アメリカの若手教育者・研究者養成制度に関する研究 : 日米比較の視点から

Abstract

This paper examines training programs for graduate students as junior educators and researchers in U.S. universities in order to learn lessons for the development and improvement of such programs in Japan. For training junior educators, teaching assistant (TA) programs play a crucial role in providing graduate students with invaluable experience of developing their teaching skills. Most large research universities have training programs for new TAs in place, and Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) programs, started in the 1990s, have been assisting graduate students to acquire important skills and knowledge to become faculty members. For training junior researchers, research assistant (RA) programs and postdoctoral fellow (PDF) programs play a major role in providing graduate students with opportunities to develop their research skills. Unlike with TAs, there is no systematic training program for RAs and PDFs, but lessons can be learned from U.S. programs of the responsibilities, statuses, and remuneration for RAs and PDFs at Japanese universities. Japanese universities have expanded their programs for TAs, RAs, and PDFs, but now the quality of these programs needs to be improved to develop the next generation of educators and researchers in Japan.