The purpose of this paper is to reconsider the profession of teachers under democracy, based on the idea that education is social regulation.

  In Japan, it is said that the discussion about the profession shifted from the “viewpoint model” to the “role and practice model” from the 1980s onward. However, it has been pointed out in recent discussion that the “role and practice model” tends to disregard the profession's social context, whereas the “viewpoint model”, which was dominant in the 1960s, had been discussed based on it. The “viewpoint model” regarded education as social regulation.

  In Japan, education has tended to be discussed without being connected with the principles of democracy. In other words, education was not connected with society. This has resulted in confusion about legal rights among parents and teachers. However, it has been found by Masaaki Katsuno that there is a way to solve this problem based on the theory of Amy Gutmann.

  Amy Gutmann's theory is effective to connect education with society. She pointed out the effectiveness of the principles of democracy in social context. She also pointed out the necessity of the profession of teacher by comparative examination of the ideas of the Family State, the State of Family, and the State of Individuals. It is teachers who can provide children with the most opportunities for social participation.

  The paper concludes that it is effective to see the profession of teacher from the perspective that education is social regulation, since the profession itself is influenced by social regulation.

  Many kinds of school participation practices have emerged in recent years in Japan. This paper focuses on classroom voluntary activities, a form of parental involvement practice, from the viewpoint of（1）their effect on teachers' professional development and (2) politics embedded in the volunteer-teacher interaction.

  This paper approaches the subject from three angles. First, volunteer-teacher interaction and its characteristics and structures are analyzed. Second, teacher interviews are analyzed to see how such input is perceived and employed for their own professional development. Finally, the conditions, or micro-politics, behind such relationships between laypersons and teachers, are analyzed.

  There were three main findings from the interview data, documents and fieldnotes: first, in volunteer-teacher communication, teachers and volunteers talked mostly about how children learn and why children can/cannot understand. This illustrates that the nature of the interaction is determined by the large amount of high quality information about the children. Second, teachers make use of the knowledge gained from such communication as a resource for their reflection after instructional practice and welcome volunteers' input. Third, the harmony of this relationship is, however, contingent. There is a politics driven by interests of the volunteers and teachers. Volunteers deliberately did not problematize teachers' instruction methods in order not to stir up antipathy. Also, teachers divided their professional knowledge into “periphery” and “center”, excluding parental intervention in the case of their central subject. Thus the impact of parental involvement on teachers' professional development is limited.

  Educators and researchers on teacher education agree that promoting reflection in teacher education is important. However, the current attempts to do so are not producing the desired result. The purpose of this article is not to suggest another definition or method of reflective teacher education, but rather to focus on why reflection in teacher education is so difficult to realize, using the case of Norway.

  In the early 1980s Norwegians Handal and Lauvås developed a mentoring strategy called the “action and reflection model” which is now dominant in teacher education in Scandinavia. The strategy emphasizes the integration of theory and practice through students' self-reflection. However, recent research shows that reflection is not being realized as the strategy intended.

  Study of the dissemination process of the “action and reflection model” shows that not much emphasis is put on verifying students' actual reflection. Instead their subjective impression and the strategy's execution procedure are given most weight. The characteristics of teacher education colleges could explain this tendency: they have a so-called “seminar tradition” which emphasizes method-oriented learning. The separation of the colleges and the research universities appears to cause problems; reflection in this model is intended to integrate practice and theory, but the context in which it is practiced divorces practice and theory.

  The article mentions some possibilities for reflective mentoring in recent teacher education reforms.

  The aim of this paper is to describe the measures taken for the purpose of giving special training to secondary school teachers of domestic science during and before World War Ⅱ. There were several schools that served this purpose, particularly the 6th Special Institute for the Training of Teachers（SITT）attached to the Higher Normal School for Women of Tokyo（HNSWT）and the Entrusted Schools（ET）, to which students were entrusted under the “system of entrusting students to designated schools”（Entrusting System）.

  The SITT system existed from 1902 to 1949 and each school opened or closed its SITT according to the supply and demand balance of teachers. SITTs for teachers of domestic science existed throughout this period except 1939-40. In addition, due to the shortage of schools for domestic science throughout the period, students wishing to teach domestic science were entrusted to public and private schools under the Entrusting System, while SITTs at that time were only permitted to be opened at government schools that were directly under the control of the Ministry of Education.

  The 6th SITT and its mother body, the HNSWT, were very much involved in the governmental policy relating to special training of secondary school teachers of domestic science. They proposed the introduction of the Entrusting System to the government, and were involved in its actual practice and operation too.

  This paper illustrates the character of the governmental policy and institutions for training secondary school teachers and higher normal education for women in Japan during and before World War Ⅱ.

  The purpose of this study is to examine the relation between the development of competencies of student teachers and advice from their mentors. The data was collected from 138 student teachers.

  Competencies that student teachers had developed through teaching practice were examined, and the following two points were clarified. First, student teachers said that they acquired competency in teaching, competency in understanding children, and a professional attitude as a teacher through the teaching practice. Second, student teachers said that they did not acquire competency in evaluation, competency in cooperation and collaboration, and professional knowledge through the teaching practice.

  Student teachers asked about advisory instruction received from their mentors during teaching practice, and it was found that they received a large amount of advisory instructions from teachers in teaching practice.

  The relation between development of competencies of student teachers and the advisory instruction from their mentors was examined, and the following two points were established. First, student teachers who received more instruction and support with regard to classroom teaching from mentors tended to develop competency in teaching, competency in evaluation, competency in understanding children, and a professional attitude as a teacher. Second, student teachers who received much instruction and support with regard to activities during teaching practice from their mentors tended to develop competency in evaluation and professional knowledge.

  The purpose of this study is to grasp and analyze the current situation and problems of the teacher evaluation system in Osaka. In order to analyze the characteristics and the causes of the problems, this study used qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with five principals of elementary and secondary schools.

  The results reveal that the current problems have the following characteristics. First, it is difficult for teachers to objectify Performance Goals. Second, it is difficult for principals to assess teachers' abilities objectively and evaluate individual job performances fairly and impartially.

  The main finding from the study is that the difficulties mentioned above with teacher evaluation are due to the characteristics of teachers' work and educational activity: uncertainty, borderlessness and collaboration. These characteristics make it difficult to gather accurate data which can be used as evidence of teachers' performance and evaluate individual job performances objectively.

  The results suggest that today's problems of teacher evaluation arise from the characteristics of teachers' work and educational activity rather than the lack of evaluation capability among principals and teachers. In addition, an important point to emphasize is the fact that principals judged the value of Management by Objectives（MBO）separately from the appropriateness of the personnel evaluation system. Therefore, the rights and wrongs of a personnel evaluation system must be argued separately from the effects of MBO. It is necessary to adapt the evaluation method to the characteristics of teachers' work and develop our own theory of what teacher evaluation should be, as "teacher assessment theory".

  This paper deals with the teacher training in primary school teacher training courses in Akita prefecture.

  It was in 1901 that the primary school teacher training course was started to train teachers in Akita. This course became the only course in the prefecture providing fully qualified primary school teachers from 1907, when the other courses for primary teacher training were abolished. This made the teacher training route, with preparatory courses followed by this primary school teacher training course, the main route for providing qualified teachers in the 1900s.

  In the Taisho era, the normal school system was reformed including the primary teacher training course mentioned above. In 1913, the name of the primary school teacher training course was changed to reflect its function more closely. In the case of Akita, the primary school teacher training course was reformed, while the regular courses of normal school were abolished. In this way, the primary school teacher training course gradually came to play an important part in teacher training in Akita, steadily supplying qualified teachers, alongside the normal schools.

  In Akita from 1900 onward, there were three types of teacher training courses: normal school courses; the primary school teacher training courses; and preparatory courses.

  This research tries to clarify some points about the teacher training projects in private Hyogo Educational Association in the middle part of the Meiji era. With regard to the elementary school teacher training in prewar Japan, it is known that, besides the regular teacher training by normal schools, various projects were tried, and an analysis of the teacher training function of the prefectural educational associations may be particularly valuable for an understanding of the teacher training structure in prewar Japan. It may also allow us to correct the general understanding that the teacher training routes other than normal schools contributed to the teacher supply in volume.

  Three points can be pointed out as the characteristics of the teacher training projects of Hyogo Educational Association. First, these projects were part of the prefecture's education policy, but they were not under the strong influence of normal schools. While previous research has shown that there were many cases where normal school teachers actively participated in the courses of the prefectural educational associations, this did not happen in the case of Hyogo. In the semi-qualified teacher training course, the classes were organized not by normal school teachers, but regular instructors, junior high school teachers and elementary school teachers.

  Second, there was thus a route whereby people acquired teaching certificates without direct influence of normal school teachers as lecturers or examination question-masters. In other words, in Hyogo it was thought that teachers who were not normal school ones could train teachers aiming at lower-grade licenses.

  Third, in the semi-qualified teacher training course of Hyogo Educational Association, the education was more practical than in the other courses in the prefecture.

  It is clear that the uneven distribution of the teacher supply made the teacher training independent of the normal school and that this became common in Hyogo at that time.

  Nowadays the profession of pre-school teacher is expected to improve its professionalism. The Ministry of Education has introduced 9 points which are supposed to cover the qualities desired in a pre-school teacher. However, these points seem to be concerned with so-called “practical leadership”. I would like to show that a reflective attitude which inquires into the essence of education is also important in teacher education. Episode writing and process record writing are already being examined in this connection from a phenomenological viewpoint.

  In this article I would like to consider these two kinds of writing and after that to take up the concept of “pedagogical moment” proposed by the Canadian pedagogical theorist Max van Manen. “Pedagogical moment” refers to a situation in which one must do something pedagogically right in his or her relation with some child or children as adult, parent or teacher. And in this situation, we do not have enough time to fold our arms and think at length, but have to judge what is good for this child or these children immediately.

  I introduce this concept to student teachers in the guidance for pre-school teaching practice. They are asked to recollect and write down the pedagogical moments which they confront in teaching practice in Kindergarten. In this way student teachers become able to reflect on their practice, so they will become more thoughtful about what is for children's good. And so their own view of education and of children is challenged phenomenologically. The concept of pedagogical moment in guidance for teaching practice is evaluated in this context.