2000 Volume 9 Pages 90-98
The purpose of this paper is to examine the current status of the four Japan's first graduate schools in distance learning, established in April, 1999, in terms of expansion and diversification of the in-service training for teaching profession. This study analyzes the four graduate schools in distance learning in terms of the master's program, the curriculum, the study-teaching methods, the recruitment system, and the applicants and enrolled students. The following points are found:
(ⅰ) The Japan's first graduate schools in distance learning, Nihon, Bukkyo, Meisei and Seitoku are all private universities. The Master's programs in each graduate school are those connected to career development in either the teaching profession such as kindergarten, elementary-school, and secondary-school teachers, or the counselling profession like school-counsellors, or the administrative profession in the recurrent education and the social welfare. However, Nihon University has set up the master's program of social and cultural studies. The program is independent of any other undergraduate academic programs.
(ⅱ) The candidates were ranging from 27 to 4.5 times as many as the fixed number of enrolment from all parts of Japan. The averabe age of those enrolled was 42.6 years old, 83 years old (superintendent of educational affairs) at the oldest, and 22 years old at the youngest. A large proportion of the candidates were teachers-in-service and more than 60% of the enrolled students were teachers-in-service. Therefor, the demand for graduate schools in distance learning has been large extent and this should be noted.
(ⅲ) The current development and utilization of communication media would have made it easier for those-in-service in the teaching profession to learn independently and autonomously at one's own pace anytime, anywhere. In this sense, the graduate schools in distance learning would give those teachers-in-service a great promise of expansion and diversification of their career development program in the near future.
(ⅳ) The in-service training for teaching profession in graduate schools in distance learning in particular should mainly aim at refreshing oneself through learning experiences in the fields of his/her own keen interest as a student, not as a teacher. It may be that independent graduate school in distance learning like Nihon University would provide such self-refreshing experiences in the course of carrier development.
