Special Needs Education School for the Deaf,University of Tsukuba

2-2-1 Konodai, Ichikawa City, Chiba Pref. 272-8560
Tel:＋81-47-371-4135　　Fax:＋81-47-372-2672

Overview

This is the only special needs education school for the deaf in Japan attached to a national university. The school provides education in kindergarten, elementary, lower secondary and upper secondary departments while taking into consideration the conditions and developmental stages of individual hearing-impaired children, paying attention to their hearing ability. In addition, the school follows the educational curriculum of regular schools and aims to achieve the same level of language and academic ability as children who study in regular schools. We also provide support for hearing impaired infants and toddlers aged 0 to 2 years old and their parents. Students from all over Japan are enrolled in the upper secondary department. There is a dormitory for them.

In cooperation with the University of Tsukuba and other institutions, we disseminate the results of our research based on educational practices both domestically and internationally.

missions

  • We promote education while taking into consideration the condition and developmental stage of each individual hearing-impaired child, and develop her/his potential.
  • We promote research based on educational practice.
  • We will conduct teaching practice in accordance with the university’s plan. We plan and implement training for in-service teachers.

Educational objective

We aim for students to acquire solid Japanese language skills through kindergarten, elementary, lower secondary and upper secondary departments education. At the same time, we will use the Japanese language skills acquired to advance the study of academic subjects and other studies to raise the level of academic ability.

Kindergarten Department

  • Through our daily educational activities, we set goals for children to acquire enough Japanese language skill to form the base of learning and daily life. We provide the educational environment for each child to act independently even in a group while considering their individual disabilities and symptoms.

Elementary Department

  • Enriched language gives children greater possibilities. In order to accomplish this, we conduct educational activities to enrich the skills, which children already have, in  communication, logical thinking, reading and writing and so on, and to discover their potential.

Lower Secondary Department

  • Our five objectives are “to nourish independent individuality”, “to develop personality that is adapted to the society”, “to enrich subject teaching”, “to support building the balance between body and mind”, and “to attempt to use hearing skills”. We utilize ICT and our own teaching materials/tools, and try to develop “easy-to-understand lectures”fitted to each student’s condition.

Upper Secondary Department, general course

  • We conduct our educational activities under two objectives: “to enhance students’ academic and physical abilities by elaborating lecture styles, methods, and contents for individual students to make use of their possibilities” and “to support students in making decisions for their future with the understanding of each student and the support of their family”

Upper Secondary Department, Advanced Course (specialized)

We aim to foster individuals who are able to live independently after graduating from high school through each specialized course.

  • Art and design (2-year program)：We aim to foster individuals who are able to live independently after graduating from high school through each specialized course.
  • Business information (2-year program)：To learn materials related to business or trading such as computer basics (OS), business software or bookkeeping.
  • Dental technician training (3-year program)：It is the only department in Japan that trains hearing-impaired dental technicians（※The department is scheduled to close in March 2025）．

Activities and Features

Dissemination of Research Results

  • We disseminate the results of our educational practices and research both domestically and internationally at Japanese educational research conferences and international meetings on hearing impairment education.

Organizing Seminars

  • We hold seminars about theories and practical training for deaf education throughout lectures, open classes and lesson research.

International exchange activities

Online exchanges and reciprocal visits with the following schools are conducted with the aim of fostering global human resources.

  • National Institute for Deaf Children in Paris (fiscal 2011-)
  • South Korea Seoul National School for the Deaf (fiscal 2008-）
  • Taipei School for the Hearing Impaired (fiscal 2016-)
  • The Affiliated School for Students with Hearing Impairments of National University of Tainan (fiscal 2016-)

Brief history

Edited by Special Needs Education School for the Deaf,University of Tsukuba, Jan. 15, 2025