Issues on “All trained, all graduate” forDr. LAI Kwok Chan
Teachers in Hong Kong SAR
The Hong Kong Institute of Education

The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) was established on
1994 as teacher training provider by merger of 5 colleges, where
about 7,000 students of Bachelor, Master, Doctor and short-term
Certiﬁcate courses are learning now. HKIEd is the top provider ofelementary and kindergarten school teachers in the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). On May 26 2009, HKIEdand Tokyo Gakugei University (TGU) have made an agreement for
academic exchange. Dr. LAI Kwok-Chan, Director of Strategic andAcademic Planning, talked about teachers and teacher educationin HKSAR as follows. (Interviewer: Yasuyuki Iwata)●How about the status quo of teachers inHKSAR?
KCLai From 1960s to 70s, many teachers without any preservice training had been recruited due to the shortage ofteachers. Then the Government had chosen the easier way
to meet the demand of teachers. Additional part-time
programs for teachers had been set up, instead of setting up
new teacher training institutes. Post-Graduate Certiﬁcate ofEducation (PGCE) (also known as the Post-Graduate Diplomain Education (PGDE)) as in England has been introduced toHong Kong. Besides those ʻRegistered Teachersʼ (RT) withprofessional teachersʼ certiﬁcate (at least sub-degree level),
many ʻPermitted Teachersʼ (PT) without any certiﬁcate havebeen allowed to work. The social status of teachers and thoseof teacher education in Hong Kong have been inﬂuenced by
the history above.
●In Japan, ʻQuality Assuranceʼ of teachers andteacher education is a hot issue.
KCLaiIn Hong Kong, we do not have any organizationfor teachersʼ evaluation like GTC (General Teaching Council)
in England. So there has been no mandatory plan for thequaliﬁcation of PTs, though the needs of in-service training
for PTs have been recognized for a long time. In recent years,
most of PTs have become RTs through part-time PGCE
programme. But, Hong Kong Government does not seemto have any long-term plan. After 1997, the slogan ʻAll
Trained, All Graduateʼ has been set up as a goal for teachers
in HKSAR within ʻforeseeable futureʼ, but it has not beenrealized until now. On the other hand,diversiﬁcation of initial teacher education courses has been promoted theseyears, among Neo-liberalistic policies.
Reforms are now in process so quickly,
as seen in the competitive funding planfor tertiary institutes every 3 years.
●What is the top priority ofHKIEd plan?
KCLai Since 1994, HKIEd has put a special emphasis on theupgrading of initial teacher training for Kindergarten andElementary School teachers. However, the statuses of theseteachers have not been regarded by the community asequal to those of secondary school teachers. Long-standing
opinions say that to be practical is the most important factor
for elementary school teachers and the ʻBachelorʼ degrees
are not necessary. So HKIEd tends to be regarded by somepeople as lower than most of the traditional universities inHong Kong though it is now offering primary degree
programmes. The crucial issues for HKIEd are 1) to beʻUniversity of Educationʼ, 2) to develop our research ability, 3)
to support Hong Kong as an education hub among thebroader Asia Paciﬁc region, 4) to reform our curricula so as topromote teachers with high wisdom and practical skills.
●What is your impression about teachers andteacher education in Japan?
KCLai It is great thing for teacher education in Japan thatthe academic basis for teachers have been Bachelor level
since 1949, just after the WWII, though the Bachelor degree
can not solely ensure enough competencies for teachers.
Until recently, Hong Kong and Singapore had the teacher
education of primary school teachers with sub-degree level
under the inﬂuence of the former British teacher training
system, and there still remain some problems due to theformer system. On the other hand, teachers in Japan are
required to be moralistic and good in humanities besides
their abilities to teach, so it is difﬁcult to evaluate them purely
on technical grounds. That is quite similar to Hong Kong,
with teachersʼ image among the Oriental culture.

Welcoming Visiting Professor from Sweden
Every year, the Curriculum Center for Teachers invites

enrolled for research in this ﬁeld resulting in a doubling ofvisiting professors from universities and institutes

PhD degrees at our teacher education in Umeå and raisingoverseas to provide scholars and educators in Japan withlearning opportunities through lectures about systems
and issues related to teacher education in their own

its academic status in Sweden.
At my department I combine active research with course

countries. This year, Dr. Oleg Popov (Umeå University) willdevelopment activities as well as teaching at the under-

be visiting the Center for six months from the end of June.

graduate and graduate levels for both on-campus and

He graciously contributed his self-introduction to thisdistance students. My research interests lie mainly in theissue of CCT before his arrival.

ﬁeld of science education curriculum development andinter-cultural studies related to which I have over ﬁfty
publications. My current focus is on developing innovative
methods of teaching scientiﬁc inquiry for prospective
science teachers within the outdoor environment and withthe use of modern computer technologies. My theoreticalinterests lie in the application of Cultural-Historical Activity
Theory which originates in the writings of Vygotsky and his
contemporaries, combined with curriculum theories inscience education. In addition to several undergraduate
researchers, I presently supervise four PhD students withinterests in university and adult education curriculum devel-Oleg Popovopment and the didactics of physics. Through EU-funded
research and development projects in which I play an active

My almost 30 years experience of working in the ﬁelds ofrole, our department has well established links with manyteacher education and curriculum development started as

European universities. My applications for external grants

a high school teacher of physics and mathematics in aand funding for various research and development projects

small rural school in Siberia in 1980. I was then assistant-have been to the tune of a hundred thousand American

lecturer at my alma mater - the Pedagogical University indollars per annum.

Blagoveshchensk, Russia. After ﬁnishing my PhD in

I have been involved in projects related to national

theoretical physics at the Pedagogical University incurriculum development and the teaching of Masters andMoscow, I went to Africa in 1989 to work as curricular

PhD students in various countries including Namibia,adviser in physics education at the National Institute for

Guinea-Bissau, East-Timor, Cambodia, and Laos. I have

Educational Development and as lecturer-consultant inworked as a guest lecturer at the University of South Africa

theoretical physics at the Pedagogical University in(UNISA) and the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) inMaputo, Mozambique. Since 1994 I have been living andworking in Sweden.
During the last ﬁve years (2003-2008), I have been
Deputy Head of the Department of Mathematics, Technology and Science Education at Umeå University responsible

Brazil. Currently, I am also Coordinator of the Program:“Development of Research Culture and Capacity in Education” (DERECCA) at the Faculty of Education, Eduardo
Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique, a program
funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). My academic work and consultancy

for research and research training. During this period, weassignments for Sida and UNICEF have taken me on

developed a new ﬁeld of research called Educational Workvarious missions to over ﬁfty countries around the world.

related to teachersʼ and teacher educatorsʼ professional

My private interests lie in reading ethnographic andactivities. The Faculty of Teacher Education in Umeå was

philosophical literature, playing badminton and hiking. Ithe nexus of this work. Dozens of doctoral students

speak and work in Russian, Swedish, English and Portuguese.

The 10th Anniversary of theʻCurriculum Center for Teachersʼ
This year the Curriculum Center for Teachers, which was

The Center also cooperates with the contract researchestablished in 2000, will celebrate its 10th anniversary.

project on the accreditation of institutions for initial

We hope to make this year one upon which we canteacher training.

reﬂect now and hereafter as an important milestone.

Challenges of the Divisions

Challenges of the Center

Three Divisions of the Center are slated for a projectAs a major project of the Center as a whole, we shall holdresearch based on the following joint studies withthe 10th Symposium on Saturday afternoon of November

researchers and practitioners from home and abroad.

21. We plan to invite Dr. Cong-man Rao (Northeast Normal

The Division of Curriculum Research and Development

University, Mainland China), Dr. Szu-wei Yang (Nationaldeals with ʻDynamics of Curriculum Organization between

Taichung University, Taiwan), Dr. Chantana Chanbanchong

Administration, School and Communityʼ, ʻComprehensive(Naresuan University, Thailand), and Dr. Oleg Popov (UmeåStudy of Subjects and Curriculums in School Educationʼ,University, Sweden) to give lectures under the theme of

ʻCross-national Research of Textbooks and Curriculumsʼ,ʻTeacher Education in Japan as Viewed from Abroadʼ.

and ʻExamination of the Teacher Education Curriculum ‒The Invitation Program for Visiting Professors is a system

Based on Interviews with Graduates from Tokyo Gakugei

to research and exchange information constantly about

University at the time of Foundationʼ. The Division ofsuch teacher education here and abroad. We invite Dr.

Teacher Preparation Research and Development works onPopov as an International Visiting Professor and Dr. AkihikoʻInternationalization of Teacher Education in Europeʼ andHashimoto (National Institute for Educational Policy

ʻOrganizations and Curriculums in Institutions for Elemen-Research) as an Internal Visiting Professor to have opentary School Teacher Trainingʼ. The Division of Research andseminars, and engage in other activities. Dr. Popov will

Development for In-Service Teachers challenges ʻRoles ofpresent problems and topics related to teacher education

Higher Education Institutions in In-Service Trainingʼ.

and school education reform Europe-wide and in northern

The project researches in the three divisions will collectEurope, whereas Dr. Hashimoto will provide an explana-

relevant book materials and conduct door-to-door andtion of problems and topics related to Japanese schoolquestionnaire surveys, as well as plan open seminars andreform and school evaluation, trends and tasks of external

workshops as needed. These plans will be put on theevaluation, and so on. Based on them, information

Centerʼs home page, and will be presented by other means

exchange is highly anticipated.

from time to time. (Hatsuo Mitsuishi)

Expectations for the Curriculum Japan and to become the pivot of their enhancement anddevelopment: ʻTeacher education at universitiesʼ and an ʻOpen
Center for Teacherssystem of teacher educationʼ.
Yoshikazu Usui

Faculty of Letters, Kokushikan University
Member of the Advisory Board for the Curriculum
Center for Teachers
Raison dʼêtre of the CenterI know well about the background of establishing the Center.
As the Dean of the Faculty of Education at a local national
university at the time, I was much involved in discussions about
reorganization of the ʻfaculty of teacher educationʼ. It was atime before national universities had become ʻincorporatedʼ.
Consequently, the establishment of the Center presented highexpectations of being the pivot of the entire faculty of teacher
education in Japan. That very expectation has apparently notchanged fundamentally even today after the ʻincorporationʼ
has taken place. Moreover, new signiﬁcance has been attached
to reorganization and new expectations.
Put succinctly, the raison dʼêtre of the Center is to reﬂect thefollowing two principles of teacher education in postwar

Expectations
Under the new situation by which national universities areʻincorporatedʼ, the raison dʼêtre described above does notchange fundamentally. Rather, during the pursuit by eachnational university of teacher education as a corporation after
being ʻincorporatedʼ, the Center has been and will be able to
do its intended work for enhancement and development ofteacher education at all Japanese universities in a new form
encompassing other ʻpublic university corporationsʼ andʻschool corporationsʼ.
Until now, the Center has tended to work rather as the pivotof the Japan Association of Universities of Education by distinguishing between ʻfaculties of teacher education in nationaluniversitiesʼ and ʻother universitiesʼ. It would be appreciated if
the Center could set to work at a new stage, including
reexamination of that scheme. I hope that the Center will
undertake to create a mechanism for new development ofpostwar teacher education together with the Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Sites Where Teachers Are
Nurtured
Support system for teacher
education in Kyoto CityIn April 2006, the Kyoto City Board of Education founded theDivision for Supporting Teacher Education. This division is incharge of promoting student volunteers, enhancing teachingpractice, and supporting the United Graduate School ofProfessional Teacher Education by eight national and private
universities, which is speciﬁc to Kyoto. It also plans and runs
the Kyoto Kyoshi Juku (an intensive school for teachers).
Because all operations require ties to universities, the Kyoshi
Juku emphasizes a particular effort in cooperation withuniversities.
Based on demand from universities, the Kyoto Cityʼs educational studies course, which is a core course of Kyoshi Juku,

Terminology of Teacher Education
Accreditation
ʻAccreditationʼ is a means to maintain or promote the quality of
initial training for professions through evaluation of individual
institutes (primary training providers) by a third party. It is typically
based on a peer review system among professional organizations,which are expected to be distinguished from governmentalauthority. The United States has several organizations for accreditation of teacher education, such as National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE, established 1952), which

Events Calendar
Saturday, November 7, 2009 (tentative)

Takeshi Nakae
Chief of the General Aﬀairs Department ofthe Kyoto City Board of Education
Member of the Advisory Board for theCurriculum Center for Teachers
was opened during ﬁscal 2008 at universities wishing toaccept it. It sought to improve understanding of Kyoshi Juku,
as well as encouraging the eagerness of students who want tobe teachers, and was implemented with the name of Demae
Koza (delivery session). The session was conducted in thefollowing order: First, teachersʼ consultants, who had plenty ofpractical experience, delivered plenary lectures on ʻA message
to you who strive to become a teacher after yearning so longʼ,ʻThe real joy of education: nurturing shining and growing
childrenʼ, and so on. Subsequently, students were divided into
small groups and had discussions. Then, all students gathered
and interacted together. The session was delivered three times
in all at universities at their request, with diverse forms
depending on universities such as regular classes, guidance
meetings for the teacher education course, or extracurricularlectures. It attracted 2,160 students of eight universities at 24sessions. The development research of teacher education
curriculums which the Center strives to support is an area withgreat signiﬁcance. Consequently, utilizing the research results,
the Board of Education seeks to play a role as a bridge between
students, who eagerly study teaching at the university, andclassrooms, where the students further improve their practicalteaching abilities.
have close relations with approval systems of teachersʼ license
courses in many states.
At the beginning of the Japan Association of Universities ofEducation (JAUE, established 1949), the United Statesʼ occupying
forces had aimed to create a teacher education accreditation
organization, although it has taken a long time for accreditation ofteacher education in Japan to become uniﬁed. Establishment of theAccreditation Organization of Professional Graduate School for
Education (M.Ed. course) in Japan might be a noteworthy milestone
in the development of effective quality assurance of ʻTeacher
Education at Universitiesʼ including the B.A. level. (Yasuyuki Iwata)

Saturday, November 21, 2009
The 10th Symposium: Teacher Education in Japan
as Viewed from Abroad

The 8th Workshop for Practicing Teacher Education(The Commemorating Event for the 60th Anniversary ofTokyo Gakugei University)

Staﬀ of Curriculum Center for Teachers

The CCT is produced by the Curriculum Center for Teachers,

Director

SHIMANAKA, Michinori(Professor, Japanese Classical Literature)

Center Researchers[Division of Curriculum Research and Development]
MITSUISHI, Hatsuo (Professor, Curriculum Studies)
KANEKO, Mariko(Associate Professor, Educational Sociology)[Division of Teacher Preparation Research and Development]
IWATA, Yasuyuki(Associate Professor, Historical Studies of Teacher Education)
UESUGI, Yoshimi(Assistant Professor, Media Education)

Tokyo Gakugei University.
Editor: Yoshimi Uesugi
Designer: Tsukasa Aoyama and Xiaohui Zhang(Aoyama Lab., Calligraphy and Arts, Tokyo Gakugei University)
Curriculum Center for Teachers, Tokyo Gakugei University
4-1-1 Nukui-kitamachi Koganei, Tokyo 184-8501 Japan
Tel: 81-42-329-7776
Fax: 81-42-329-7786
E-mail: currict@u-gakugei.ac.jp
Website: http://www.u-gakugei.ac.jp/˜currict/english/index.html