Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 12
University Geography Departments
and the Teaching License in Japanese
Geography Education
Koji Ohnishi
Abstract
This paper provides a historical background for the current state of geog-
raphy education in Japan, focusing primarily on the role of Japanese universities in
the teacher training process. There are several problems in the teacher licensure
process in Japan. For elementary school teacher training, candidates are not required
to have taken a geography class. Prior fi eld research and map use training is not
required for teachers licensed to teach secondary school Social Studies and the
Geography and History subject areas. Many of these university programs fail to
provide suffi cient geography education to pre-service teachers. As a result, newly
licensed educators are unable to competently teach the subject.
Keywords
Geography class • Geography department • Teaching license • University
12.1
Geography Departments in Universities
The geography departments in Japanese universities are usually within one of three
faculties: Literature, Science, or Education. Recently, the department of geography
may also be within other faculties, such as the faculty of Environment. In the past,
there were regional differences in the location of university geography departments.
In 1907, geography was within the Faculty of Literature at Kyoto University,
whereas it was within the Faculty of Science at The University of Tokyo. Following
this trend, national universities in western Japan normally included geography
departments within the faculty of Literature, whereas the faculty of Science housed
them in the eastern part of the country (Ukita et al.
2001
). Currently, geography
departments are not set up according to regional jurisdictions.
It is important to have geography classes at universities that students obtain
teaching licenses for elementary school education, Social Studies education in
junior high school, and Geography and History education in senior high school.
