Cooking Class on Japanese Noodle ;Udon
Professionals ranging from French chefs to orchestra members
have been taking the teacher's podium in increasing numbers
at Japan's schools in recent years.
Over 2,000 people with diverse backgrounds either
taught in classrooms or led extracurricular activities this
year under a program allowing them to teach without a
license. Most of the instructors were involved with high
schools.
These part-time instructors have generally been very
popular with the students, many of whom expressed a desire
to take courses on even more diverse subjects in the future.
Growing Popularity
The program, created under the 1988 revision to the
Educational Personnel Certification Law, invites people from
a variety of nonteaching occupations to lead special
seminars in schools. The goal of the program is to encourage
students to pursue activities they have an interest in and
yet are not covered by the regular school curriculum.
Those wishing to teach in the program may be employed
for up to one year after obtaining permission from the
prefectural board of education. According to the Ministry of
Education, 173 professionals were employed as part-time
lecturers in the first year of the program in fiscal 1989
(April 1989 to March 1990). The total has since been growing
year by year, with 517 teaching in fiscal 1990, 1,162 in
fiscal 1991, 1,526 in fiscal 1992, 1,782 in fiscal 1993, and
2,302 in fiscal 1994.
Of the total in fiscal 1994, 2,070 taught at high
schools, 206 at junior high schools, 2 at elementary
schools, and 24 at other institutions.
Expanding Career Options
The principle subjects the part-time lecturers are teaching
at high schools are nursing, English conversation,
housekeeping, and music. At junior high schools, the most
popular course is English conversation, and at elementary
schools, professionals lead classes in music and arts and
crafts.
One of the more unusual lecturers was a noodle shop
owner in Kagawa Prefecture who was invited to lead a class
at a junior high school. The course was highly popular, with
about 230 students learning to make flour-based noodles
called "udon." The secret to his success may have the treat
awaiting the students at the end of the course: a chance to
eat the noodles they had made in the classroom.
The students have been generally favorable to the
classes led by people with nonteaching careers. Some of the
reasons for their approval include the fact that they are
able to learn subjects not covered in the regular curriculum
in an enjoyable manner; that they become more involved with
the subject matter since they are not lectured to but can
learn and work together with the instructors; and that the
courses are helpful in making career choices.
Educational reforms are currently been implemented in
various ways. A program established in 1994 allows high
school students to select the courses they take according to
their future goals, and another enables them to concentrate
in a particular subject, such as English or tourism.
In the light of these developments, the number of
people with nonteaching careers who lead classes at Japanese
schools will probably increase in the years to come.
(The above article, edited by Japan Echo Inc., is based on domestic Japanese news sources. It is offered for reference purposes and does not necessarily represent the policy or views of the Japanese Government.)