This paper compares the development and placement of teacher education within the tertiary sectors of Japan and Hong Kong. Historically both places initiated formal teacher education separate from university training as part of binary systems, and later moved teacher training to the university sector. Here Hong Kong lags behind Japan, having only recently moved towards creating an all-graduate, all-trained teaching force. Both places retain mono-technical teacher training institutions along side teacher training within comprehensive universities. Both societies are involved in major educational and curriculum reforms in order to respond to both the economic challenges of globalization, and social ills attributed in part to the failure of their educational systems. These reforms are closely linked to the quality (knowledge, skills and attitudes) of teachers. In this regard both Japan and Hong Kong have instituted teacher education reforms. At the same time, demographic realities have significantly lowered the demand for teachers. This has led both governments to try to reduce the size of publicly supported teacher education programs, primarily through pressure for consolidation of existing programs. Research on mergers indicates that these processes are more costly than usually expected, and may not result in the economy and efficiency that often drives the process to begin with. This paper concludes that it is important to initiate merger processes with care, and not to sacrifice other important goals (such as innovative approaches to the production of high quality teachers) in the course of consolidation.
[Copyright © 2004 Center for the Studies of Higher Education, Nagoya University.]