The National Institute of Special Needs Education (NISE) was established as an affiliated institution (National Institute of Special Education) of the then Ministry of Education, in 1971 to contribute to the improvement and development of education for disabled children in Japan. In 2001, through administrative reforms, the institute became an independent administrative agency. In 2006, the School Education Law was revised and the system was changed from "special education" to "special needs education" in 2007. In the same year, the institute changed its name to the current "National Institute of Special Needs Education (NISE)."

　In addition to the aforementioned major systemic revision of full-scale implementation of special needs education from 2007, the School Education Law Enforcement Order was partially revised in 2013 to allow for the determination of school placement based on consensus building and with maximum respect for the wishes of the student and their guardians. With the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2014, the enforcement of the Act for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities in 2016, and the revision of the course of study from 2017 to 2019, which emphasized flexible selection of learning opportunities and continuity of learning for children with disabilities, the environment surrounding special needs education has undergone significant changes. In December 2022, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) released a survey result which revealed that there is a possibility of 8.8% of students enrolled in mainstream classrooms of elementary or lower secondary schools "exhibiting significant learning or behavioral difficulties despite not having intellectual developmental delays." This indicates the growing importance of special needs education in elementary and lower secondary schools as well.

　Under these circumstances, NISE began its fifth medium-term objectives and plan period in FY2021.

　In FY2023, we will conduct research on four issues of "Priority Issue Research" that transcends the boundaries of disability categories and contributes to the promotion of national policy of special needs education, "research on the utilization of ICT in education for children with physical/motor disabilities" as "Disability-Category-Specific Research," which aims to contribute to solving urgent issues by disability type, and "Basic Research Activities" by theme-based research units and research units responding to specialized issues for each type of disability. In addition, we will work on one issue of "advanced and leading-edge research," which aims at presenting materials for consideration of future educational policy, options for educational practice, and new methods in special needs education research.

　In the teacher training program, we will consider the optimal training format for the with-COVID and after-COVID periods, while conducting Programs for Specific Disability Categories by combining online and on-site formats. In addition, we will continue to operate the NISE Learning Lab, where lecture content on special needs education can be viewed on the internet, and continue to offer online accredited courses for teacher certification in the areas of education for persons with visual impairments and persons with hearing impairments, for which there is an especially low rate of license acquisition, and collaborate with the Open University of Japan to improve the acquisition rate of special needs school teacher licenses.

　In terms of information services dissemination, we will use our website to post research results, various information on developmental disabilities and the Database for Supporting Development of Inclusive Education System (Inclu-DB), hold the NISE Seminar, and publish "Special Needs Education Leaves," leaflets for teachers who have no or limited experience in teaching special needs education, in order to disseminate a wide range of information on special needs education.

　To promote special needs education, it is important to make steady efforts on a daily basis. Therefore, we would like to enhance our various activities by working towards cooperation with related organizations.

　I will conclude this message with a request for the understanding and support from all people involved in this effort, including the general public. 

May 2023

President of National Institute of Special Needs Education (NISE) Shinichi Nakamura