Our country now is undergoing a great educational reform toward the twenty-first century. Furthermore, the requirement to promote the quality and competencies of teachers who are agents of the educational reform has become a major concern. However, the standard of what quality and competencies are required is not yet clear. This study has considered this problem in the light of the basic principles of the educational reform, that is: to establish the independence, autonomy and self-responsibility of teachers. In other words, concrete and actual consideration has built around on the the three humanistic qualities required of teachers-love for children, youthfulness and spirit of inquiry-and possession of the three teaching techniques-specialized knowledge of his subjects and the children, organization of curriculum, and mastering teaching methods. By the way, in order to actually bring teachers' quality and competencies into full play, concrete plans are necessary. Three things must be considered-cooperative organization of the school, open-school management, and promotion of decentralization in educational administration. Finally, reference was made on the quality and competencies of kindergarten teachers. To sum up, the act of demonstrating and bringing up the quality and competencies of teachers is not a kind of abstract, uniform or closed consideration, but a concrete, practical, widely diversed, and flexible comprehension based on the principle of schools' and teachers' autonomy and responsibility, and on the principle of local autonomy in educational administration.

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In recent years, increasing attention to the need of improving teacher competency has been paid by the educational administration not only in Japan but also in many other countries. The expansion of school population that began in 1960's has produced various new problems in school education-such as slow learners, delinquency,drop-outs, school violence, and so on. To meet these problems, there arose the need for a new curriculum development, new programs for student guidance, new techniques of instruction, and also the need for mutual cooperation between home, school and community, to bring up healthy children and youths. Consequently, teacher competency has urgently been called for especialy since 1970's. The Ad Hoc Council on Education that started in September 1984 presented its Second Report in April 1986, which included several items concerning recommendations on the policy of educational administration to improve teacher competency. New points are made in this recommendation which differ from those which had been presented in the past reports by Central Council on Education and the Council on Educational Personnel Training, etc. The most essential characteristic in this item is a proposal to introduce Induction Training Program for new teachers, who are to be given guidance and advice from a guidance teacher with regard to their daily work in school for one year. Generally speaking, the recommendations of the past years stressed the need for administrative measure to increase the requirement for teachers' certificate to prepare teachers for better practical ability. But, this time, the need for more flexible certificate system is emphasized to meet the present educational demands and also to open a way to induct people who have excellent ability of teaching into educational profession as well as the need for the intensive and extensive in-service training of teachers emphasized for all stages of their professional career. Many researches on the process and mechanism of professional growth of teachers as well as on the effective INSET programs have been conducted in recent years. Based on the findings of these researches, the recommendations in the Second Report can be analysed and evaluated as fairly adequate in its content in general, because teacher competency necessary for actual teaching life can best grow through the practical teaching life in the school, through their actual teaching experience, with advice and cooperation offered from other teachers in the daily school work. However, attention should be paid on how to put these recommendations into practice, because the effect of the new program on improving teacher competency depends much on the practice of giving advice, not only by guidance teachers but also by their colleagues through cooperative team work in the school's daily educational activities. It is also very important that other institutions and opportunities should offer a net work support for schools and teachers to help solve problems in their daily life and also to help in the professional growth of teachers. We must also add that universities should take a more active role than before on the in-service education of teachers, side by side with the role of the education of prospective teachers.

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This joint paper has an aim to describe the main administrative provisions for promoting the quality of teachers in some foreign countries such as USA, England, France, West Germany, USSR and China. It is devided into 6 chapters by country. The structures of each chapter are as follows Introduction (by S. TAKAKURA) Chapter I USA (by H. HAMADA) Preface 1 Problems arrounding Today's Teachers 2 The Development of Provisions Oriented by State Government 3 Outlines of each Provision for Promoting the Quality of Teachers 4 Leading Principles of the Provisions for Promoting the Quality of Teachers-Towards Animation of Teaching Profession Chapter II England (by M. KITAGAMI) Preface 1 Establishment of Induction System 2 Characteristics and Merits of Induction System Conclusion Chapter III France (by T. KUWAHARA) Preface 1 Provisions for Encouraging Teachers in the Full Use of their Qualities 2 The Competencies of Teachers to be Promoted-What is an Ideal Teacher? 3 Reform of Normal School Educatiom 4 Reform of In-Service Training of Primary Teachers 5 An Administrative Organization of Teacher Education-Municipal Council of Teacher Education Chapter IV West Germany-a Case of In-Service Training System in Nordrhein Westfahlen (by K. NISHIYAMA) Preface 1 Needs for the Extension of In-Service Trainng and Administrative Responces to them 2 Development of In-Service Training System in Nordrhein Westfahlen 3 Problems and Difficulties of In-Service Training System Chapter V USSR (by H. OJIMA) Preface 1 Provisions for Promoting the Quality of Teachers 2 Extension of In-Service Training System 3 Improvement of Administrative Control of Teachers Conclusion Chapter VI China (by E.CHIN) Preface 1 Present Situation of Teacher Education and its Problems 2 Reformes for Getting Good Teachers in Recent Years 3 Tomorrow's Teacher Education

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This paper aims to clarify the structural and functional aspects of the appointment system and the in-service training for teachers which follow the pre-service training. Recently, teacher ability and quality on which the achievements of school students depend, have been frequently discussed as some of the major topics in the field of education. This trend has been reinforced since the Ministry of Education advocated a policy which defines the total structure from initial training to in-service training. At the same time, the Ministry of Education and education committees have attempted to improve the procedure for the selection of the candidates holding the teachers' certificates. However, we believe that such reform should take into account the actual problems which exist in the current system, and that the possible ways should be investigated through field study. From this point of view, we, in turn, have studied each area which involves teacher training, either actively or passively. This paper comprises four chapters. The first one is an introduction to show the recent trends with regard to the two stages which follow the teacher training course at the university. Here, it must be pointed out that because these stages should contribute to the candidates' professional growth, there is an urgent need for a basic theory to integrate them. At the end of the first chapter, there is a profile of all previous investigations which have taken place from 1985 to 1986. In the second chapter, current problems concerning teacher selection procedure are described based on the results of the questionnaire. As one reads through these results, it should become clear the supervisors as well as the headmasters have been very eager to hire the teachers who possess the determined spirit and good grades. Students preparing for the teaching profession have to study very hard to pass the selection exams, and the universities themselves have been involved in helping students to adjust to the difficult situation. Universities and the education committees must do something to stop this worsening trend as soon as possible. The third chapter disscusses the recent in-service training practices. Teachers have asked for practical courses organised by themselves or their colleagues, but they do not seem to have time to attend them. On the contrary, supervisors are likely to think that teachers have been satisfied with the courses provided by the education committee. The questionnaire results suggest that it is essential to give teachers many more opportunities to develop their ability. On the other hand, supervisors seem to think that teachers have developped their ability not by any official courses but by their own efforts. Finally, in the fourth chapter, some suggestions are made to relate the initial training to the in-service training; we also attempt to find the best way to construct the teacher training system as a whole.

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In this paper, the author intends to clarify the implications and prospects of the current discussion on the "professional development of teachers", which was initiated in the latter half of 1970's and has been actively evolved in 1980's in England and the United States. Certainly, the concept of "in-service education(training)" had been approved and used for many years in these countries, but the new concept of "professional development (or staff development)" is currently used and enriched as being capable of overcoming the weakness and limitation of in-service education practices. At present, there are some common characteristics shared in this discussion, although its concepts, contents, and methods vary greatly from researcher to researcher. One of the shared characteristics is that the discussion encompasses the entire life span of teachers from preparation to retirement; and the key element of teachers' professional development is the voluntary efforts, in other word "self-development". Another characteristic is that many strategies to facilitate it have been designed and implemented especially in the United States; for instance: Mentoring, clinical supervision, QC (Quality Circle), Assessment Center, Career Development Program etc. Likewise, the author identifies the implications of this discussion in contrast with in-service education (training) of teachers, as follows: (1) it emphasizes the freedom and responsibility of the individual teacher, and (2) it has more potency of the development and implementation of effective strategies which could respond to his(her) personal characteristics and specific situation he (she) works. Finally, the author presents the prospects of this discussion based on the implications noted above. First, it suggests the need to remedy the previous strategies which were characterized as administrator-directed and uniformity-oriented ones. Second, it suggests the importance of emphasis on the daily efforts given by teachers on their school work and the importance of teachrs's self-awareness and self-understanding for their successful professional development.

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The plaintiff wrote the textbook on Japanese history and made an application for an official approval to the Minister of Education. But his textbook failed in the official approval. There-upon, he presnted the minister's administrative disposition to the court as the minister's official approval corresponded to a censorship. Of course, the Minister of Education maintained that officicial approval did not correspond to a censorship. Since then. the plaintiff has been disputting against the Minister of Education in court of law over 24 years. At that time, someone was by chance disputing in another court of law as it was a censorship that the Superintendent of Customs inspecting freights by Arts. 67 of the Customs Law forbade an importer to import freights in agreement with Item 3 of Par. 1 of Arts. 21 of the Customs Tariff Law. However, the non-censorship discussion in two court had no common feature, what is more, the parties concerned in two court that is, the tariffs, the defendants, and the judges took no interest in another non-censorship discussion. But in Grand Bench, the judges of the Supreme Court adopted the non-censorship discussion which the Minister of Education had stated in the textbook trial, so as to declare that Item 3 of Par. 1 of Arts. 21 of the Customs Tariff Law did not correspond to a censorship and a violation of the constitution. I believe that the Supreme Court decided a united view with regard to a censorship. For example, the non-censorship discussion of the Supreme Court was adopted by the Tokyo Hight Court in the textbook trial after two years.

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This paper explores the degree of effectiveness, originality, and independence of school boards at the municipal level in order to reveal the real situation of the "decentralization" principle in educational administration. To obtain the necessary data, superintendents of 20 school boards of 'A' prefecture in Kyushu were interviewed in the period of June through September, 1986. The findings are as follows: (1) The effectiveness of each board is much higher in community education (construction of community education facilities, in-service training for personnel, youth education, women's education and adult education, and physical training) than in school education (school construction and equipment, in-service training for teachers, curriculum, and teaching materials) and than in the administration of the school board themselves(in-service training for staff and public relation). (2) The originality of each board is slightly better in community education than in school education, and is very limited in school board administration. (3) The independence of each board is limited in school education, but there is considerable independence in community education and school board administration. Therefore, it was concluded that with respect to coommunity education the work of school boards at the municipal level is more decentralized.

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In England, teacher probation system started in 1920's and has a history of more than sixty years. The initial training of teachers has been greatly changed. The aim of this report is to consider the nature of probation in England and Wales with reference to the requirements for Qualified Teacher Status. Before the War, only public elementary teachers were under obligation to complete probationary year. In general, probation has been referred to the period of educational arrangements for newly appointed teachers, and on the other hand, it is the period for the assessment of the new teachers' efficiency. A teacher may lose his certification at the end of the probationary period, if his performance is dissatisfactory. After the War, the requirement was extended to secondary teachers, and the McNair Committee recommended a properly organized system of probation which is regarded as a continuation of the teacher's training period. The shortage of teachers continued until the early 70's, and probation had been the opportunity to supplement insufficient initial training or to find out extremely unsuitable persons for the teaching job. In 1972, the James Committee recommended a period of induction, which, with proper supervision and support and with time for reflection and study, would replace the existing probationary arrangements. The advocation of induction corresponds to the change of requirements for Qualified Teacher Status, that a teacher must complete training course. The Government accepted the concept of induction, but the probation system remained unchanged. Many LEAs started induction programs for probationary teachers, and it has since then enhanced the educational arrangements made within probationary period. In the 1980's, one must get a degree to be a Qualified Teacher, thus, newly appointed teachers have attained higher academic and professional standards. This requirement enriched the educational aspect of probationary period. Today, the Government tend to regard probationary period as one of the management systems for the teaching force, and to think much of assessment (or appraisal) nature of this period. However, it is not the direction which the levelling up of teacher education requires.

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