Early September is the season for graduate school entrance examinations. Our university finished them last week as well. To all the examinees, thank you for your hard work. To those who passed, I look forward to seeing you next academic year.
Recently, there has been an increase in the number of working professionals aiming for graduate school while maintaining their jobs. While I am sure government support plays a role, it feels like there are more than when I was a graduate student a few years ago. I believe this reflects an increasing number of people thinking deeply about their own careers. Even in graduate schools of education, I feel that the number of applicants who are currently active teachers is increasing. I know that studying at graduate school while working is a difficult task, but because it is a choice they made themselves, I believe their motivation is high (I have written about this in various past entries and in “For those who want to conduct research in Educational Technology,” so I will not discuss it further here).
When talking to working professional applicants or listening to their interviews, there is one thing that concerns me. It is that their reason for wanting to enter graduate school is “to study.” This might be different for professional graduate schools, but at the very least, the Department of Education Systems in the Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies at our university is not a place where “studying” is the goal. Graduate school is not a place where the goal is “to study,” but a place where the goal is “to conduct research.” Studying is merely a process of acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills while carrying out research. If the goal is “to study,” then becoming a non-degree student would be more appropriate.
Furthermore, I feel there is a discrepancy between what working professional applicants and we researchers mean by “research.” In our graduate school, many applicants are teachers in primary and secondary educational institutions, and I feel that the “research” they speak of is the transmission of knowledge and skills through the sharing of “practice,” with the goal being the resolution or improvement of the problems they face. However, the “research” that we researchers envision goes beyond that.
First, for the “research” that we researchers envision, being based on “theory” is a major prerequisite. Research cannot begin without this. Moreover, we do not just solve or improve problems in the field; we also develop tools (including paper-based materials) that can be used by others and consider their applicability in other areas. While it is a good starting point that the problems in your own workplace provide an opportunity to think about various things, if you want to conduct “research” at “graduate school,” you must consider that those problems are occurring in various other workplaces, and that by applying theory to solve those problems and implementing certain treatments, they can be resolved or improved. That is why “studying” is necessary. “Studying” is not the objective or the goal.
I do not necessarily view the aspiration of primary and secondary school teachers to enter graduate school in a positive light. It is truly a difficult task to attend classes, study, and conduct “research” while managing an extremely busy workload. “Research” also means that you can no longer just think about your own workplace. You will also need to gain the understanding of other teachers in the educational field. Before applying, you should consider the reasons and significance for why a teacher in a primary or secondary educational institution must conduct the kind of “research” that we researchers envision.
