Teacher License Renewal System: A Teacher Accountability Policy in Japan

• In Event: Roundtable Session 124
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Policies in High-Achieving East-Asian Countries

Abstract

In 2007, a highly debated teacher accountability policy—Teacher License Renewal System (TLRS) was established in Japan, modeled after the license renewal policies in the U.S. This policy changed the prior permanent license of teachers to a temporary one that needs to be renewed every 10 years starting from 2009. To renew the license, teachers need to participate in 30 contact hours of university lectures called TLRS lectures approved by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MOE). It even required the existing teachers who received a permanent license before 2009 to renew their licenses. Since April of 2009, approximately 85-89,000 teachers across the country have been required to complete TLRS lectures to renew their licenses, or lose their teaching positions.
This study was conducted during the 2010-2011 academic year in the second year of TLRS implementation. Based on a survey of 365 teachers who participated in TLRS lectures at a national university, observations of the TLRS lectures, and interviews of Ministry of Education officials, university lecturers, and school teachers who participated in the lectures, this mixed-methods study sought to answer the following questions:
1. What are the social and political contexts in which the TLRS was introduced?
2. How did teachers react to the TLRS which required them to participate in 30 contact hours of TLRS lectures to renew their licenses?
The study found that under the public pressure and with the sense of educational crisis (e.g. media reports of teacher scandals, lowered ranking in the international assessment, Program for International Student Assessment [PISA]), the government hurried into establishing the TLRS. Teacher survey and interviews revealed three critical issues the TLRS ignored despite the policymakers’ awareness of these issues: 1) the fact that Japanese teachers are constantly engaged in professional development activities mainly through Lesson Studies—an instructional improvement process in which teachers collectively plan, teach, and discuss lessons, 2) the fact that teachers are overworked, and 3) TLRS was not designed to be integrated into the established professional development system and culture. Because of these critical issues overlooked by the MOE, teachers were not supportive of the TLRS. However, because of the teacher culture that values research and theory, TLRS lectures provided by university professors were highly valued by participating teachers. The study points out the importance of involving teachers in a decision-making process for establishing a teacher policy and thereby integrating the new policy into the existing teacher professional development culture and organizational structures in Japan.

Author

• Motoko Akiba, Florida State University