The education ministry plans to establish a new graduate school program that will enable working adults to obtain a teaching license within one year, thereby allowing them to retrain for teaching careers, sources said Thursday. The program will provide participants with pay for practical training at schools to ease their financial burdens. The ministry aims to secure more teachers by making it easier for working adults to switch careers to teaching.
It plans to submit a bill to revise the education personnel certification law to next year’s ordinary parliamentary session, aiming to introduce the program by fiscal 2030, which begins in April 2030. A draft plan was presented to a subcommittee meeting of the Central Council for Education, an advisory panel to the education minister. The new program will be open to working adults with university degrees, with participants selected by graduate schools and local boards of education.
Those who complete the course will be eligible to obtain a license for teaching at elementary, junior high or high schools. Participants will be required to earn at least 36 credits, including about 10 credits in subjects such as teaching methods and the understanding of students, as well as about 26 credits through practical training in schools. During the practical training period, they can receive pay while working under a temporary teaching license.
The ministry plans to require at least 57 credits for a regular elementary school teaching license and at least 56 credits for junior high and high school licenses. Under the new program, participants will be deemed to have earned 20 credits based on their work experience. Currently, working adults who did not complete teacher-training courses at a university or other institution need three years to obtain a teaching license through a graduate school program.
The new program is expected to streamline the path to obtaining a teaching license for working adults.
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