Opinions on Qualifications of Surveyors of Care for Children with Disabilities in Japan

To assure the quality of care for children with disabilities, opinions on the qualifications and training programmes for surveyors of the care for children with disabilities were collected in case Japan implemented the new assessment system that specialised in care for children with disabilities. To illustrate the career pathway and to compare the system with other inspection systems overseas, this study employed a triangle model using education years as the scale. The questionnaires were twice mailed to all the administration adequacy committees and grievance committees. Seventeen committees replied. Results revealed the average number of years of education was 4.6 years and 7 years for applicants and inexperienced surveyors, respectively. The recommended duration of training programmes was 27.8 hours on average. The respondents appeared to expect extremely high qualifications to be obtained in rapid training in comparison to overseas inspectors; however, this was not uncommon in Japan. The ministry shared our findings for the improved survey. Indices of the triangle model will be beneficial to compare qualifications and evaluate training programmes.