This article tries to define the relationship between teacher policy and the conception of teacher with the purpose of scrutinizing the nature of the modern Japanese educational policy. The conception of teacher is one component of educational ideology which functions as the frame of reference for the valuation in the teacher policy making process and prescribes the contents of teacher policy by orientating goals and means in the policy making process. The teacher policy includes the following four problems: treatment (status and reward), teaching activities (instruction and guidance), administration and qualification of teachers. In terms of these four problems, we can determine the four fundamental factors which constitute the structural frame of the conception of teacher; knowledge and skill, professional morality, treatmeat and social releation. The conception of teacher thus depends on the nature of these four factors.
If we distinguish the prewar policy from the postwar policy for teachers, we can point out that the prewar teacher policy corresponds to the normal school type conception of teacher and the postwar policy does at first to the enlightenment type conception, and then to the special official type conception of teacher. Compared with the normal school type conception, the special official type conception shows the tendencies closer to professionalization, bureacratization, rationalization, autonomization (valuation and promotion of autonomy). These tendencies have developed under the strong impacts of the two kinds of teacher conception, the wage-worker type and the professional type.
Furthermore, it must be pointed out that we can not afford to overlook that the teacher policy and the conception of teacher reflect some political intentioti and are under the influence of a given power situation.
