TEACHER INDUCTION IN JAPAN

Establishment of Induction TrainingThe call for nationally supported, intensive training for newly appointed teachers began inthe 1970s. In 1972, the Minister of Education's Standing Subcommittee on TeacherTraining recommended examining the need for a formalized system of teacher induction.This call was repeated in the 1978 annual report of the Minister's Central EducationCouncil, the supervisory body to the Standing Subcommittee.The basic principles of the present system of teacher induction, including the goals andmethods, were proposed in 1986 in the Second Report of the Prime Minister's Ad HocCouncil on Education. The following year, the Minister of Education's StandingSubcommittee on Teacher Training issued a report entitled, Measures to Improve theAbilities of Educational Personnel. In addition to recommendations regarding teacherappointment and certification policies, the report outlined detailed recommendations for asystem of teacher induction. Aspects of the program addressed included: general goalsand content, length of training, out-of-school training, in-school training, the use ofguidance teachers to mentor the newly appointed teachers, the provision of supplementalteachers, and the roles of various educational bodies. These recommendations weredeveloped by a working group of school principals and university presidents.In 1988, the National Law on Special Regulation for Educational Public ServiceEmployees was revised to require that all newly employed teachers—those in their firstassignments as full-time teachers—at national and other public elementary and secondaryschools participate in a one-year training program during their first year of employment.Provisions of the law include the use of guidance teachers and relief teachers to ensurethat schools have adequate staffing to compensate for the time devoted to the training ofnew teachers.The teacher induction program was phased in over four years, starting in 1989 with allelementary schools. The program was implemented in all lower secondary schools in1990, in all upper secondary schools in 1991, and in all schools for the disabled in 1992.For each level, in the year prior to implementation, work groups were convened and 30prefectures selected to pilot model programs. Since initial implementation, Monbusho hasretained, with minor modifications, its guidelines for the program.“The training year” 101