Special characteristics of the Graduate School of Education’s curriculum

The Graduate School of Education of Kagoshima University formulates its curriculum in accordance with the University’s curriculum policy; the Graduate School’s curriculum has the following four special features:
Firstly, there is the fact that hands-on training activities play a key role, and are implemented in conjunction with other required classes and elective classes.
The Graduate School of Education uses a four-semester system, with a curriculum that realizes an ongoing cycle of practical training and required classes, and practical training and elective classes. Starting from the first year, students experience a wide variety of practical, hands-on training; rather than having a unidirectional progression from theory to practice, students learn in a cyclical manner. In order to invigorate this cyclical learning, the Graduate School of Education has established a class (teaching issues research), which combines theoretical learning and practical learning as one. In this class, discussions and presentations are used to realize an intensification of active learning.
Secondly, the concepts of special education and universal design-based education are reflected in all five areas of required classes. Given that, currently, it is impossible for every school to establish a dedicated special education class, and given the need to provide education to children from a wide variety of different backgrounds and the need to take regional diversity into account, it is vitally important that the concepts and methods of universal design education are incorporated into all required classes. The aim is to ensure that mastery of the necessary knowledge and skills is not restricted to teachers who have obtained a special education teaching certificate, but is possessed by all teachers.
Thirdly, students undertake research not only on issues that they have chosen themselves, but also on problems affecting the schools where the students undertake practical training, and other problems affecting education in Kagoshima Prefecture. On admission to the program, every student will have research topics that they wish to address. However, we also hope that students will try to contribute towards solving educational problems affecting Kagoshima Prefecture, including problems affecting the schools where students do their practical training, and, in the case of students who are already working as teachers, the schools at which the students work; we provide suggestions as to how students can go about solving problems within the Graduate School of Education’s cyclical learning model, with its emphasis on hands-on, practical training. We proactively disseminate students’ proposals, through presentations at meetings of academic associations, and through the publication of research results.
Finally, we have established a system of collaborative learning that aims to help students who are already working as teachers and students who have just completed their undergraduate degree to strengthen one another’s capabilities. Within the learning environment provided by the Graduate School of Education, which emphasizes collaboration, students use observation to intensify their learning and generate new knowledge. Different students have different goals within the same learning environment. In the case of students who are already working as teaching practitioners, we hope that they will not limit themselves to working to enhance their own capabilities, but will also try to exert a positive influence on other teachers. At the same time, we hope that students who have just finished their undergraduate degree will not only be striving to become effective teachers, but will also endeavor to keep learning constantly in today’s rapidly-changing society so that, when they become senior teachers or administrators in the future, they will be able to continue to exert a positive influence not only on the children they teach, but also on their colleagues, etc.
The active learning perspective is inherent in the study of education. Building on a fundamental approach that undertakes curriculum formulation so as to realize a strengthening of observation capabilities and communication skills, the program at the Graduate School of Education has the following five key features:

1. Having students who are already working as teachers and students who have just finished their undergraduate degree studying together on the same course.
2. Hands-on, practical training activities with unique characteristics.
3. Incorporation of the universal design perspective into all five areas of the required classes.
4. Taking hands-on, practical training activities as the core element, and integrating these with required classes and elective classes.
5. Encouraging students to reflect on their learning throughout the two-year course.