日本における病弱教育の発展経緯とその背景 ―養護学校教育義務制の実施をめぐる動向を中心に―

結核予防を目的として発生した病弱教育の取り組みは，第二次世界大戦の影響により衰退しつつあった。戦後，新たな教育制度の改革により，病弱教育のための養護学校や特殊学級の数も増加傾向を示した。とくに，1979年の養護学校義務教育制により，病弱教育の制度的基盤が確立することになるが，その過程では福祉施設や訪問教育を含む多様な教育の場が展開された。しかし，義務制に至るまでの病弱教育の発展の経緯には，様々な課題の解決が必要であった。義務教育制度の導入はもちろんのこと，養護学校の対象としての病弱児の法的位置づけが遅れた要因として，主に国や地方公共団体の財政上の問題があった。加えて，病弱教育のための学校・学級の具体的な仕組みづくり，対象となる児童生徒の障害の程度，教師の専門性，指導方針・方法が確立されてこなかったことも影響したことが明らかになった。

Efforts to educate the sick and the weak that occurred to prevent tuberculosis were declining due to the effects of World War II. After the war, the number of schools for the Handicapped and special classes for the sick and the weak education also showed an increasing trend due to the reform of the new education system. In particular, the compulsory education system for schools for the handicapped in 1979 established an institutional foundation for the sick and the weak education, and in the process, various educational venues including welfare facilities and home-visit education were developed. However, it was necessary to solve various problems in the process of development of the sick and the weak education up to the compulsory system. On the basis of introducing the compulsory education system, the financial problems of the national and local governments were the main factors behind the delay in the legal status of sick children as targets of special schools. In addition, it was clarified that the specific mechanism of schools and classes for the sick and the weak education, the degree of disability of the target children and students, the specialty of teachers, and the lack of establishment of teaching policies and methods were also factors.