Article summarized: > Some reasons given were fewer people applying for teaching positions owing to the public perception that school staff must work long hours. “The primary factor behind the issue is that the number of new permanent educators was slashed too much under financial difficulties as there will likely be far fewer children in the future given the dwindling birthrate,” said Aki Sakuma, a pedagogical professor at Keio University, who is well-versed in the problem of teaching staff shortages.
> Sakuma added, “That created a situation soon after the new fiscal year’s start where operators have no choice but to depend on nonregular staffers. > > “On top of this, now that it is widely known that teachers need to work long hours, schools are running out of those who hope to become temporary educators in a bid to work eventually as part of permanent schooling staff.”
This is starting to happen in pretty much all industries. The population isn’t going to magically increase either. I think we’ve learned a lot from the pandemic and if people catch on it’s a good chance to leverage AI and remote technology to do more with fewer people.
No, public schools in Japan suffering from record teacher pay and decent working conditions shortage. Plenty of people would love to teach if they could be treated like human beings while doing so.
This April my school cut four positions after the staff change. Teachers are taking double duties now, in addition to running club activities after school. People are not interested in taking a salary job that expects you to work for twelve hours a day.
The system in place treat teachers so poorly 흫_흫
The industrial arts teacher at my public JHS school comes from another prefecture once a week, almost a 3-hour round trip drive. Our art teacher (almost 70 years old) comes once every two weeks and teaches the students out of a textbook, and they do self-study on the weeks he isn’t here — they don’t actually do any art projects.
Because of the teacher shortage and lack of funding, they’re closing this school (and another nearby) next year and merging them with a third school about 10 minutes away. We have about 120 students. Feels bad man. I feel like schools are the heart of a small town — once you get rid of one NO young couples are going to want to move there.
They should stop being honest in the recruitment drive:
“Ever thought of becoming a teacher? Spend years learning about a particular subject and years learning how to effectively teach it. Then take control of a class of kids, at least half of which are going to see you as a surrogate parent because the yanki couple who claim to be their parents can’t be bothered – but will come down the school and get in your face if their spawn doesn’t get perfect marks every time. Then, when you’re not doing that, you’ll be making lesson plans and marking homework nonstop, and you’ll also have to fit in managing a club activity, often on a theme you know nothing about. Oh, and any respect you get will be superficial in nature and completely insincere. And do you believe in the restorative power of sleep? Haha, good one. Apply here!”
and we’ll change NOTHING……..
They don’t respect the teachers they have. Teachers are treated horribly. Work life balance is sh.t. Pay is low.
If there is a decline in the number of students, eventually they need to reduce the number of schools, not maintain the schools (and therefore number of classes) and decrease the number of teachers.
My friend in collage was taking course to become teacher but then quit, since he realized that job is such low paying and will force you to work 14hours a day. Basically, this country has some difficulties with managing work-life balance of some essential workers (ex: hospital workers, teachers, construction workers.
My school has started using a company to find “club advisors”. About half of the clubs are no longer the responsibility of the teachers now, but guess what? Those teachers are just assigned other duties that keep them busy until 6-8pm every day.
Raise the pay then.
There is a severe lack of investment in public school infrastructure as well. The education system in this country needs a serious look. I also think better education will help the economy in the long run too.
Teachers through their 30s get payed far more than Alts or Jets, teachers in their 40s and 50s make good money with the bonuses and everything included.
But man teachers work 12 plus hours here a day with tons of pressure and mental weight on the weekends. Hard life… and your 20s man they work you to the bone for low pay.
For a moment i thought this was r/netherlands due to how we got the exact thing going on, but in every sector because of shit wages in times where everything is getting more and more expensive.
It’s like people are expected to live on the street while working for nothing.
Unpaid weekends and after hours volunteer duties!?! Stay after work and submit lesson plans on my personal time??? Sign me up!! /s
Poor pay, insane hours, seeming increase in misbehaved students (personal and ex-JTE experiences). I’m surprised they get the number of graduates that they do.
Public school teacher here in Japan 20+ years. What I have seen in the last 3~4 years is disturbing to say the least. Classrooms are constantly hovering close to 40 students, desks 25cm apart, 3rd and 4th year elementary classes that are completely unteachable, homeroom teacher turnover in these classrooms averaging 3 to 4 teachers per year. These are not teachers who willingly decided to change careers, these are teachers both new and veterans who are being carried away after collapsing, are having mental and physical breakdowns. Yet the BOE’s continue to throw inexperienced educators fresh from university into these environments. The pipeline is empty, those students who never experienced a properly disciplined learning environment will continue to reduce the quality of their classrooms as they progress through the system.
Pay more and less overtime. Ffs. Not rocket science to increase numbers.
A teacher at my school just started a surprise doctor-ordered maternity leave and they had to re-contract a part-time music/art/English teacher into a full-time homeroom teacher to replace her. I’ll be taking over half of her English class load even though I’m just a part-time private hire ALT.
There are zero supply teachers or backup teachers in the system. A few years ago another teacher here was hospitalized for a month after a “Karoshi-Lite” emergency and his duties were divided among some of the other teachers. He came back to work a month before the doctor advised he should because he felt so bad about other people “picking up his slack.”
It’s only going to get worse. Teachers are overworked and underpaid, are caught between the rock and hard place that is the board of education and parents, and have to balance traditionalism with emerging modern technology. Only the truly dedicated have any interest in teaching as a profession. No one else will touch it with a five-meter pole.
Japan to promise developing nations tens of billions of yen in food aid at G7 summit https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/politics-government/20220626-40773/
22 comments
This is your future Japan, ganbatte!
Article summarized:
> Some reasons given were fewer people applying for teaching positions owing to the public perception that school staff must work long hours.
“The primary factor behind the issue is that the number of new permanent educators was slashed too much under financial difficulties as there will likely be far fewer children in the future given the dwindling birthrate,” said Aki Sakuma, a pedagogical professor at Keio University, who is well-versed in the problem of teaching staff shortages.
> Sakuma added, “That created a situation soon after the new fiscal year’s start where operators have no choice but to depend on nonregular staffers.
>
> “On top of this, now that it is widely known that teachers need to work long hours, schools are running out of those who hope to become temporary educators in a bid to work eventually as part of permanent schooling staff.”
This is starting to happen in pretty much all industries. The population isn’t going to magically increase either. I think we’ve learned a lot from the pandemic and if people catch on it’s a good chance to leverage AI and remote technology to do more with fewer people.
No, public schools in Japan suffering from record teacher pay and decent working conditions shortage. Plenty of people would love to teach if they could be treated like human beings while doing so.
This April my school cut four positions after the staff change. Teachers are taking double duties now, in addition to running club activities after school. People are not interested in taking a salary job that expects you to work for twelve hours a day.
The system in place treat teachers so poorly 흫_흫
The industrial arts teacher at my public JHS school comes from another prefecture once a week, almost a 3-hour round trip drive. Our art teacher (almost 70 years old) comes once every two weeks and teaches the students out of a textbook, and they do self-study on the weeks he isn’t here — they don’t actually do any art projects.
Because of the teacher shortage and lack of funding, they’re closing this school (and another nearby) next year and merging them with a third school about 10 minutes away. We have about 120 students. Feels bad man. I feel like schools are the heart of a small town — once you get rid of one NO young couples are going to want to move there.
They should stop being honest in the recruitment drive:
“Ever thought of becoming a teacher? Spend years learning about a particular subject and years learning how to effectively teach it. Then take control of a class of kids, at least half of which are going to see you as a surrogate parent because the yanki couple who claim to be their parents can’t be bothered – but will come down the school and get in your face if their spawn doesn’t get perfect marks every time. Then, when you’re not doing that, you’ll be making lesson plans and marking homework nonstop, and you’ll also have to fit in managing a club activity, often on a theme you know nothing about. Oh, and any respect you get will be superficial in nature and completely insincere. And do you believe in the restorative power of sleep? Haha, good one. Apply here!”
and we’ll change NOTHING……..
They don’t respect the teachers they have.
Teachers are treated horribly. Work life balance is sh.t.
Pay is low.
If there is a decline in the number of students, eventually they need to reduce the number of schools, not maintain the schools (and therefore number of classes) and decrease the number of teachers.
My friend in collage was taking course to become teacher but then quit, since he realized that job is such low paying and will force you to work 14hours a day. Basically, this country has some difficulties with managing work-life balance of some essential workers (ex: hospital workers, teachers, construction workers.
My school has started using a company to find “club advisors”. About half of the clubs are no longer the responsibility of the teachers now, but guess what? Those teachers are just assigned other duties that keep them busy until 6-8pm every day.
Raise the pay then.
There is a severe lack of investment in public school infrastructure as well. The education system in this country needs a serious look. I also think better education will help the economy in the long run too.
Teachers through their 30s get payed far more than Alts or Jets, teachers in their 40s and 50s make good money with the bonuses and everything included.
But man teachers work 12 plus hours here a day with tons of pressure and mental weight on the weekends. Hard life… and your 20s man they work you to the bone for low pay.
For a moment i thought this was r/netherlands due to how we got the exact thing going on, but in every sector because of shit wages in times where everything is getting more and more expensive.
It’s like people are expected to live on the street while working for nothing.
Unpaid weekends and after hours volunteer duties!?! Stay after work and submit lesson plans on my personal time??? Sign me up!! /s
Poor pay, insane hours, seeming increase in misbehaved students (personal and ex-JTE
experiences). I’m surprised they get the number of graduates that they do.
Public school teacher here in Japan 20+ years.
What I have seen in the last 3~4 years is disturbing to say the least. Classrooms are constantly hovering close to 40 students, desks 25cm apart, 3rd and 4th year elementary classes that are completely unteachable, homeroom teacher turnover in these classrooms averaging 3 to 4 teachers per year. These are not teachers who willingly decided to change careers, these are teachers both new and veterans who are being carried away after collapsing, are having mental and physical breakdowns. Yet the BOE’s continue to throw inexperienced educators fresh from university into these environments. The pipeline is empty, those students who never experienced a properly disciplined learning environment will continue to reduce the quality of their classrooms as they progress through the system.
Pay more and less overtime. Ffs. Not rocket science to increase numbers.
A teacher at my school just started a surprise doctor-ordered maternity leave and they had to re-contract a part-time music/art/English teacher into a full-time homeroom teacher to replace her. I’ll be taking over half of her English class load even though I’m just a part-time private hire ALT.
There are zero supply teachers or backup teachers in the system. A few years ago another teacher here was hospitalized for a month after a “Karoshi-Lite” emergency and his duties were divided among some of the other teachers. He came back to work a month before the doctor advised he should because he felt so bad about other people “picking up his slack.”
It’s only going to get worse. Teachers are overworked and underpaid, are caught between the rock and hard place that is the board of education and parents, and have to balance traditionalism with emerging modern technology. Only the truly dedicated have any interest in teaching as a profession. No one else will touch it with a five-meter pole.