Division of Educational Sciences

 Education is an important foundation that supports lives (education for life) and is the most important issue throughout international societies which is intending to construct the sustainable and peaceful society under the trend of rapid globalization. To solve such problems, the Division of Educational Sciences develops academics who have a global point of view and profound insight for various problems of human beings and are engaged in the creation of the future of human society based on education. To achieve the aim, this division provides "Educational Design for Teacher Educators Program," "Educational Studies Program," and "Teaching Japanese as a Second Language Program" for developing profound specialties regarding things such as purpose, contents, and methodology of education; and "International Education Development Program" as a fusion area diploma program for solving problems in the international society with a multi-faceted approach from a global point of view while based on the education studies. These diploma programs are composed to include a wide range of specialty areas concerning the construction of human society based on education and cover, as well as integrate, those areas.

 The acquisition of a global point of view and a profound insight of the various problems of human beings, one of the purposes of this division, is an aim that is shared with the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences.

 For academics who will be engaged in education in the future, it is required to cooperate with experts of areas other than education, rather than working only in an environment that is closed within a school and/or a community of education professionals (strong interest towards other areas than their own specialties and cooperation with experts of other areas, including natural and life science are characteristics that the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences requires students to acquire). For achieving this aim, it is significantly effective to provide education for the Division of Educational Sciences in the same graduate school as other academic areas.

 For example, "Special Lecture in Humanities and Social Sciences" and "History of Science for Humanities and Social Sciences", which are provided as shared subjects for whole the graduate school are composed to allow students to study human beings and societies themselves and products of their activities, are to be inherited via education and/or used as a material for education. This covers a wide and historical point of view related to such topics as literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, economics, management science, jurisprudence, politics, sociology, psychology, and educational science. The "Project for Cooperation with the Other Areas" is also a shared subject within the whole the graduate school and provides students with the opportunity to be actively engaged with other students, who major in the diverse areas, other than that which relate to education, for a project in which multiple areas cooperate. In addition to that, the subject "Future-oriented Thinking (Basic)" develops fundamental knowledge and the skills required for a person who will take the leading role to create society in the future from the viewpoint of entrepreneurship.

 Also for the specialized field diploma programs in the Division of Educational Science, the study in the same graduate school in which the other academic areas co-exist is expected to increase the effectiveness of the study of the specialized subjects in the division. For example, materials for the subjects "Basic Research on Education Material Design" and "Advanced Research on Education Material Design" in the Educational Design for Teacher Educators Program cover such topics as activities, products, and phenomena developed by human beings and society which are also covered in the programs of the education study areas in the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences such as the Humanities Program. It is expected to allow students to deepen their studies by taking related subjects provided in those programs. The class subjects provided in the Educational Studies Program such as "Education Philosophy", which philosophically considers theories and various problems regarding education, and "Education Sociology", which analytically and critically examines phenomena in education by using theories and idea in sociology, inherently have a close relation to specialty areas in the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences such as philosophy, social science, political science, history, management science, economics, and jurisprudence. Therefore students can deeply learn by additionally taking those subjects provided in the diploma program of the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences. Also the Teaching Japanese as a Second Language Program provides a variety of subjects based on such disciplines as linguistics (Contrastive Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, etc.), sociology (Cultural Sociology, etc.), and psychology (Japanese Language Learning Theory, Language Education Psychology, etc.).

 Thanks to that both divisions are arranged in the same graduate school, it is expected to achieve significant leaning effect because students can take related class subjects in the other division and have opportunity the to receive secondary instructions from a different tutor.

 Both the divisions share characteristics in the field in which students and faculties are interested (human beings and society), the area for which those divisions can contribute (creation of new value, philosophy, culture, and education), and the policy for provision of outcomes (in a long term rather than short term). The aim is to develop academics who can realize the sustainable development of human beings and society by conducting education and research in the same graduate school.


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