Issues on Teacher Training : connecting with the teacher training in science

Abstract

There are many problems in the education and research of the Japanese teachers training in colleges and departments. In particular, the teachers' training course for lower secondary education underwent drastic changes although it had brought many students competent in a specific subject into teaching profession. The number of students applying for the graduate course just meets the quota at the most, which reflects the fact that the graduate school is not attractive to them. The principle of training science teachers was based on the belief that it is sufficient to instruct the same contents with "the courses of the department of science". And it remains unchanged from postwar years when the system was launched, while the rate of enrollment in four-year colleges and universities has now exceeded 50% of the same generation. The background of this reality is a negative attitude of the faculty of the teachers' training department toward developing their own teacher training education. That is to say, the faculty of the teachers' training course does not search for their identity. This situation was caused by the consolidation and reorganization of higher education carried out in accordance with "the Report of the Committee on the Ideal State of Teacher Training" by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. This reform intensified a tendency among the faculty to regard "teacher training as a sunset industry" and triggered an escape of the faculty from improving teachers' training courses. The Japanese government should create an environment to deal with teacher training with conviction from the viewpoint that the foundation of nation building lies in training excellent teachers.