（1）Teacher Training Programs

A notable feature of the new educational system was the upgrading of the qualifications required for licensing as a teacher. The licensing system was revised twice between 1953and 1954. Also there have been various measures to enrich the teacher training system. For example, a graduate course at the master's level was introduced for the first time into teacher training universities of Tokyo and Osaka in 1966 and in 1968respectively. The Central Council for Education also recommended in its 1971 report various measures to be intro-duced in the future for the improvement of teacher training; the Educational Personnel Training Council is currently investigating means of implementing these suggestions.

Programs to Main teachers in areas of special education such as schools for the blind, schools for the deaf, or schools for the handicapped other than the blind and deaf have been improved since 1953. With the increasing percentage of children attending kindergarten a plan to gradually introduce training courses for kindergarten teachers into all national educational universitie5and faculties was adopted in 1966.

Other special teacher training programs exist for courses on specific subjects taught in the lower and upper secondary schools where appropriately trained teachers were in short supply. Since 1952 programs in mathematics, science, music, fine arts, handicrafts, calligraphy, health & physical education, and nursing have been offered at the national universities or faculties of education. The number of these courses totals fifty in 1971, with a fixed enrollment of 1,200.

In order to stabilize the training and supply of nursing teacher (yogo kyoyu) mainly at elementary and lower secondary schools, nine national tarring institutes for nursing teachers have been set up since 1965 to provide the required three-year course of study. A need for more teachers in technical education was created by the increasing social demand for scientific technical education programs. In 1961 national training institutes for engineering teachers were established at nine universities each offering a three-year course of study. The new enrollment in these programs established in the interim was discontinued in1967 as the number of industrial courses of upper secondary schools became sufficient to meet the demand.