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CHAPTER 3 SUPPLY OF TEACHERS ANDPROVISION OF SCHOOL FACILITIES
1 Characteristics of the Teaching Staff
(4) Teacher Training Institutions
c Supp1y and Demand for Teachers


The supply and demand for teachers of elementary and secondary schools in Japan are generally speaking well balanced. But training and securing of teachers in specific subjects or fields and the planned preparation of such teachers are two important problems to be tackled.

As mentioned before, ordinary universities, public or private, which are approved by the state to provide teacher training courses, are free to prepare teachers. Almost all the teacher training courses for elementary schools are offered by the state universities. In these universities or their faculties, teacher training courses for secondary schools are concurrently provided.

Of the graduates from these universities, 90% enter the teaching profession, and these are nearly 80 per cent of the newly recruited teachers in public elementary schools and 50 per cent of those in public lower secondary schools. But those who have acquired the prescribed study units in other ordinary universities and received a teacher's certificate are also qualified to teach in lower and upper secondary schools, and not a few of them do so. Thus, teacher training in Japan is not provided on the basis of planned supply and demand for teachers. This. Is one of the aspects requiring improvement in the teacher training system.

In view of the current trend of decrease in the population of elementary and lower secondary school age, efforts are now being made for the improvement of the standards for c1ass organization and teacher quota in compulsory level schools. Generally speaking, the shortage of teachers is not as great in Japan as in other countries. . But demands for teachers in specific subjects such as science and mathematics, and in vocational subjects(industry, commerce, etc.) have so much increased that it has become difficult to secure teachers in these subjects because of the competition for their services in industry. Moreover, teachers and school nurses for special schools and special classes and for kindergartens (which urgently require expansion) are insufficient in number.

To meet this situation the Government has established more teacher training institutions and taken steps to attract more teachers. For example, the national training institutes for technical teachers (with a three year course) attached to 9 state universities have been established since 1961, making special arrangements for the grace or remission of tuition fees etc. In addition, since 1961 special favorable consideration has been given for the starting salary of technical teachers in upper secondary schools.

As for the provision of teachers in special schools and classes and of school nurses, some training course have been established in the state universities in addition to temporary courses of l or 2 years.

The United States of America employs the same open system of teacher training as Japan. In the Federal Republic of Germany, France and the U.S.S.R., teacher training institutions are established by the national government (the state for Germany, and the constituent republic for U.S.S.R.) for the planned training of teachers in terms of quality and quantity. Especially in France and the U.S.S.R., graduates of these institutions are put under obligation to enter the teaching profession to insure an adequate supply, and the Federal Republic of Germany assures employment of the graduates, allocating them according to prior plan. Although teacher training institutions are not maintained by the government in the United Kingdom (England and Wa1es), planned teacher training is promoted to a certain extent through the recommendations of the Secretary of State for Education and Science and through the governmental financial aid to the institutions.

There is at present a serious shortage of teachers in the major countries each of which is taking necessary steps and measures. For example, the United Kingdom, France and the Federal Republic of Germany are expanding their teacher training institutions, increasing the number of teacher applicants through the improvement of the scholarship system, increasing teachers' salaries, and by calling retired teachers back into service.


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