我國自民國九十年起開始實施九年一貫課程，其中以低年級生活課程係結合社會、藝術與人文和自然與生活科技三大領域，統整範圍最為廣闊，教材編輯與課程實施的難度也最高，放眼世界主要國家，此項改革無前例可尋，可謂我國教育史上獨樹一格的創舉。然而，自1998年9月生活課程實施以來，由於理念模糊、特性不明，在現職國小教師幾乎均未曾接受有關「生活課程」統整設計的訓練，政府舉辦的進修研習課程多數也僅止於理念、原則、示範案例的說明，以致於來自各界疑慮不斷的聲浪日見高漲，甚至主張廢除生活課程。
藝術是人類文化的資產，「生活課程」中之藝術教育是以人文素養為核心之藝術學習，透過藝術教育，達到人文素養的提升，進而培育兒童健全人格之發展，落實教育的理想；因此，藝術教育在教育改革上所佔之份量實不容置疑，但是九年一貫的「生活課程」實施以來卻發現：一、基層教師對生活課程中「藝術與人文」領域的統整，普遍感到困擾而缺乏信心，二、教師本身專長的限制以及對教科書的過度依賴，以至於在進行教學時，往往無法均衡呈現課程的統整性和連貫性；三、各版本之教科書，課程內容比重不均之現象十分嚴重，導致某些領域淪為配搭的性質或被忽略掉，其中以「藝術與人文」領域，課程缺少系統性的教學活動最為明顯。而「藝術與人文」領域課程，因涉及專業知識與技能的需求，最難達成有效的教學，以致於生活課程中的「藝術與人文」領域淪為唱歌與畫圖等點綴式的角色，藝術的學習目標、教學評量被嚴重忽略甚至誤導，藝術課程面臨被模糊化的危機。
本文從日本「生活科」課程的經驗與我國「生活」課程實施二年來的資料做比較和探討，並針對目前生活課程實施現況，「藝術與人文」領域在整個課程設計上嚴重被忽略，三領域間統整所產生的困難等各項問題，做分析和討論，期盼對我國九年一貫新課程的統整、推動和落實，有實質之助益，並做為決策者和執行者改革與實踐的依據。

The Grade 1-9 integrated curriculum was implemented in Taiwan in 2001. Its life curriculum designed for junior students have integrated three fields: socialstudies, arts & humanities, and Science & technology. With such a large scope in background knowledge, the design of the materials and the performance of the coursework couldn’t be an easy job accordingly. .So far there is no similar curricular reform in other major countries. Undeniably, it is a great breakthrough in our educational history. However, it doesn’t mean the scheme itself is flawless. Rather, since its implementation in the September of 1998, the life curriculum has attracted many criticisms due to its vague objectives and undistinguished features. Plus not many incumbent elementary teachers had a chance to receive a complete course of training about the curriculum in question. What the authorities offered were at best illustrations of its spirits, principles, or some demonstrative cases. All these gave rise to controversies and hot debates. Some even proposed to annul life curriculum altogether. Art is an important heritage of human culture. The art education in life curriculum employs an art-appreciation-based approach with an emphasis on cultivation of humanities as an essential part. Life curriculum aims at the promotion of humanities, a healthy development of students’ personality, and the realization of educational objectives through art education. Indeed, art education does have a great impact on education reforms. Unfortunately, since the implementation of life curriculum under the context of the nine-year integrated curriculum, three major problems have occurred.
1.Teachers responsible for carrying out the curriculum were much troubled or felt uneasy about the difficult task of integrating many different aspects in the “arts and humanities” subject.
2.A lack of cohesion and coherence in teaching was caused by teachers’ different expertise in humanities and a general tendency of overdependence on textbooks.
3.There was a serious inconsistency in content proportions among different versions of textbooks. This has made some fields either a mere decoration or a total omission as shown in the subject of “arts and humanities” which had a drawback of a lack of systematic teaching activities.
Compared with other subjects, “arts and humanities” relies more heavily on teachers’ special knowledge or expertise and therefore the hardest to achieve the goal of effective teaching. As a result, its importance is often diminished, and teachers end up teaching students singing or drawing. This unfavorable development could lead to indifference or misguidance toward the goal and assessment of art education, putting this curriculum in a danger of losing a clear identity.
In this paper, a contrast and comparison is done between the two-year-old life curriculum in Taiwan with its quasi counterpart in Japan: the “life activity” subject. Then it proceeds to analyze the problems with the curriculum design for the subject of “arts and humanities.” Also the obstacles to integrate the above-mentioned three fields in life curriculum are addressed. Aiming at bringing about a substantial help to the integration and implementation of the nine-year integrated curriculum, this paper could serve as a practical reference for our decision makers.