Purpose of the Specified Non-Profit Corporation (NPO) the Elementary English Instructors' Certification Committee

Integrated study periods will begin in 2003, and English activities will be introduced to 22,480 public elementary schools all over the country as part of this program. However, the actual state of affairs is one in which the more than 400,000 teachers working in them not only lack licenses to teach English, but are uncomfortable teaching it.

In this situation, we believe that our mission for English education in Japan is creating a system that can train and certify private-sector instructors who have the skills that are needed to teach English to elementary school students and provide those instructors to classrooms. In order to carry out that mission, it is necessary to build a system that can enable gifted people in the private sector to confidently make use of their talents as English instructors. The establishment of an organization that can certify the abilities of instructors is an urgent necessity for the creation of such a system. The Elementary English Instructor's Certification Committee was started in order to carry out that duty.

The committee will cooperate with a wide range of education-related private-sector organizations for the purpose of promoting English activities in elementary schools by creating the licensing standards which are necessary to the achievement of its objective, in evaluating abilities and developing and researching educational resources.

The Founders of the Elementary English Instructors' Certification Committee