Questions Regarding Licensing

Who is eligible to be licensed?
This qualification is not an exam, so there are no tests. We believe that it is impossible to judge suitability to be an elementary English instructor using a test. Because of this, J-Shine certifies groups which provide solid training to instructors; you must obtain the recommendation of one of these registered groups (which are listed on our homepage) after attending the instructor training courses it holds. J-Shine carries out investigations based on these recommendations and issues license certificates.

What is the difference between a member of J-Shine and a licensee?
Members are persons who share the beliefs that the committee was founded upon and support its activities as an NPO. Most are people who desire an improvement of English instruction in Japan; member organizations include international businesses and publishing companies as well as educational groups, and our diverse individual members include owners of companies, private English instructors and volunteers. By no means are all members English instructors.
Membership is not a requirement for licensing.

Are points from registered groups transferable?
Licensing is not based on earning a fixed number of points. As mentioned earlier, the committee issues licenses based on the recommendation of registered groups. Because of this, licenses are not given based on the accumulation of points as is implied by this question.
However, some registered groups do have such point-based instructor training systems. In particular, some registered groups use courses which consist of several courses from the shared curriculum required by J-Shine (special courses) combined by the committee in a unique way as requirements for licensing. Additionally, some registered groups may transfer points; ask individual groups for information about this.
In the future, J-Shine plans to promote the creation of an environment in which registered groups use their power to promote instructor education through transferable points.

Planning to apply for licensing
Applications for licenses are accepted at any time. However, since licensing by the committee is done based on the recommendations of registered groups, applications cannot be made prior to the completion of courses planned and held by one of these registered groups.
The J-Shine website can be used to obtain information regarding the courses held by individual registered groups. Additionally, registered groups are listed on the committee's website, and they can be contacted directly for information.

Does being licensed as an elementary English instructor enable you to teach in a school?
No. There is no direct connection between this license and employment by a school as an English instructor. It has recently become common for schools to hire outside teachers, but it is not yet common for them to hire private persons as teachers. However, because it is thought that elementary schools will have to make use of outside talent to teach English, J-Shine is working with other educational NPOs to encourage schools and boards of education all over Japan to hire licensed persons as teachers.

Is the license a national license?
It is not a state examination. It is a license provided by the committee itself in order to promote and improve elementary English.

Does the license expire if you fail to renew your certificate?
Yes, it does. The committee will send you the necessary renewal documents when it is time for you to renew. If you fail to complete the process within three months of being notified, your license will expire. If this happens, you must go through the procedures of the initial license examination again.

Questions Regarding Registered Groups

What kind of groups can be registered?
Any group which holds or plans to hold development courses for instructors who can teach English in elementary schools can apply to J-Shine to become a certified registered group. Groups are considered by J-Shine based on the philosophy, curriculum, educational materials and other aspects of the instructor development courses that they provide. Groups which are judged to be suitable for registration based on the results of their examination can hold courses based on the shared curriculum and provide recommendations for instructors who have completed those courses.

Does it matter which group's course I take?
In order to ensure that the courses provided by all registered groups provide useful instruction, the committee provides a shared curriculum, examines instructional materials, methods, and other aspects of instruction, and only allows groups which reach a fixed standard to become certified registered groups. However, groups do differ to some extent in aspects such as the number of course hours and required course fees.

Can you arrange jobs for instructors?
Job recommendations are not provided. Information such as guides to courses provided by registered groups and lists of instructors are provided on J-Shine's website. At the same time, the committee works with boards of education and governments all over the country to encourage them to increase the number of positions for licensed instructors.

Is it possible to become a registered group without becoming a member of J-Shine?
Registered groups and J-Shine members are not the same. Thus, lack of membership does not mean that a group cannot be registered. However, we encourage groups to join the committee at the time they are registered if possible, and we prefer that they support the committee.
There are two types of committee members, full members and supporting members, and both types of members receive information regarding elementary English education and the monthly magazine Children's English, published by ALC.

Regarding questions concerning student teaching hours
Many persons have indicated to us that completing a great many hours of student teaching is a problem for them. In particular, many persons from universities have stated that it makes it difficult for universities to license instructors. Many have suggested making it possible to obtain student teaching hours after graduation or though local volunteer work, and stated that this uncertainty poses a risk to universities when recruiting students. We will provide the committee's opinions in response to such questions regarding student teaching hours.
Because our approach was based on a consideration the question of what type of people to provide elementary English licenses to, we did not give any consideration to what problems groups might have. Of course, our assumption was that university graduates would obtain work as elementary English instructors, so we did consider the practical matter that student teaching hours would be a major hurdle to such students. However, since the question of how best to train instructors capable of providing a solid education was our priority, our first obligation was fulfilling our aim of being a committee which provides licenses in a responsible way, and the importance of student teaching was emphasized and indicated as a criterion in the shared curriculum.
The fairly specific contents in our current shared curriculum have been pointed out, and we have been asked to make the number of hours of student teaching similarly specific. All of the members of the certification committee agree that in this case, the number of hours of student teaching should be made more specific and the contents easier to understand, based on the general rule of licensing good instructors.
The Ministry of Education's inquiry commissions and specialist conferences are discussing the problems of teacher licensing, and their basic trend is to make more of student teaching. It is understood that putting this policy of making more of student teaching into effect when even the current system of student teaching is unpopular with the schools where it takes place will lead to a great number of problems, but policy planning continues to move in this direction. We believe that this is due to the strong desires of guardians and others regarding the quality of teachers.
Starting this year, the education ministry is beginning to consider after school tutoring as part of its policy of making more of student teaching. This is a project in which university students who wish to become teachers will provide after school instruction and is formally part of a plan to improve scholastic abilities, but it derived from the issues described above. The phrases "practical training" and "in the classroom" have gradually become more frequently heard in discussions of teacher development.
Thus, the question of how to secure student teaching positions is going to be the biggest issue in teacher development, and we believe it will be a way in which various development organizations distinguish themselves.

In the end, we will confirm this.
We ask that groups consider what is needed to train good instructors and plan a method with enough student teaching hours to cover that need and submit applications to be certified as registered members. The problem is how the certification committee is to judge this. If there is no problem, the certification committee will give a passing grade. The methods of grading are discussed elsewhere, and by no means is it necessary to obtain a perfect score. We have had them make a final statement to this effect.