JAPANESE MIDDLE SCHOOLS ’ ADAPTATION OF THE INTEGRATED STUDIES:

the Integrated Studies (IS) at all public school levels. The IS is defined as interdisciplinary, project-oriented learning activities which aim to promote students’ problem-solving abilities and self-learning skills. In spite of teachers ’ active involvement in the development of various educational activities for the periods, research indicated that teachers faced various barriers to implementing the IS. Generally, the middle school teachers were unsupportive to the IS due to their lack of resources for the curriculum development. Despite the constraints, how was the IS implemented in the middle schools? What kind of roles did the IS take in the curriculum? How did the teachers view the constraints to their implementation of the IS? By taking “adaptation ” perspective for educational policy implementation (McLaughlin, 1976b), this study examined the realities of the middle schools’ implementation of the IS based on a multiple case study of three middle schools in Osaka. iii This study analyzed the data from my five months of field research in the schools, which included interviews with the teachers, observation of the teachers ’ implementation of th