2023 Volume 28 Pages 43-52
This paper elucidates the procedures associated with the Temporary Certification Examination for Elementary School Teachers from the 1930s onward, using the Kyoto Prefecture as a case study. The "schools authorized to conduct this examination," whose graduates were permitted to take it on a school-by-school basis, were ones whose teachers were not eligible for certification without passing the examination. More specifically, they were private schools. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how graduates of private schools, especially women, who made up the majority, entered the field of elementary school teaching after passing the temporary certification examination, depending on educational background. Furthermore, this paper provides a perspective on the reality of elementary school teachers in prewar Japan, which is said to be characterized by the coexistence of a diverse group of people and a focus on private schools as an alternative to the traditional teacher training route for producing elementary school teachers.
