The new role of universities in the reform of the in-service teacher training system

A focus on the cooperation between graduate schools for education and boards of education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify the problems in the ongoing draft proposal for the reform of the training system for in-service teachers and to propose the possible future roles of university faculty members involved in teacher education and in-service training. Specifically, this study provides an overview of the recent collaboration between professional graduate schools for teaching and local boards of education under the project launched by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in FY2017, which aims to promote the integrated reform of teachers’ education, recruitment, and in-service training. In addition, this study proposes the following three roles that universities should play to address the problematic nature of the recent guidelines for recording and managing the training course portfolios under the new training system, which are currently open for public comment. First, using their academic expertise, universities should contribute to the design of teacher development indicators by boards of education. Second, they should participate in local teacher training programs to understand the reality of in-service teacher training. Finally, they should run a website where teachers can effectively build their own training course portfolio online and acquire in-service training information. Overall, prior to discussing the kinds of training that should be recorded and their corresponding formats, a training environment in which teachers can take pride and initiative in enhancing their own professionalism should first be created. If teachers who continue to learn were to serve as models for children, they must first have the leeway to learn.