The graduate program for professional degrees was established in 2003 in Japan, and a graduate school for teacher training was established in 2008. The professional degree program was approved and introduced as one of the master’s degree programs in 2000, and the system was changed again in 2003. This new program was then introduced in Japan in the form of professional schools, in addition to master’s and doctoral programs.
By analyzing the deliberation process related to institutional design by the House of Representatives in Japan as well as documents from the Central Council for Education, this paper clarifies the reorganization of the graduate school system, which introduced this professional degree program aimed to neglect research capability development while strongly emphasizing practical teaching ability.
Concretely, it clarifies that ①the professional degree program system was introduced by focusing on the training of highly specialized adult professionals with an MBA/MOT; ②the system design of research guidance in the master’s course, writing a master’s thesis, and twoyear study period was recognized as a “constraint” to the learning process of working professionals; ③the Central Council for Education judged that this master’s degree program was not suited for eliminating this limitation, and that individual research guidance in a master’s degree program is not essential; ④the new degree program system ought to prioritize improving immediate competitiveness, practical leadership, and an efficient environment, even if teachers’ research capabilities are receded; ⑤at the same time, fostering practical research capabilities is indispensable for teachers’ development as researchers, when considering their role as highly specialized professionals. In this regard, the present article makes reference to the work of domestic researchers (Manabu Sato and others) and American researcher (Burton R.Clark).
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