Here the author shares his attempt to add, without financial cost, substantive and dynamic international experiences to the secondary social studies teacher education program he facilitates. He provides thick descriptions of (1) the overarching goals of a collaborative, online, international learning project, (2) the curriculum materials he helped…

This article presents four-column lesson planning, an adaptation of lesson study, for preservice secondary school teachers. Four-column plans, an integral part of Japanese lesson study, have been less emphasized in the United States. This article presents study results indicating how these teachers were affected by this lesson study adaptation:…

In October 2007, three education bills, including the Revised Teacher's License Law were approved by the Central Education Council in February and submitted to the Diet. The purpose of the Revised Teacher's License Law was "to ensure teachers systematically acquire up-to-date knowledge and skills to maintain the professional competencies…

In Japan, "jugyou kenkyuu"--or lesson study--is the most common form of professional development among elementary school and lower-secondary school teachers. While in the United States it is best known as a means of improving math instruction, in Japan, lesson study is practiced in all subjects, from language studies to physical…

This study explores gender inequality in the occupational culture of Japanese high school teachers with special focus on women teachers' resistance to gender-biased practices. It examines the effectiveness of official and informal teacher training programmes in raising awareness of gender issues. Through an ethnographic case study conducted in…

The purpose of this study was to analyse Japanese physical education teachers' beliefs on teaching students with disabilities in integrated classes. The participants were five physical education teachers in Japan. Situated in planned behaviour theory developed by Icek Ajzen in 1985, the research method was descriptive-qualitative case study as…