Acquisition of Qualificationscertification

①Teacher’s License

Students can obtain Teacher’s License through the School of Education. In addition to the credits required for graduation, students are required to earn credits for the classes offered for Teacher’s License. There are two types of licenses that can be acquired at the School of Education: junior high school (social studies) and senior high school (geography, history, and civics). Students can also obtain a professional license at the graduate school after completing various procedures.

②Social Education Supervisor

This is an appointment qualification issued to educational administrators who provide professional and technical advice and guidance to those who conduct social education. It can be used as a qualification when becoming a public servant or a teacher. For civil servants, if they are assigned to the Social Education Division, those with this qualification are eligible to be appointed as a Chief Social Education Officer, and teachers with this qualification have the option to be transferred to the Board of Education to work as a Chief Social Education Officer in the prefecture. From 2021, Kyushu University plans to start granting qualifications as “Social Educators ” that can be used in a variety of workplaces, in addition toSocial Education Supervisors .

Examples of courses required for certification

Students need to acquire 24 credits from six subject categories.
(Subject categories are scheduled to change in 2021)

4 Credits from Introduction to Lifelong Learning
Introduction to Lifelong Learning, Administration of Adult and Community Education, History of Social Education, etc.

4 Credits from Social Education Planning Theory
Methodology of Adult and Community Education, Organization Development of Adult and Community Education Facilities of Adult and Community Education, etc.

4 Credits from Social Education Seminar, Social Education Practice
Or from Social Education Subject Research
Pedagogical Fieldwork I Seminar
Pedagogical Fieldwork II Practical, etc

12 Credits from Social Education Special Lecture I, II, III
Foundations of Community Development, Mass Communication I, II

③Social Researcher

A Social Researcher is a qualified “social research specialist,” who has learned professional methodologies of carrying out surveys—interviews and questionnaires—and possesses requisite abilities in the field of social research, such as critically examining the results of statistics and opinion polls, as well as conducting the actual surveys. By obtaining the requisite qualifications for a social researcher, students will be able to apply their specialized skills for utilizing the data and information to benefit society, and become experts in research.
Further, those who acquire this qualification by going to graduate school and learning about more advanced analysis methods will be able to become qualified Professional Social Researchers.

To obtain the qualification

Students need to earn 14 credits in the following 7 subject categories:

A. Basics of social research
・ Introduction to Methodology for Field Research in Education

B. Design and method of conducting research
・ Sociological Research Method of Education I

C. Analysis of basic materials and data
・ Data and Information Processing in Education

D. Statistics required for social research
・ Statistics in Education

E. Method of analyzing quantitative data
・ Psychological Statistics

F. Qualitative analysis method
・ Sociological Research Method of Education II

G. Practical training in social research
・ Sociological Research Method of Education I (Seminar)
・ Sociological Research Method of Education II (Seminar)

For details, please refer to the website of the Japanese Association for Social Research (https://jasr.or.jp/).

④Certified Public Psychologist

In September 2017, the Certified Psychologist Act, which stipulates Japan’s first national certification for psychologists, came into effect. The Certified Psychologist is a title-exclusive license under the jurisdiction of both the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and will be a basic requirement for advanced professionals in clinical psychological practice in the future. In the future, it is expected that licensed psychologists will play an active role as a versatile qualification to perform psychological work in various fields such as medicine, welfare, education, judiciary, and industry. The Kyushu University’s School of Education, in cooperation with the Faculty of Letters, will offer courses and curriculum that meet the qualifications for the Certified Psychologist Examination (Fig. 1).

What kind of courses do I need to take to qualify as a Certified Public Psychologist?

As shown in Fig. 1, it is first necessary to take the 25 subjects specified by the Ministerial Ordinance in the specialized education of the Undergraduate. The subjects also include over 80 hours of psychological training. In addition, students can qualify for the national examination by taking 10 subjects (including more than 450 hours of practical psychological training) specified by the Ministerial Ordinance in the Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies in Kyushu University (Supervisory Training and Research Course in Clinical Psychology in Department of Clinical Psychology and Community Studies, or Department of Clinical Psychology Practice in the Professional Degree Program) at Kyushu University. There is a special measure for students that entered the university before 2017.

Is it possible to retake the Certified Public Psychologist course even after graduating from the School of Education?

You need to first take all the subjects specified in the Ministerial Ordinance while you are at school. Even if you go on to a graduate school where you can take the Certified Psychologist subjects, you will not be allowed to retake the undergraduate subjects.

What is the difference between a Clinical Psychologist and a Certified Public Psychologist ?

The clinical psychologist certification has traditionally been the most socially recognized private qualification for psychologists in Japan. This has also contributed to the development of Japan’s unique approach to clinical psychology, through things such as sand play therapy. It is not yet clear how the clinical psychologist qualification will be positioned in the Certified Public Psychologist system in the future, but it is expected to become a goal for those who have obtained the Certified Public Psychologist qualification to learn and explore clinical psychology more deeply. At Kyushu University, students can qualify for both the Certified Public Psychologist and Clinical Psychologist examinations (the latter does not require undergraduate coursework).

What are the features of the Certified Public Psychologist education at Kyushu University?

As with the teaching license, acquisition of certification is not an educational goal of Kyushu University. However, Kyushu University takes advantage of its strength as a comprehensive university to provide six years of integrated education in collaboration with other departments and graduate schools. Through systematic and high-level psychology education, we hope that students will be exposed to the cutting edge of modern psychological research and go on to become Certified Public Psychologists with a research-focused mind.