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Aspects of Mathematics Teacher Education in Japan: Focusing on Teachers'

Roles

Article  in  Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education · January 1999

DOI: 10.1023/A:1009960710624

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 TEACHER EDUCATION AROUND THE WORLD

ASPECTS OF MATHEMATICS TEACHER EDUCATION IN JAPAN:

FOCUSING ON TEACHERS’ ROLES1

Yoshinori Shimizu

INTRODUCTION

One of the characteristics of mathematics lessons in Japanese elementary

and lower secondary schools relates to the frequent exposure of students to
alternative solution methods for a problem (e.g. Becker, Silver, Kantowski,
Travers & Wilson, 1990; Stevenson & Stigler, 1992; Lee, Graham &
Stevenson, 1996). Japanese mathematics teachers, particularly in elemen-
tary schools, often plan to organize an entire lesson around the multiple
solutions to a single problem in a whole class instructional mode (Nagasaki
& Becker, 1993; Shimizu, 1996; Stigler, Fernandez & Yoshida, 1996).
Alternative solution methods for the problem are usually presented by
several of the 30 to 40 students in a class.
In this setting, a teacher has to pose the problem and anticipate students’
responses to it. In other words, the teacher has to consider, both in planning
and during the lesson, the diversity of experience and knowledge students
bring into the classroom. How do Japanese mathematics teachers select
the problems for their lessons? Do they have certain techniques for dealing
with the diversity of their students? If there are such techniques, how do
prospective and beginning teachers learn and develop them?
In this article aspects of mathematics teacher education in Japan are
discussed. Rather than presenting an outline of the entire education of
Japanese teachers, I will focus on the teachers’ key roles during the lessons,
roles that prospective and beginning teachers are supposed to learn either
in a teacher preparation program or through the interaction with their
colleagues. In an effort to provide a context for this aspect of mathe-
matics teacher education, a sample lesson and the typical organization
of a mathematics lesson shared by Japanese teachers are described first.
Next, I introduce several Japanese pedagogical terms that refer to teachers’
key roles during the lessons. The importance of these roles for educating

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education 2: 107–116, 1999.

© 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
108 YOSHINORI SHIMIZU

teachers is discussed. Also, the importance of workshops as a means of

promoting these roles is emphasized. The lesson on division by two-digit
numbers is used for reference throughout the article.

LOOKING INTO A JAPANESE MATHEMATICS LESSON

Consider a fourth grade classroom in Tokyo in which the teacher, Mr.

Matsumaru, introduces division by two-digit numbers. This is the first time
that his students are faced with a problem that requires division by a two-
digit number, although they have previously learned to solve problems that
require division by single-digit numbers.
At the beginning of the lesson, Mr. Matsumaru refers to an earlier
activity in which students had planted bulbs on the school grounds. The
teacher uses this activity as context and poses the following problem to the
students:
We are going to plant 128 bulbs of tulips into 16 planters. The same number of bulbs are
to be planted in each planter. How many bulbs will be planted in each planter?

After he has presented the problem with a picture and a model that
represent the setting, Mr. Matsumaru asks his students to think about how
they could express the situation in mathematical terms. Based on the mean-
ing of division as dividing into equal parts, students share the expression
128 ÷ 16 as a mathematical expression for the setting. Consequently, the
task at hand is to find the answer to 128 ÷ 16. Mr. Matsumaru encourages
his students to explore many different ways of finding the answer. After
the students have worked on the problem individually, several solution
processes and solutions are shared and discussed.

Typical Organization of Mathematics Lessons

A mathematics lesson in Japan lasts 45 minutes in elementary schools
and 50 minutes in secondary schools and is typically divided into several
segments (Becker et al., 1990; Stigler et al., 1996). A common lesson
organization consists of segments that often serve as the steps or stages
both in teachers’ planning and in the teaching-learning processes (Shimizu,
1996):
• Presentation of a problem;
• Individual problem solving by students;
• Whole-class discussion about the methods for solving the problem;
and
• Summing up by the teacher (Exercises/Extensions).
 ASPECTS OF MATHEMATICS TEACHER EDUCATION IN JAPAN 109

As in the Mr. Matsumaru’s introductory lesson on division by two-digit

divisors, mathematics lessons usually begin with a practical problem or a
word problem written on the chalkboard or taken from the textbook. After
the problem is presented and read by students, the teacher confirms that
the problem is understood by the students. If not, the teacher may ask the
students to read again or, in some cases, she or he may ask a few students
to show their initial ideas about the methods to solve the problem. Then,
about 10–15 minutes are assigned for the students to solve the problem on
their own.
While students are working on the problem, the teacher moves about to
observe students’ work. During this time period, the teacher gives sugges-
tions or helps individually those who are having difficulties. The teacher
also watches for students who have good ideas, with the intention of calling
on those students – in a certain order – in the subsequent discussion.
During the discussion, students spend the majority of their time listen-
ing to the solutions being proposed by their classmates, as well as present-
ing their own ideas. When discussing solutions to the problem, the teacher
asks students to present alternative methods to solve the same problem.
Presenting an idea, even a wrong one, is strongly encouraged and praised.
In some cases, the teacher may select an incorrect solution for presentation
in order to make a point. Finally, the teacher reviews and summarizes
the lesson, and, if necessary, presents an exercise which will apply what
students have learned.

Teachers’ Roles During the Lessons

The following pedagogical terms are commonly used to describe the
teachers’ key roles within a lesson: Hatsumon, Kikan-shido, Neriage, and
Matome.

Hatsumon. Hatsumon means asking a key question that provokes students’

thinking at a particular point in the lesson. At the beginning of the lesson,
the teacher may ask a question to probe or promote students’ understanding
of the problem. During the whole-class discussion, on the other hand, he
or she may ask, for example, about the connections among the proposed
approaches to solving the problem or the efficiency and applicability of
each approach.
Mr. Matsumaru, after students had shared the expression 128 ÷ 16 as
a mathematical expression for the problem setting, asked the following
question: “With which number as a divisor, instead of 16, could you find
the answer?” With this question, he was trying to emphasize the difference
110 YOSHINORI SHIMIZU

between what the students had learned in the previous grade and what they
were faced with now.

Kikan-shido. Kikan-shido means instruction at students’ desk and includes

a purposeful scanning by the teacher of the students’ individual problem-
solving processes. While the teacher moves about the classroom, silently
monitoring students’ activities, he performs two important activities that
are closely tied to the whole-class discussion that will follow the individ-
ual work. First, the teacher assesses students’ problem-solving progress.
In some cases, the teacher suggests a direction for students to follow
or gives hints for approaching the problem. Second, the teacher makes
mental notes as to which students used the expected approaches and which
students used different approaches to the problem. These students will be
asked to present their solutions later. Thus, in the period of the purposeful
scanning, the teacher considers questions like, “Which solution methods
should I have students present first?” or “How can I direct the discussion
towards an integration of students’ ideas?” Some of the answers to such
questions might have been prepared in the planning phase, but some are
not.

Neriage. The term Neriage describes the dynamic and collaborative nature
of the whole-class discussion during the lesson. In Japanese, the term
Neriage means kneading up or polishing up. In the context of teaching,
the term works as a metaphor for the process of polishing students’ ideas
and of developing an integrated mathematical idea through the whole-class
discussion. Japanese teachers regard Neriage as critical for the success or
failure of the lesson.
Based on the teacher’s observations during Kikan-shido, he or she care-
fully calls on students to present their solution methods on the chalkboard,
selecting the students in a particular order. The order is quite important
both for encouraging those students who found naive methods and for
showing students’ ideas in relation to the mathematical connections among
them. In some cases, even an incorrect method or error may be presented
if the teacher thinks this would be beneficial to the class. Once students’
ideas are presented on the chalkboard, they are compared and contrasted
orally. The teacher’s role is not to point out the best solution but to guide
the discussion toward an integrated idea.
In the case of Mr. Matsumaru, he selected several students’ solutions for
the presentation and focused on the relationships among those solutions.
He used the figure of the planters in various arrays as representations.
He spent, in particular, a fair amount of the time discussing the idea that
 ASPECTS OF MATHEMATICS TEACHER EDUCATION IN JAPAN 111

“We can divide both the dividend and divisor by 2 without changing the
result.” This idea had been proposed by a student and was then explained
by another student as he used the figure of planters. The idea was expanded
by other students who used the numbers 4 and 8 as common divisors of 128
(the dividend) and 16 (the divisor). The idea that “one can divide both the
dividend and divisor by the same number without changing the result” was
a main target of the whole-class discussion.

Matome. The Japanese term Matome means summing up. Japanese teach-
ers think that this stage is indispensable for a successful lesson. The
Matome stage is identified as a critical difference between the U.S.
and Japanese classroom activities (Fujii, Kumagi, Shimizu & Sugiyama,
1998). According to the U.S.-Japan comparative analysis, the Matome
stage Japanese teachers tend to make a final and careful comment on
students’ work in terms of mathematical sophistication.
In general, in the Matome stage the teacher reviews what students
have discussed in the whole-class discussion and summarizes what they
have learned during the lesson. Mr. Matsumaru summarized the regularity
of division students’ had found and discussed as follows: “The answer
remains the same when we divide both the divisor and dividend by the
same number.” Also, Mr. Matsumaru emphasized the usefulness of the
idea for reducing the problem with division by a two digit number into
ones involving only single-digit divisors.

ASPECTS OF MATHEMATICS TEACHER EDUCATION IN

JAPAN

Mentoring Beginning Teachers

To become a teacher in the Japanese educational system, a student must
obtain a teacher’s certificate by completing the subjects in a university
course, in accordance with the provisions of the Educational Personnel
Certification Law. Although the teaching certificate is valid throughout the
country, each local government is responsible for hiring teachers. With the
teacher’s certificate, prospective teachers take an examination offered by
each local board of education. Successful prospective teachers are hired
by the local board.
Beginning teachers who have been hired are considered to be novices
who need the support of their experienced colleagues. All beginning teach-
ers are required to participate in the induction training program for one
year after their appointment. For each beginning teacher, a master teacher,
112 YOSHINORI SHIMIZU

who might be a head teacher or another experienced teacher, is assigned to

help the novice make a successful start of their educational service and to
learn and practice the different roles the teacher assumes in the course of a
lesson.
During the induction period, workshops are offered both at the national
and at local levels. The induction program includes approximately 300
hours of closely supervised and monitored teaching, with some of the
classroom lessons being observed. In addition, the novices attend at least
20–30 full or partial days of further training at educational centers run by
the regional prefecture or the local boards.
There are other opportunities for beginning teachers to learn from their
experienced colleagues. Workshops of a particular style, Jugyo Kenkyu-kai
(lesson study meeting), are regularly held for both beginning and expe-
rienced teachers. The workshops include an actual lesson observed by
the attending teachers as well as an extended discussion after the lesson.
Teachers exchange ideas about the lesson with a focus on the content
taught and on the teacher’s roles assumed during the lesson. Experienced
teachers or mathematics educators are sometimes invited to comment on
the development of the observed lesson, on the interpretations of the
topic taught, and on how the lesson could be improved. In addition, there
are many informal circles of 10 to 20 practicing teachers. The teachers
gather after school once a month to discuss, for example, how they were
successful or not in their teaching of mathematics, to introduce interesting
problems or topics, and to examine the proposed lesson plans from various
viewpoints.
The physical arrangement of the school promotes the interaction among
colleagues. All teachers share a large room, the teachers’ room, where each
teacher has a desk. In addition to classroom teaching, teachers spend a
considerable time in the teachers’ room. This situation allows them to share
information about students, ideas about mathematical topics, and instruc-
tional materials. Also, teachers in public schools are required to move from
one school to another several times in their careers, possibly every three to
ten years, within their regional prefecture. In some prefectures, teachers
even move from elementary schools to lower secondary schools, and vice
versa. Teachers also move within a school from one grade to another each
year. These moves may be beneficial for beginning teachers as they help
them become familiar with the content taught in different grades.

Educating Beginning Teachers About Lesson Plans

Throughout the educational process, lesson plans are used as vehicles
with which teachers can learn and communicate about the topic to be
 ASPECTS OF MATHEMATICS TEACHER EDUCATION IN JAPAN 113

taught, possible students’ approaches to the problem presented, and the

important teacher roles. Preservice teachers are intensively taught how to
write lesson plans well. Inservice teachers also do have opportunities to
write or examine lesson plans at workshops and the informal circles after
school.
In general, lesson plans are written in detail. Writing lesson plans is
a critical exercise for preservice teachers, although they can easily access
sample lesson plans in a teachers’ edition or in other books. For a particular
topic, these lesson plans also include expected students’ responses to the
problems. During this period of education, prospective teachers are learn-
ing through intensive coaching to write and polish their lesson plans by
using a particular format (Figure 1).

Steps Main Anticipated Remarks

learning activities students’ responses on teaching
• Posing a problem

• Students’ individual
problem solving

• Whole-class
discussion

• Summing up
(Exercise/Extension)
Figure 1. A Common Framework for Lesson Plans.

An important part of planning for a lesson is Kyozai-kenkyu. Kyozai-

kenkyu refers to the careful analysis of the topic in accordance with the
objective(s) of the lesson. It includes analyses of the mathematical connec-
tions both among the current and previous topics (and forthcoming ones,
in some cases) and within the topic. Also included are the anticipation
of students’ approaches to the problem and the planning of instructional
activities based on the anticipated responses. For example, the current
National Course of Study (Ministry of Education, 1989) emphasizes the
importance of understanding and using regularities of four operations. In
accordance with the Ministry’s intentions, Mr. Matsumaru had planned to
implement a lesson that focused on the importance of regularities of divi-
sions, such as a ÷ b = (a ∗ c) ÷ (b ∗ c) or a ÷ b = (a ÷ c) ÷ (b ÷ c), based
on his interpretation of the topic: These regularities of division would be
useful for the students later when they would study division by decimal
114 YOSHINORI SHIMIZU

fractions (in fifth grade) and by a common fraction (sixth grade): 0.8 ÷ 0.2
= (0.8 ∗ 10) ÷ (0.2 ∗ 10) = 8 ÷ 2; 2/5 ÷ 3/4 = ((2/5) ∗ 20) ÷ ((3/4) ∗ 20)
= 8 ÷ 15.
It should also be noted that Mr. Matsumaru intentionally had selected
both the particular numbers 128 and 16 and the problem which required
a partitive division for introducing the topic. Consciously, he had chosen
not to use numbers like 120 ÷ 20 or a problem setting that required a
quotitive division. He thought that if he would have used 120 ÷ 20 for
introducing division by a two-digit number, students’ attention would be
confined to dividing the two numbers each by ten. Also, if he had used a
prime number like 17 for the divisor, no regularity of division would have
been noticed by his students.
For any given problem, prospective teachers in a teacher preparation
program will be expected to anticipate several student responses to the
problem. For the division problem, possible strategies included:
1. Guessing.
2. Repeated subtraction: “How many “16s” are there in 128?” (128 –
16 – 16 – 16 – . . . – 16 = 0).
3. Repeatedly substituting numbers into the expression 1 ∗ 16 = 128
(1 ∗ 16 = 16, 2 ∗ 16 = 32, 3 ∗ 16 = 48, . . . 8 ∗ 16 = 128).
4. “Dividing by 16” means “dividing by 8 first and then by 2” (128 ÷
16 = 128 ÷ (8 ∗ 2) = (128 ÷ 8) ÷ 2 = 16 ÷ 2 = 8).
5. Dividing both the dividend and divisor by the same numbers, e.g.,
128 ÷ 16 = (128 ÷ 2) ÷ (16 ÷ 2) = 64 ÷ 8 = 8, or 128 ÷ 16 = (128
÷ 4) ÷ (16 ÷ 4) = 32 ÷ 4 = 8.
6. When multiplying the divisor by 2, the quotient is halved (128 ÷ 4
= 32, 128 ÷ 2 = 64) so the answer of 128 ÷ 16 is half of 128 ÷ 8 =
16.
The success of a lesson depends heavily on the interpretation of the
topic. Thus, Kyozai-kenkyu is a crucial part of the lesson planning for
Japanese teachers. This kind of analysis is heavily emphasized in pre-
service teacher training courses at the university. Kyozai-kenkyu is also
emphasized as student teachers are supervised by experienced teachers
during their practice teaching. In summary, the educational value of a
careful content analysis is considered very important.

FINAL REMARKS

In this article, several pedagogical ideas commonly shared by Japanese

teachers were described. The discussion of multiple solutions to a problem
 ASPECTS OF MATHEMATICS TEACHER EDUCATION IN JAPAN 115

in a whole-class mode is a common style for teaching mathematics in

Japanese schools. Teachers play several key roles for making this teaching
style work well. These key roles are learned by prospective and beginning
teachers through both formal and informal educational settings.
A mathematics teacher in the Japanese educational system must not
only finish a teacher preparation course and pass a examination, but
also learn from their colleagues the teachers’ roles and the educational
value of a careful subject-matter analysis. Beginning teachers in Japan are
expected to continue learning teachers’ roles through the informal interac-
tion with their experienced colleagues as well as in a formal educational
setting.

NOTE
1 An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 74th Annual Meeting of the National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics which was held in San Diego, CA, 25–28 April
1996. The author would like to thank Jerry P. Becker, Southern Illinois University, Cathy
Brown, Indiana University, and Toshiakira Fujii, Yamanashi University, for their thoughtful
comments on earlier drafts of the paper.

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 116 YOSHINORI SHIMIZU

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Department of Mathematics and Informatics

Tokyo Gakugei University
Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8501 Japan
e-mail: shimizu@u-gakugei.ac.jp
Tel/Fax: +81-423-29-7471

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