1. INTRODUCTION:

“Teacher Education” is wider in nature as compared to “Teacher Training” in the sense that it not only includes teacher’s vocational training but also general education of a person that contributes to his/her growth regardless of the profession (Rowntree, 1981). Goods dictionary of education describes teacher education as all formal and non-formal activities and experiences that assist a person as qualified one to undertake responsibilities as of a member of educational profession (Good, 1973). As per The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), India, teacher education is – “A program of education, research and training of persons to teach from pre-primary to higher education level”.

Quality of the teacher always have a positive impact on educational outcomes and one of the many aspects that are related to teacher’s quality is their education (Gurria, cited in Schleicher, 2012, Iwakuni, 2017). In different countries teacher education programs, differing in the content, have been devised, however the common moto of these programs is to impart teaching skills, pedagogical theory and professional skills to would be teacher for teacher’s empowerment to produce worthy human capital. Teacher education programs enhance the competency and proficiency of would be teacher and enable them to face the challenges of the profession. Therefore, it is considered that the quality of a teacher education program governs the skills and development of a person as an efficient teacher.

Considering its importance, continuous reforms in teacher education, to enhance its quality for stronger foundation of future, use to take place (Barnes, Boyle, Zuilkowski & Bello 2019). Different approaches such as research-based teacher education (Afdal & Spernes, 2018), promotion of development of teacher’s professional knowledge via integrating the content and pedagogy (Evens, Elen, Larmuseau & Depaepe, 2018) and enhanced use of technology in teacher education (Shin, Brush & Saye, 2019) are continuously used and improved for enhancing the quality of teacher education. There is no doubt that teacher education policies in many countries are of high quality and have been implemented successfully (Ratnavadivel, 1999, Bales, 2006, Thomas, 2018, Han, 2018). Despite that, herein, we have chosen to review teacher education system of Japan as it seems to be most appropriate to discuss considering the economic and educational growth of Japan after worst effects of World War II.

Presently, Japan is placed 22^nd among richest countries of world (IMF, 2017) and is third largest economy by nominal gross domestic product. Such supremacy on different fronts is because of better education provided to its human resources, which is also supported by education ranking of Japan among various countries. In education, Japan is among top ranked countries as shown by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. Japan ranked 2^nd, 5^thand 8^thin sciences, mathematics and reading respectively among 70 participating countries for the year 2015 (PISA, 2015). Such educational advancement is supposed to be due to greater efforts by policy makers to devise and execute teacher education policies at grass root level along with inherent responsibilities of a teacher as nation builder in a nationalistic country.

2. OBJECTIVES:

The primary focus of this work is to shed light on teacher education system in Japan.

Following are the objectives of this study:

1. To provide information about the type of teacher training institutions.

2. To shed light on the mode of selection of students for teacher education programs.

3. To discuss about teacher education and teaching certificates.

4. To highlight major issues about curriculum of teacher education in Japan.

5. To discuss various modes of in-service teacher training prevailing in Japan.

6. To discuss issues and challenges of teacher education in Japan.

3. METHOD:

The present work provides a comprehensive review of teacher education system in Japan as reflected from different studies conducted by various researchers and other agencies in Japan and abroad. The primary focus of this work is to shed light on teacher education system in Japan.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

4.1 Historical Development:

4.1.1 Meiji Era: 1868-1912:

In 1867, durin the last military feudal government, Tokugawa Shogunate, the then emperor of Japan, Emperor Meiji, proclaimed to enhance attainment of knowledge and skills of Japanese people to catch up with technologically advanced western world. For attaining his goal, establishment of around 53000 elementary and 256 middle schools was planned and executed (Fergusan, 1985). For the purpose, the most challenging task was the recruitment and training of teachers for these schools. To overcome this challenge, Tokyo Normal School specifically for teacher education and training, was established in 1872 under the direction of Morozuku Nobuzumi (Fergusan, 1985). American educator, Marion McCarrell Scott, was appointed as the first instructor of Tokyo normal school. Later on, other normal schools were also established, which provided teacher education to would be teachers for teaching at various levels (Numano, 2011). After completion of course, trainee teachers were assigned the duties to serve at other normal schools established during the same period. With this strategy, a large number of teachers were trained in a short duration of time. This was the time when national education system in Japan was introduced (in 1872), a year after the establishment of The Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (Monbusho or MEXT), which has “the duty of promoting and disseminating education” in Japan.

Regulations regarding establishment of a normal school for training of elementary school teachers in each prefecture (equivalent to state in India) was issued by MEXT in 1880. Despite these efforts to have educated and skilled teachers, there was dearth of teachers and the educated samurai and other educated citizens were serving the purpose of teachers until the beginning of 20^th century (Sansom, 1977). During the era, the experience of foreigner advisors that include Marion Scott (American), Eduard Hoffman (German) and David Murray (American) was utilized, who contributed toward methods of teaching, curriculum development as well as quality of teacher education (Hisao, 1975).

The standardization of curriculum for normal schools of teacher education was done in 1880s, to conform to educational practices, as per the requirement of Japan. The regulations were issued by MEXT in 1981 and 1983 for standardizing the course of study into 1-, 2- and 4-year course (MOE, 1938). Again in 1886, Normal School Order was issued by the then education minister, Mori Arinori, to establish a higher normal school for providing training to middle school teachers and an ordinary normal school was retained for educating elementary school teachers (Fergusan, 1985). During that time, teachers were required to study English, and western framework of curriculum was retained. The peak in conservative reaction towards education for return to native traditional values returned in 1890s and remained for next two decades when the purpose of education was considered to develop moral understanding and conduct of Japanese people.

4.1.2 Taisho Era through World War II: 1912-1945:

A reassessment of western policies of Meiji-era to achieve a better fit with the changes taking place in Japanese society was made and the rise of nationalism has affected the education system significantly in next three decades. The child-centered theories developed an interest in 1920s with the rise of liberalism. Some of ideas of John Dewy were introduced into teacher education in the normal schools in Tokyo and Kyoto area (Anderson & Kobayashi, 1965). As per Ronald, (1965), “This definitive study of Dewey’s impact on Japanese educational thought drawn from Japanese and American sources demonstrates that there were, indeed, roots of democratic thought in pre-war Japan.” The swift industrial growth resulted in higher demand of educated workers. During this time, the enrolment rate surpassed the supply of teachers however lack of formal training qualifications (LaBue, 1960; MEXT, 1980) by teachers was the challenge. The higher normal schools were elevated in status to institutions of higher education. During the war time, the new nationalism purpose came into existence and Western pedagogical theory advocating liberal ideas was out of phase (Kuroyanagi, 1984). A mix of teacher educators that endorsed the new trend and who resisted the introduction of ultra-nationalism into the normal school curriculum (Ishidoya, 1940) existed at that time.

4.1.3: Post-war Era: 1945-Present:

After the war, United States Education Mission recommended the establishment of separate teacher education institutions with curricula partitioned into three segments: general education, professional courses, and teaching field specialization (Hisao, 1975). The fear of isolation of such institutions forced Japanese members of the implementation committee to incorporate teacher preparation into the liberal arts division (Miyoshi, 1979). However, the advocates of professional training dominated, and 47 new universities were given the responsibility for preparing teachers for the elementary and junior high schools in 1949. Since 1990, Japan’s educational policy is continuously shifting towards educational management, mathematics, science and teacher education & training programs (Kuroda, 2014). Definitely, there are certain challenges in pre- and in-service teacher education in Japan. However, a continuous improvement of teacher education system in Japan is among core missions of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT 2012). MEXT is primarily responsible to issue regulations and other administrative orders, for effective enforcement of the laws concerning certification and training of teachers. The Ministry does this by authorizing, advising and assisting teacher education institutions and local governments as advised by the Council of Teacher Education comprising various members of academic as well as non-academic background including representatives from universities and schools. The local education authorities are prefectural boards of education (PBE) that issue teaching certificates of different types to those who fulfill all the requirements to become a teacher as set by national law and regulations.

4.2 Types of Teacher Training Institutions:

Teacher training institutions in Japan are mainly categorized into two categories (Yasuyuki, 2004) as follows:

i) Teacher education at universities and faculties of education:

In 1949, at least one national university that had faculty of education or a college for teacher education was established, in each prefecture. Besides teacher education, these institutions also contributed to professional development of staff at prefectural boards of education (PBE). There are both large (faculty strength > 150) and smaller (faculty strength < 100) independent teacher education schools (Yamasaki, 2016). Large schools offer several teacher education programs whereas smaller ones offers a single but comprehensive teacher education program. Several years ago, four schools of teacher education at national universities were reformed and are now called as “Semi Schools of Teacher Education” (Yamasaki, 2016).

ii) Open system of teacher education:

In 1953, accreditation system for teacher education program was introduced and national, public and private colleges or universities were allowed to provide teacher education programs after having due accreditation by MEXT. As of May 1 2008, 79.8 % of universities (528 out of 729), 70.9% of graduate schools (423 out of 597) and 71.9% junior colleges (277 out of 355) have teacher education courses. Among national universities, only 57% offer teacher education courses in Japan (Numano, 2011).

It is observed that primary school teachers are mainly provided by Type i) institutions, whereas major share towards lower secondary and upper secondary school teachers is contributed by Type ii) institutions. This fulfills the demand for teachers required for the success of compulsory education up to the level of lower secondary school. In 2004, at many of the private universities, different schools of education offering teacher education programs in the field of child education, and human development etc., have also been established to cater to future needs of elementary education (Yamasaki, 2016).

4.3 Mode of Selection of Students for Teacher Education Programs:

Students for teacher education programs are selected based on the entrance test. Entrance examination for public institutions is conducted in two stages. At first stage, a common entrance test for all of the universities and colleges called as National Centre Test (NCT) is conducted by National Centre for Universities Entrance Examination (NCUEE, 2015) (Carpeño & Mekochi, 2015). The second stage of entrance test is conducted by different universities as per their rules and regulations depending on the subject for major course, which a student wish to pursue. In NCT, students choose subjects according to their qualifying degrees and subjects for students from different streams may vary.

Teacher Training and Teaching Certificates:

Students who graduated in different streams may opt for teacher training course, for which they have to earn specific number of credits and undergo professional training. In other case, students may opt for graduation in teacher education program from a MEXT approved university. In a 4 year’s program leading to Bachelor’s in Education, students are provided with an overall understanding of teaching profession and opportunity is provided to support the teaching activities in nearby areas so that they would become aware about teaching and teaching profession. Many institutions and faculties of education at various universities provide Master’s in Education (Yamasaki, 2016). On similar lines the graduate school system for teacher education at professional schools for teacher education, for developing highly specialized human resources, was introduced. The students who have acquired bachelor’s degree and are acquainted with theory, practice and practical skills of teaching enter these schools to become professional teachers (Yamasaki, 2016). For this, the earning of specific number of course credits and to carry out a few week long pre-practicum in school under the supervision of a school teacher is required.

To be a teacher in Japan, an individual must have an appropriate license (MEXT, 1965) in accordance with Teaching License Act established in 1949 (Lamie, 1998). Depending on the basic qualifications and minimum credits obtained, different types of teaching certificates are provided as shown in Table 1.

i) Regular Teaching Certificate:

This type of certificate is issued by Prefectural Board of Education (PBE) upon completion of necessary education and training program. This is valid throughout Japan and is provided to teach at different levels of education i.e. special needs, education, kindergarten, elementary, junior high school and senior high school. The validity of regular teaching certificate is 10 years, which can be renewed thereafter (Akiba, 2013).

Depending upon the academic background (Table 1) (Numano, 2011 & Yamasaki, 2016), regular teaching certificate is further categorized into three categories:

a) Advanced, b) Type I and c) Type II.

The would be teachers having master’s degree may join teacher’s training institutions where they must acquire required number of credits for subjects related to teaching. Similarly, besides the required credits to qualify, minimum basic requirement to obtain Type I and Type II certificates is Bachelor’s and Junior College degree, respectively. Table 1 shows the basic requirement of qualifications and minimum credits to be qualified for teachers to teach at different levels of schooling with different teaching certificates (Numano, 2011 & Yamasaki, 2016).

ii) Special Teaching Certificates:

Special teaching certificate was introduced in 1998. This is aimed to provide teaching opportunities to people, who are not regular teachers, but otherwise have superior knowledge, skills, social prestige and insight for education (CRICED 2006; Numano, 2011). Such certificates are valid in respective prefecture only. This certificate is issued on the recommendation of employer after interview by specialists in different fields of education.

Table 1: Basic requirement of qualifications and minimum credits to be qualified for teachers to teach at different levels of schooling with different teaching certificates (Numano, 2011, Yamasaki, 2016).

Types of Teaching Certificates		Basic requirements	Minimum Number of Credits Required
Types of Teaching Certificates		Basic requirements	Teaching Subjects	Pedagogical Subjects	Teaching Subjects	Special needs education
Special Needs Education	Advanced	Master’s Degree (MSD)	̶	̶	̶	50
	Type 1	Bachelor’s Degree (BD)	̶	̶	̶	26
	Type II	Junior College Associate’s Degree	̶	̶	̶	16
Kindergarten Teacher	Advanced	Master’s Degree (MSD)	6	35	34	̶
	Type 1	Bachelor’s Degree (BD)	6	35	10	̶
	Type II	Junior College Associate’s Degree	4	27		̶
Elementary Teacher	Advanced	Master’s Degree (MSD)	8	41	34	̶
	Type 1	Bachelor’s Degree (BD)	8	41	10	̶
	Type II	Junior College Associate’s Degree	4	31	2	̶
Junior High School Teacher	Advanced	Master’s Degree (MSD)	20	31	32	̶
	Type 1	Bachelor’s Degree (BD)	20	31	8	̶
	Type II	Junior College Associate’s Degree	10	21	4	̶
Senior High School Teacher	Advanced	Master’s Degree (MSD)	10	21	4	̶
	Type 1	Bachelor’s Degree (BD)	20	23	10	̶
	Type II	Junior College Associate’s Degree	20	23	16	̶

Teaching certificates for kindergarten and elementary schools are provided for the level of school without emphasis on special training in particular subject. However, for lower and upper secondary school, teaching certificates are issued on school level for different teaching subjects as shown in Table 2. For example, the courses to be completed for a would be science teacher at junior high school includes Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Earth Science along with lab work in respective subjects (Yamasaki, 2016).

As discussed earlier, students may undergo teacher training program after completing their graduation to obtain different type of certificates to teach at different school levels. In this case, there is no subject specialization in the teacher training course provided to would be elementary school teachers. For example, an elementary school teacher would have to qualify required credits in subjects such as science, mathematics, social science, Japanese language, calligraphy, environmental studies, music, physical education, home-making, drawing, music and handicrafts. On the other hand, a junior high school teacher must have mastery over his/her own subject along with basic requirements of credits. For example, to be a science teacher, along with acquiring credits in generalized course content, specific number of credits should be earned in chemistry, physics, life-science and earth science along with respective laboratory course (Table 2). In this way, it is observed that the curriculum for different teacher education programs is quite specific in Japan.

In a typical four year teacher training program (Osaka University, 2018), during first two years, the subjects such as Japanese constitution and physical education and other subjects related to teaching profession (educational theories, curriculum planning, instructional methods and student counseling etc.) are taught as shown in Figure 2 (Yamasaki, 2016; Yasuyuki, 2004), and a similar program is followed by other universities (UTE, 2018). During the third year of study, students who want license to teach at junior high school are given opportunity to gain experience in social welfare, nursing care and at a special-needs school. Further, course on pedagogical methods and flexible methods of instruction is taught during third year. In 4^th year of study, students undergo teaching practice and for this, they visit their host school, where they will teach classes and offer lifestyle guidance as student teachers. In addition, they will observe other teachers’ classes and participate in a variety of activities such as extra-curricular activities and school events. Students seeking a senior-high-school teaching license must work as student teachers for at least two weeks, and those seeking a middle-school teaching license must do so for at least three weeks. Before beginning their stint as student teachers, students will receive preparatory guidance to verify that they have mastered the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required of student teachers. Besides this, students must undergo teaching practicum, which includes several hours of field experience during which they work at nearby schools.

4.6 In-service Training for Teachers:

Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) is one of the leading agencies catering to needs of many educational projects in Japan including pre service and in-service training (JICA, 2007). The professional development of teachers’ is described by various laws (Lamie, 1998), and as per Article 21, an educational officer should study and improve their character to achieve the optimum potential of their own occupation. Teachers must be provided with a chance to receive training for professional development as stated in Article 22.

The appointment of new regular teachers is made for one year during which they receive teacher development program organized by PBE (Beauchamp, & Vardaman, 1993). Mainly, three type of in-service training is provided (CRICED, 2006). This includes basic training, special training and training support. Basic training is concerned with instructional methods and other related aspects of classroom teaching. Special training is provided in specific teaching subject, whereas teaching training support is given to teachers for their development as administrators in teaching. Even a system of sabbatical is there in place for teachers to receive training via studying at different graduate schools.

Teachers receive in-service training within their own school and at teacher development centers. In-service training with in school under the supervision of an experienced teacher for 6 or more hours per week (Yamasaki, 2016) is provided to enhance capabilities of teachers to deal with management of educational planning including setting up of curriculum and to improve instructional ability of teachers. Even in one’s own school in-service training is provided in a well-planned manner where a training committee is constituted and heads of different types of training are appointed. This is followed by evaluation of training.

Professional development program for teachers at teacher development centers is offered for 25 days at the end of 2^nd-year, 3^rd-year, and 6^th-year of teaching experience. A school-wide cooperative research program called as “konaikenshu” (school-wide professional development) is organized at each school where a joint research by teachers of the school is conducted to find the ways to improve education in their school (Yamasaki, H. 2016). The obtained results are shared in public meetings, which is often participated by teachers from other schools. Various other organizations and study groups of teachers provide in-service training to teachers (Lamie, 1998) via annual conferences, school visits, study groups and other development projects. Many of the alumni organizations of teacher training institutions provide opportunity to student teachers for teaching practice in attached schools.

4.7 Issues and Challenges of Teacher Education in Japan:

Each and every system has its own advantages as well as limitations. In an open system of teacher education, all of the private institutions follow the guidelines given by MEXT, however adopt their own criteria of curriculum design and evaluation, which hinders the maintenance of quality. In current scenario, academicians and educationalists have different view about teacher education. Academicians give more importance to academic knowledge whereas educationalists lay emphasis on teaching skills (Yasuyuki, 2004). In this context, it is quite difficult to set accountability of quality of teacher education, which mainly relies on the teacher education institutions. The responsibility of teacher training is on teacher training institutions whereas licenses are provided by PBE, which seems inappropriate. Further, the so called teaching practice pollution is aroused due to appearance of large number of teachers who actually do not practice teaching (Yasuyuki, 2004). Beside this, the dignity of teacher’s license has decreased as it is not difficult to obtain a teaching license nowadays. The decreasing rate of child birth in Japan made it very difficult for teachers to be screened for a job due to lower number of teaching vacancies in schools. Despite this, a considerable development has been made for improving the quality of teachers by providing them high quality teacher training opportunities. Further, the review of education policies remains a continuous process in Japan in line with changing social, cultural and economic situations. This helps in quality enhancement of teacher training courses, which results in improvement of quality of teachers. Another reason for quality teaching among seems to be dedication and strong social and professional ethics of the teachers. The desire to learn new things, take part in professional development and even in research work related to class or school based problems, seems to be a propellant for high quality teaching, the ethics of which are imbibed during the teacher education programs. It seems reasonable to say that the present work would help in highlighting the best practices prevailing in Japan in the field of teacher education that would be useful for future policy developments.

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nt. J. Rev. and Res. Social Sci. 2019; 7(2):384-391.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2687.2019.00031.5