<センター教員・共同研究者論考> 未来のファカルティをどう育てるか : 京都大学文学研究科プレFDプロジェクトの試みを通じて

Abstract

The PPF program of the Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, is one of pioneering attempts of PPF in Japanese universities. This paper aims to describe the program against its international and national backgrounds, to evaluate it on the basis of, among others, interviews of its participants, and to outline its future prospects. The program started in 2009, and now it is in its second year. It was planned and run by a project team that consisted of staff of the Center for the Promotion of Excellence in Higher Education and the Graduate School of Letters. The authors of this paper are among its members. The program is also authorized and supervised by the committee of Faculty Development of Kyoto University. In 2009, 30 lecturers took part in the program. They were former students of the Graduate School of Letters, and taught as part time lecturers in undergraduate courses of the Faculty of Letters. The program was designed to be an example of mutual FD in which each lecturer was expected to peer review the classroom performances of his or her fellow lecturers. To carry out the task of mutual peer review, lecturers were asked to attend several lectures of their colleagues, discussion meetings that followed immediately after each lecture, and a half-day teaching seminar that was held at the end of the entire lecture series. Our research revealed that most participants positively and highly evaluated this program as a precious opportunity for improving their teaching skills. They also found that the program provided them with mental support and encouragement for their carrier making. Admittedly, follow up studies are needed to assess whether this program really contributed to the development of participants' teaching abilities. It remains a problem how to sustain this program and to incorporate it into a regular graduate school-level curriculum of teaching training.