教育学部の5つの特徴

Five Features of the School of Educationfive-features

Thorough Education in Small Classes
Kyushu University’s School of Education accepts only about 50 students every academic year. As the class sizes are small, students can attend lectures while maintaining a closeness with faculty members. Even in case of laboratory assignments, each laboratory offers instruction in small groups with a maximum of three or four students, and students can receive one-to-one research guidance. In the first semester of the third year, students select a faculty advisor and are assigned to that faculty member’s laboratory. Under the guidance of the faculty advisor, students will learn the basics of their field of specialization and explore their own research topics. They will then conduct a series of surveys and experiments, and finally write their graduation thesis.
Internationalization of Curriculum
Kyushu University’s School of Education has excellent achievements in terms of international research on the state of education. It has worked to develop global human resources based on the traditions of the Institute for Comparative Education and Culture (1955–1996), which is affiliated with the Kyushu University’s School of Education and was established with a donation from the Rockefeller Foundation. The International Course at the Kyushu University’s School of Education started in 2019 and includes lecture and seminar subjects offered in the English language, thereby allowing students to write their graduation thesis in English. The Course also offers overseas fieldwork placements in China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam (for 8 days and 7 nights), as well as overseas internships in Mongolia. This effectively provides students with the opportunity to visit other educational institutions, from which they can gain valuable experience.
Class Subjects based on Theory-Practice Interaction
Since 2001, the Kyushu University’s School of Education has offered a group of subjects (Pedagogical Fieldwork I, Pedagogical Fieldwork Seminar, Pedagogy Internship Seminar) known as the “Subject Research Series.” Students are given various opportunities to visit educational sites where they can apply the theories of pedagogy and educational psychology to actual educational settings. In Educational Practice Seminars I & II, based on a cooperation agreement with the Fukuoka Prefecture Education Center, related lecturers are invited from the center to conduct omnibus lectures and discussions on subjects and issues that are currently important in the field of education.
Acquisition of Specialized Knowledge and Skills to Conduct Research
The School of Education offers a wide range of subjects to help students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct research.
For example, through the “Literature Review” class that is required in the second year, students will become familiar with the process of reading research literature, understanding it, examining the processes that underpin it, clarifying issues and limitations, and forming criticisms. This essentially forms a basis for learning knowledge and skills in various fields and methods of pedagogy, such that students can develop the ability to identify and pursue their own research topics.
In the “Psychology Research Methods” class, which is also a second-year requirement, students will acquire knowledge of different methods in the fields of developmental, social, and educational psychology. Additionally, they will be taught observation methods such as fieldwork, survey methods using questionnaires to conduct research in psychology, and practical training to apply this knowledge to their research.
Seminars to Develop the Practical Aspects of Lecture-based Knowledge
The specialized subjects of the School of Education offer the same number of seminar subjects as lecture subjects.
In addition to acquiring knowledge of pedagogical theories and important research learned in lecture courses, students in Pedagogy learn qualitative and quantitative research methods such as participant observation, ethnography, interviews, conversation analysis, and statistical data analysis, as well as theoretical research, and methods of analyzing and interpreting historical materials and data through reading articles and conducting fieldwork in their seminar subjects.
In Educational Psychology, students learn the theories of psychology and important research through lecture subjects, and also acquire it in an applied and multifaceted manner through practical training, role-play, group work, and reading literature, among other approaches. For example, in the third-year class on “Psychological Testing Methods Seminar,” students will learn about personality tests, intelligence tests, and developmental tests in a hands-on way.