A comparative study of School integration in the Low fertility times, between the case of Japan and that of Korea : Related to the Argument of Educational and Welfare policies in recent Korea

This research attempts to compare the issue of school integration between Japan and Korea, both of whose fertility is now declining rapidly. In Japan, the tendency of fertility decline appears earlier than in Korea, and in Korea, the decline of fertility was appeared in 1980s. And, in proportion to the decline of fertility, the number of school integration is increased in both Japan and Korea. However, the way of school integration and policies related to it are very different between Japan and Korea. In Korea, a lot of primary schools were integrated in 1990s, but the number of primary school integration is decreased in 2000s. On the other hand, in Japan, the number of school integration is rapidly increased in 2000s. This shows the difference between the education policy in Japan and that in Korea. This research suggests that the difference of education and welfare policy between Japan and Korea is the background of the difference of the improvement of educational conditions