Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
There are geography departments in all faculties of education and universities of
education, where training of teaching candidates is provided.
Within private universities, geography departments were established before
World War II as part of the junior high school teacher training course (Ukita et al.
2001
). The number of students in these geography departments is larger than that of
national universities. Students who study geography in these private universities
raise the quality of geography education in Japanese society.
The Association of Japanese Geographers lists 246 universities with geography
teachers and researchers. There are 778 universities in Japan, although only 31.6 %
have geography faculties. Therefore, geography researchers and educators are a
minority in Japanese universities.
12.2
The University of Education and Faculty of Education:
Teachers' Training University
Japan has 47 prefectures, each with a University of Education or Faculty of
Education that is part of the teachers' training program. To teach elementary school
in the country, teacher candidates study at one of these institutions in order to qual-
ify for a teaching license. Teachers of junior and senior high schools take courses in
their subject of instruction (e.g., geography) and in education-related topics offered
by the department of education and other relevant departments. Each university
must provide specialized geography training to support pre-service teachers develop
their knowledge and understanding so they can impart to their students the manners
in which geography applies to our current society and its future development.
12.3
System of Teaching License
Teaching licenses are classifi ed in accord with subjects and schools. The following
detailed descriptions refer to university geography classes that fulfi ll licensure
requirements.
12.3.1
Elementary School Teaching License
Elementary school teachers are responsible for instructing all main subjects, includ-
ing geography; however, these teachers are not required to have taken geography
classes in their university education. Approximately 21 % of pre-service teachers in
the department of education had not taken a geography class, but were still success-
ful in obtaining their elementary school teaching licenses (Shirai
1998
). Some can-
didates who become elementary school teachers have few opportunities to learn
