A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Appointment of Teachers

National Schools

Teachers in national schools (those established and funded by the national government) are appointed by Monbusho or by the president of the affiliated national university. Teachers and personnel of national schools are called federal employees (kokka komuin). Their status and conditions are regulated by the National Public Service Personnel Law. Their salaries are included in the national budget.

Public Schools

Likewise, teachers in local public schools are appointed by the governor, mayor, or authorities of local (prefectural or municipal) boards of education. Their status (local public servants [chiho komuin]) and conditions are regulated by the Local Public Service Personnel Law. To distinguish the nature of the job and the responsibilities of the teaching profession from those of national or local governmental officials, the Law for Special Regulation Concerning Educational Personnel regulates teachers' status, conditions, training, and appointments.

The prefectural board of education is authorized by Monbusho to appoint teachers at both prefectural and municipal schools. In the case of municipal schools, the superintendent of the prefectural board of education considers recommendations or suggestions provided by the municipal board of education. This supplemental responsibility in appointing teachers of municipal schools enhances the partnership between prefectural and municipal boards of education. The salaries of both prefectural and municipal schoolteachers are primarily included in the prefectural budget.

Private Schools

Private school teachers are appointed by the head of the school and are not regulated by the laws applying to teachers in national and public schools. Instead, their status and work conditions are protected by the Labor Standard Law, the Labor Union Law, and other laws that regulate general work conditions.

Rotation of Teachers

Teachers of public elementary and junior high schools are usually transferred to other schools every 3 to 5 years. For students, this process is believed to provide an equal quality of teaching. For teachers, it provides new and stimulating experiences along with the opportunity to interact with a wide range of teachers, which contributes to their development of teaching competence. Another goal of teacher rotation is to prevent the formation of power hierarchies among teachers with high seniority at a particular school.

Some shortcomings of the practice have been pointed out. For example, planning or engaging in long-term projects that might be beneficial to the school is difficult when the staff changes frequently. In 1991, 15.7 percent of public elementary and junior high school teachers were transferred, and 52.2 percent of the transfers moved between the cities, towns, and villages (Shimizu et al. 1993). It is interesting to note that 11 designated cities do not follow this practice.

Teacher Training for New Teachers

As mentioned earlier, in order to complete teacher education programs at accredited higher educational institutions, prospective teachers must engage in practice teaching in host schools. Due to the recent increase in the number of students who are earning credits for teachers' certificates (even from outside the department of education), the critical shortage of host schools as well as experienced mentor teachers called into question the quality and effectiveness of such short periods of practice teaching.

As a result, an agreement was reached by educational authorities to introduce new opportunities to acclimate novice teachers at national and public schools to the profession and to the school. The new program began in 1989 with new teachers in elementary schools, and in each successive year it was extended to junior high, high school, and special education schools. For the academic year 1992, all the novice teachers at national and public elementary schools (10,272 teachers), junior highs (7,232), high schools (4,178), and special education schools (1,980) received the 1-year training for new teachers (Monbusho 1992).

Overview of the Training Induction Program

The program consists of in-school training as well as training outside school. In-school training takes about 2 days per week, which totals more than 60 days per academic year (6 hours a week as a mode). Training outside of school comprises three parts:

• Regularly scheduled training of about 1 day a week (30 days per academic year);

• Overnight stays lasting 5 days or longer (the average was 8 to 9 days in 1994); and

• An 11-day summer training cruise provided by Monbusho each year for a selected group of 2,400 teachers.

The training cruise includes on-board lectures by specialists from broad areas, such as education, natural science, culture, and sports; presentations on different themes; and visits to the industrial, educational, and cultural institutions of port cities. The goal of this training cruise is for participating teachers to develop channels of communication and community with other teachers across regional and school boundaries.

In-School Training

About 2 days a week of in-school training is mentored by experienced teachers, who assist new teachers in their adaptation and adjustment to their new positions. In addition, temporary teachers are assigned to instruct new teachers on how to teach their specialized subject (Monbusho 1992). The mentor teachers guide and support new teachers in areas such as teaching skills, selection of educational materials, curriculum construction, interaction with students, classroom management, problem-solving strategies, student guidance, and school chores. Guidance may be given formally through observance of a model class or through informal discussions. The mentoring usually takes the form of lectures, demonstrations, assistance with new teachers' work, or a combination of these.

Out-of-School Training

Regularly scheduled training is conducted at educational centers and other locations outside school about 1 day a week. The program includes educational training, such as lectures, practice teaching, and guidance; visits to different types of schools, educational centers for children, welfare homes, and private businesses; outside activities, such as volunteer work in the community; and study groups dealing with different topics. In this program, the goal is to enhance in-school training through interactions with teachers who have had experiences in other school communities in order to increase understanding of various views on education and teaching.

The "lodging" program is usually scheduled during the summer vacation, when teachers can leave their classrooms and homes for additional training. The program includes nature exploration, field activities, volunteer activities, community activities, and intensive study courses. The goal is to broaden the understanding and knowledge of new teachers of the subjects they teach.

Training for Kindergarten Teachers

For kindergarten teachers, instructors are selected and sent by the board of education to train the novice on site individually for a total of 10 or more days in the first year. Outside training is also provided for a total of 10 or more days a year at educational centers. This outside training is also open to teachers at private kindergartens. Such joint training for new teachers of national/public and private kindergartens has been initiated in order to improve the overall level of kindergarten education.

Effectiveness of the Training Induction Programs

Reported Effectiveness

The new teacher induction program seems to have brought beneficial outcomes to new and experienced teachers and to school administrations. The effectiveness of the new training program has been described by Monbusho (1992). New teachers who have voluntarily been involved in the training programs have shown notable improvement in their teaching abilities. The program has also been found to be useful to the mentor teachers, who have had an opportunity to evaluate their own teaching activities and to improve their guidance skills.

Concerns

Some education authorities have identified the following shortcomings of the program:

• The highly structured nature of mentorship results in little flexibility for nonmentors to guide new teachers. In-school training has to respond to the daily progress of new teachers and thus to their changing needs. Experienced teachers, however, may overlook small things that often concern or worry new teachers. If the mentor teachers cannot meet the needs of the new teachers, the adjustment period is made difficult. Because the effectiveness of the training largely relies on the quality of guidance by designated teachers, such a formal guidance style does not readily invite other experienced teachers or groups to assist in this guidance. Balance needs to be found between the formal and informal guidance by designated mentor teachers and other experienced teachers in order to create the most effective teacher training programs.

• The effectiveness of outside-school training programs is questioned, especially when the extra hours of training neither enhance the in-school training nor bring new learning. The effectiveness of outside-school training may be weakened if the 30 days of training outside the school places more burdens on teachers and merely repeats in-school training. Although the benefit of outside-school experience needs to be acknowledged, the core of teacher training should be based on in-school training.

• The training programs from the early to late years of the teaching career tend to be unintegrated. Another criticism is that in the present system there is an unsystematic organization of the training received in the teacher preparation programs at college, the first-year induction program, and the training for experienced teachers. In order to develop effective teacher-training programs, the induction program must be designed as part of a series of successive training programs.

• The programs are rigid and do not respond to the varying needs of individual teachers. The teacher- training programs disregard individual differences among the participants and de-emphasize the importance of voluntary participation. The programs are meant to provide timely and ongoing responses to teachers' needs rather than simply provide a preplanned course.

• There are budgetary problems (Egawa, Takahashi, Hayo, and Mochizuki 1992; Maki and Sato 1990). Budgets for training programs are another concern of some education authorities. It has been suggested that funds be carefully allocated so that all teachers will receive fairly balanced training opportunities. As for the training cruise, for example, only selected teachers can benefit from the program, and it has been questioned whether new teachers even need this sort of training. As an alternative, it has been suggested that the funds should be used to establish a sabbatical leave system for midcareer teachers as an incentive for them to remain in the field and also as a means of attracting new graduates to the profession (Maki and Sato 1990).

Long-Term Training Programs

The new training program is still in the trial-and-error stage. Efforts to improve the present training programs and to provide long-term training are being made by Monbusho and boards of education. Programs are designed to suit changing needs that occur with the passage of time. New teachers, teachers with 5 years of experience, and teachers with about 10 years of experience attend these training programs. In addition, teachers in administrative positions with 21 years or more of experience also participate in these programs. For example, teachers with about 5 years of teaching experience as well as teachers who are newly assigned to be in charge of managerial affairs are provided with training programs in such areas as student guidance, subject guidance, special education by prefectures.

For Teachers in Advanced Positions

In order to educate teachers holding positions of increased responsibility (principals, vice principals, teachers in charge of educational affairs, teachers in charge of each grade, teachers in charge of each subject), Monbusho holds an annual workshop at the Tsukuba Annex of the National Education Center. The subjects discussed include advanced school administration, curriculum theory, and educational guidance (Jichi Sogo Center 1991).

Teachers who have completed these training programs are qualified to participate in study-abroad programs organized by Monbusho. About 5,000 teachers participate in these overseas programs every year.

For Teachers Upgrading Their Certificate

Since the establishment of the Special Training Certificate in 1989 (which requires a master's degree), it is anticipated that more inservice teachers will go back to graduate schools to upgrade their certificates. Teachers who wish to study at graduate schools may attend 2-year programs at one of the three designated Teacher Education Institutions, where two-thirds of the admission slots are reserved for current teachers with 3 or more years of teaching experience. The recent growth of graduate departments in many teacher-training institutions has led many of the education boards to send teachers to local teacher-training institutions for this type of study.

During this training period, a teacher's status is one of job trainee sent by the principal of the attending school. Consequently, teachers in training are still considered to be working for educational institutions, and they receive full salaries, moving expenses, and coverage of daily transportation fees from home to working sites. Enrollment fees and tuition, however, are not covered by the prefectures or cities.

For these lengthy periods of off-site training, certain qualifications and conditions apply. To study at one of the three designated graduate schools, teachers must

• Have at least 3 years of teaching experience;

• Return to teach in the prefecture that sent them to the university;

• Be physically and mentally healthy and have demonstrated high competence in their profession; and

• Meet the host university's application requirements.

Also, teachers must seek approval from their prefectural or municipal boards of education before applying to universities. Upon their admission to the programs, their job-trainee status becomes official. While other types of lengthy off-site training programs exist, 5 to 10 years of teaching experience is usually required, and an age limit of 40 to 45 applies (Shimizu et al. 1993).

Continued

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[Teacher Preparation and Teachers' Lives in Japan - Part 1]

[Teacher Preparation and Teachers' Lives in Japan - Part 3]