What is Tohoku University?
Tohoku University is one of the most excellent universities in Japan. It was established in 1907, following the establishment of Tokyo University and Kyoto University. Therefore, Tohoku University is the third imperial university of Japan.
Graduate Schools of Education in Japan have three origins.
The first is the origin of former empire universities, which includes our graduate school. These universities are research-centered, large budget size universities. However, the graduate school of education in these universities focus on both theatrical and practical aspects of educational research.
The second group has an origin of former normal schools. Located in each prefecture, this group is popular and has a unique style to train teachers. The major of these faculty staffs are consisted from three professions. The first is educational theory, which includes educational philosophy, history of education, children's psychology, etc. The second is teaching strategy, or how to teach each school subject. Finally, the third and most majority stuffs include various academic professions: linguistics, historians, physicist and so on. This group of graduate schools of education is called the School of Liberal Arts.
The third group has an origin of higher normal schools. Located in East and West Japan, this group trained leaders of teachers in national wide before World War II. The school from the East, known as Tokyo Higher Normal School, was divided into both Tokyo Gakugei University and Tsukuba University. The Western school, Hiroshima Higher Normal School, succeeded in becoming the Graduate School of Education at Hiroshima University.
Our Graduate School of Education not only focuses on school affairs but also on all sides of educational affairs, from children to adults. The Graduate School of Education is composed of six major courses: Educational Philosophy and History, Educational Policy, Adult Education, Learning and Instruction, Educational Psychology and Counseling, and Educational Measurement. Our staff is not limited to their works and academic research only. In fact, most of our staff not only has connection with faculty inside Tohoku University, but they also have a connection with outside school teachers and counselours. Our university's tradition is based on concepts from Practical sciences.
→Graduate School of Education, TOHOKU University Home Page
I received my doctoral degree in Social Studies from Hiroshima University. In the past, I've taught at a Junior High School. I used to be a lecturer in the Graduate School of Education, which falls under the second group mentioned above, and I taught a Social Studies training course for teachers. I now belong to the Learning and Instruction course and cover almost all school subjects.