Brachytherapy in Japan

This study aimed to assess the current state of brachytherapy (BT) resources, practices and resident education in Japan. A nationwide survey was undertaken encompassing 177 establishments facilitating BT in 2022. Questionnaires were disseminated to each BT center, and feedback through online channels or postal correspondence was obtained. The questionnaire response rate was 90% (159/177), and every prefecture had a response in at least one center. The number of centers in each prefecture ranged from 0.6 to 3.6 (median: 1.3) per million population. The annual number of patients in each center ranged from 0 to 272 (median: 31). While most prefectures provided intracavitary (IC) BT for gynecological cancers and interstitial (IS) BT for prostate cancer, only one-third of the prefectures provided IS BT for cancer sites other than the prostate. The institutional image-guided BT implementation rate was 71%. IC and IS BT was performed for 15.4% of IC BT cases of gynecological cancer. Only 47% of the BT training centers answered that they could provide adequate training in BT for residents. The most common reason for this finding was the insufficient number of patients in each center. The results show that, although BT has achieved uniformity in terms of facility penetration, new technologies are not yet widespread enough. Furthermore, IS BT, which requires advanced skills, is limited to a few BT centers, and considerable number of BT training centers do not have sufficient caseloads to provide the necessary experience for their residents

オーストラリア・木曜島に渡った日本人の足跡を追う : 藤井富太郎氏の生涯から考える

Thursday Island, located to the far northeast of Australia and made famous in Japan by Shiba Ryotaro\u27s novel "Mokuyo-To no Yakai" (the night meeting on Thursday Island), once had a population consisting of 60% Japanese. In the Meiji period, in particular, many youths from the coastal area of Wakayama travelled to Thursday Island with the dream of striking it rich as a pearl diver. Although production gradually decreased, the pearl industry on Thursday Island continued to operate through to the Pacific War. However, at the outbreak of the war, most residents from Japan or of Japanese descent were confined in internment camps on the Australian mainland, and those without family in Australia, were forcibly repatriated to Japan after the war. Now, only a few families of Japanese descent remain living on Thursday Island, and it seems that the memory of the time when many Japanese emigrants lived on the island is fading. In this study, our aim is to gain a detailed understanding of the "perspective" of the Japanese emigrants on Thursday Island via an analysis of historical documents and previous studies. Further, we aim to show the multi-faceted and 3-dimensional nature of the lives of the Japanese emigrants on the island before and after the Pacific War by superimposing this "perspective" onto the individual life of Tomitaro Fujii

オーストラリアにおける教員の資質向上への取り組みに関する一考察 : クイーンズランド州を事例として

国内外の学力調査で、生徒の到達度に関するデータの集積が可能となり、その学習成果が比較される状況が国際的に共通の事象となっている。そのような現状に伴い、教授法や生徒指導などを含め、教員の資質や技能が生徒の学習成果の向上に及ぼす影響に対しても、これまで以上に世論の注目が集まっている。本論文は、オーストラリアにおける教員の資質向上への取り組みの現状と課題を明らかにすることを目的としている。同国では、教員に必要な資質や技能に関するスタンダードが全国・州別に設定されている。これらのスタンダードをもとに、教育機関は教員養成課程や教員研修を実施している。教員研修に関しては、その多くが都市部で開催されること、また有料であること、そして学校業務(授業等)との調整が必要となることなど、教員の参加に対する障壁が存在する。しかし、オーストラリアではインターネット上のオンライン研修、研修費用への補助金制度、学校内研修をそれぞれ充実させることにより、研修への教員の関心を喚起し参加率を伸ばし、教員の資質向上を推進しようとしている。これらの課題や現状の多くは日本でも共通しており、本論文を通して、我が国の教育への示唆を提供していきたい

学校教育における公正性と卓越性の両立 : オーストラリアの才能教育の事例から

The aim of this paper is to consider how the Australian education system simultaneously pursues both `excellence\u27and `equity\u27in the field ofeducation for the gifted and talented. These two key words,`excellence\u27and `equity\u27,are taken from one of the national goals of education in Australia, and are what modern school education in general continues to aim at realizing. To achieve this aim, we analyzed the history and current situation of education for the gifted and talented in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. NSW has been one of the leading states in this field, and we selected some primary schools within the Sydney metropolitan region, in particular, to examine their practices. To achieve `excellence\u27, the NSW state government has established over 70 courses (opportunity classes; OCs) for gifted students in primary schools, and prepared some selected high schools to educate, mainly, the students who complete the OCs. However, according to statistical data, we found that there are both geographic and ethnic`inequities\u27in the OCs. This means that most of these classes have been established in schools close to the metropolitan area, and over half of the students who attend these classes have a non-English speaking, particularly Asian, background. The OCs are for academically advanced students, and it is easy to relate the parents\u27 interests and attitudes to their children\u27s education. From an `equity\u27 perspective, it is essential to open the door to education for the gifted and talented education to all;however, it mostly depends on the parents\u27 and students\u27 motivations with regard to education as to whether the open door is chosen and education for the gifted and talented becomes a reality. This paper analyzes the struggles associated with the implementation of the state plan for education for the gifted and talented

へき地小規模中学校における学習支援活動を通した教職課程履修学生の成長と変化

本報告では、2015年度の石狩市立厚田中学校で実施した学習支援活動に関わる学生の振り返りを通して、学生の変化と成長を考察する。そのテーマとしては、「授業内での学習支援」「学校行事」「家庭科の授業」に関する振り返りである。それらを時系列的に考察した後、学習支援継続に係る中学校側からの提言を紹介し、今後の展開を提示したい。This paper aims to report on one year-development and change of university students influenced by the activities related to learning support in remote school (Atsuta Junior High School). The most of students who have participated in this project takes a teacher-training course and plan to become teacher after graduating university. Whenever they visit to remote school to participate in learning support activities, I have asked them written some comments on these experiences on SNS. These feedbacks would give us an opportunity to consider their development and change to become a teacher

トレス海峡島嶼地域における学校制度改革 : 先住民自らが進める改革の意義と課題

The aim of this paper is to clarify the challenges which indigenous remote communities have faced through the analysis of a set of initiatives to establish the new school system in the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. The reasons why to focus on this educational reform are these; 1) increasing interests of educational outcomes internationally and domestically in Australia and many discussions for educational reforms in many fields such as school curricular and teacher standards, so then a big impact on schools as well, and 2) the change of the government reaction for indigenous education, especially radical reduction of the grants after the political power shift from the Labor to the Liberal in 2013, which influenced so much on indigenous schools and communities. The Tagai state college was established with the aim of improving the students\u27 educational outcomes, and has a united college system with 16 existing primary schools in each island and a secondary school in Thursday Island. It is resulted as the consultation between the Queensland state government and the Torres Strait indigenous communities,which is known as the `Bound for Success\u27 policy. Because of the administrative system which has one executive principal in the college, the leadership was provided and then teachers\u27 qualities and curriculum were controlled at the central office. Since 2013, Tagai state college became one of the Independent Public Schools in Queensland, and the principal is authorized much more regarding to human resources and school finances. However,the reduction of federal funding on indigenous education had a huge impact on Torres Strait,and some initiatives have to be stopped or cancelled. It is quite difficult to take a sustainable approach to improve students\u27 educational outcomes especially in remote indigenous communities which have depended on government support