Educational contents emphasized most 
in PEHE courses was “Understanding the importance of 
cooperative play and improvement in communication 
skills” in Japan, “Improvements in physical strength 
and physical activities” in Korea, and “Establishment of 
regular lifestyles” in Taiwan. Additionally, among the 
three aspects of the grading evaluation method, the most 
important contents were “Attitude/Motivation” in Japan, 
and “Motor skill” in Korea and Taiwan. 
Table 1? Offered rates of physical education in liberal arts higher education courses at colleges and universitie in 
Japan, Korea and Taiwan
Photo 1?Weight training class in Seoul National University
Table 2? Compulsory rates of physical education in liberal arts higher education courses at colleges and universitie in 
Japan, Korea and Taiwan
59A comprehensive and comparative survey study reveals the current status of physical education in
liberal arts higher education courses at colleges and universities in Japan, Korea and Taiwan
4.  Summary and future prospects
Through this combined research, the current status 
of PEHE courses for all CUs in Japan was revealed. 
Moreover, this study revealed the commonality and 
differences in the curriculum, faculty profile and the 
current status of PEHE courses at CUs in Japan, Korea 
and Taiwan. The next step is to investigate and analyze the 
curriculum (educational goals, educational contents, and 
grade evaluation) based on detailed information in Japan 
through interview surveys. Further, the plan is to develop 
the research into an international comparative research 
study with other countries over the East Asia neighboring 
countries implementing PEHE courses at CUs.
Acknowledgments 
I am deeply grateful to many faculty members for their 
support while conducting the surveys in Japan, Korea and 
Taiwan. For conducting the survey of PEHE in Korea, I 
appreciate the support of Assistant Professor Sungchan 
Hong from the University of Tsukuba (UT). For the 
cooperation in the PEHE interview survey in Korea, I 
especially thank Professor Euichang Choi from Seoul 
Normal University, Professor Kicheon Lee from Korea 
University, Associate Professor Hyukki Chang from Seoul 
Women’s University and Assistant Professor Yunsoo Lee 
from Dankook University. For the cooperation in the PEHE 
interview survey in Taiwan, I especially thank Professor 
Ching-Ping Lin and Professor Mei-Chun Lin from 
National Taiwan Normal University, Professor and Chair 
from National Taiwan University, Professor Ching-Chung 
Wang from National Chengchi University, Associate 
Professor Ya-Cheng Yeh from Huafan University, 
Associate Professor Li-O Chen from China University 
of Technology and Associate Professor Jiceh-Der Dong 
Fang from Soochow University. In addition to that, I am 
thankful to Mr. Yasuhiko Ishihara (adad, Tsukuba, Japan) 
in supporting with system development for the PEHE 
Photo 2?Taekwondo class in Seoul National University
Photo 3?Badminton class in National Taiwan University
Photo 4?Volleyball class in National Taiwan Normal University
Photo 5? Question and answer of academic presentations in 
National Taiwan Sport University
Photo 6? Academic presentations with researchers and 
collaborators in National Taiwan Sport University 
60 KAJITA Kazuhiro, KIUCHI Atsushi, Kyungjin Park, Po-Hsiu LIN, HASEGAWA Etsushi and NAKAGAWA Akira 
survey in Japan. I also acknowledge Professor Rakwal 
Randeep (TIAS, UT) for editing the manuscript. Finally, 
I also acknowledge the financial support from University 
of Tsukuba Overseas presentation support program for the 
2018 academic year; thank you very much.
Note
This research is a summary of the paper presented 
at “The 2018 International Conference for the 7th East 
Asian Alliance of Sport Pedagogy and Adventure Physical 
Education” held at the National Taiwan Sport University. 
And it is also a part of the contents of the report at “The 
2019 International PEHE Research Forum for the 1st 
in Japan, Korea and Taiwan” held at the University of 
Tsukuba.
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<Reports> A comprehensive and comparative survey study reveals the current status of physical education in liberal arts higher education courses at colleges and universities in Japan, Korea and Taiwan

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