二战后日本人口变动与学校制度的变革——与山崎博敏教授的对话及反思

Demographic Change and Schooling System Change in Japan after World War Ⅱ-A Dialogue and Reflection with Professor Hirotoshi Yamazaki

第二次世界大战后日本人口出现了两增两减,进入21世纪后呈不断下滑之势。在人口急剧减少的影响下,中小学校出现学生人数减少、学校撤并以及教师需求减少等问题。日本政府通过制定改善性政策、缩小班级规模、改进教学方法、增加特定学科专任教师人数等方式改善中小学教育条件。为应对人口变动形势下中小学教师需求的变化,担负教师培养责任的大学及院系的招生规模进行了三次扩大及两次缩小。在教师需求减少时,大幅消减招生名额,教员养成学部进行减员重组;在教师需求迅速增加时,升格私立短期大学,增设教员养成学部,逐渐扩大私立大学在小学教师培养中所占的份额。在高等教育阶段,通过实施阶段性高等教育计划来调整高等教育招生规模及资源配置,以应对人口变动之势。面对低生育率时代,初、中、高等教育的规模将不可避免地缩小,教师大量录用时代将会结束。政府可以通过改善教育条件、提供重视每个学生个性和需求的教育以及发展个人素质来提高劳动力的质量,弥补劳动力数量的下降。同时,应采取有利于生育及育儿的相关政策来遏止人口的不断减少,重现教育的未来和希望。

Japan's population has increased twice and decreased twice since the end of World War Ⅱ,and has been declining since the beginning of the 21st century.As a result of the rapid population decline,primary and secondary schools have seen a decline in the number of pupils,the closure of schools,and a decrease in the demand for teachers.The Japanese government has improved the conditions for primary and secondary education by formulating improvement policies,reducing class sizes,improving teaching methods,and increasing the number of full-time teachers in specific subjects.In response to the changing demand for elementary and junior high school teachers in the context of demographic changes,universities and faculties responsible for teacher training have expanded their enrollment three times and reduced their enrollment twice.When the demand for teachers decreased,the number of students enrolled was drastically reduced,and the faculty of education was reorganized,and when the demand for teachers increased rapidly,the private college was upgraded to a four-year university,and the faculty of teacher training was added,gradually expanding the private universities in the training of elementary school teachers.At the tertiary education stage,the enrollment scale and resource allocation of higher education should be adjusted through the implementation of a phased higher education plan to cope with the trend of population change.In the face of the era of low fertility,the scale of elementary,secondary,and tertiary education will inevitably shrink,and the era of mass recruitment of teachers will come to an end.The government can adopt policies that are conducive to childbearing and childcare to halt the declining population and restore the future and hope of education.