Abstract
I will introduce the current status and issues of teacher training for public school teachers in Kagoshima, our efforts based on The Central Council for Education’s Report, and the future outlooks. I will then provide my personal opinions on the role of universities and junior colleges. Although various training programs are provided in Kagoshima, there are difficulties in securing training opportunities because there are many remote islands in the prefecture. After the revision of the Special Act for Personal Education, we enhanced the training programs from the perspective of teachers’ career stages and recurrent education. For example, we
revised the “Kagoshima Prefecture Teacher Professional Development Indicators” and formulated the “Kagoshima Prefecture Teacher Training Plan.” To secure training opportunities, we have been investigating what would be the optimal mix of online and group training, ways to strengthen cooperation between local universities and junior colleges, and to promote business improvements. As the proverb says, “Teaching is learning,” meaning that teachers are strongly required to “keep learning,” which is also a characteristic that makes the teaching profession much attractive and rewarding. I hope for teacher competency development to be enabled through meaningful experiences and learnings during people’s university and
college days.
Keywords: Securing Training Opportunities, Career Stage, Recurrent, Teaching is Learning, Keep Learning
