Acquisition of Qualificationscertification

①Teaching Certification

Students can obtain Teaching Certification 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 certification. 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 full-time license at the graduate school after completing various procedures. In addition, it is also possible to obtain Japanese and English licenses if students take courses in other departments.

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 to social education officers.

Examples of courses required for certification

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

Introduction to Lifelong Learning 4 Credits
Introduction to Lifelong Learning, Social Education Administration, History of Social Education, etc.

Social Education Planning Theory 4 Credits
Social Education Methodology, Social Education Organization Theory
Social Education Facility Theory, etc.

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

Social Education Special Lecture I, II, III 12 Credits
Basic Theory of City Planning, 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 field research in education

B. Design and method of conducting research
・ Education research method I

C. Analysis of basic materials and data
・ Processing educational information

D. Statistics required for social research
・ Educational statistics

E. Method of analyzing quantitative data
・ Psychometric statistical method

F. Qualitative analysis method
・ Educational research method II

G. Practical training in social research
・ Exercise for educational research method I
・ Exercise for educational research method II

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 an exclusive qualification 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 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 faculty. 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 (Clinical Psychology Teaching and Research Course in the Department of Human Symbiotic Systems or the Professional Degree Course in Practical Clinical Psychology) 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 licensed 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 psychologist system in the future, but it is expected to become a goal for those who have obtained the certified psychologist qualification to learn and explore clinical psychology more deeply. At Kyushu University, students can qualify for both the Certified Psychologist and Clinical Psychologist examinations (the latter does not require undergraduate coursework).

What are the features of the Certified 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 psychologists with a research-focused mind.