Terawaki Ken entered the then Ministry of Education in 1975.
After serving as Director of the Vocational Education Division in the Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau, he was appointed Superintendent of Education in Hiroshima Prefecture.
He then returned to the Ministry of Education and served successively as Director of the Medical Education Division, the Lifelong Learning Promotion Division, and the Policy Division in the Minister's Secretariat. He was then appointed Deputy Director-General of the Lifelong Policy Bureau, before taking up his current position in 2002.
His many works on educational issues include "Ikitete Iino? (Is it OK to be Alive)"