Who wants to teach in Japan?
During my time off, I had the fascinating opportunity to tour a handful of elementary schools in rural Japan as teachers prepared for the students to return there. Some differences with American schools:
1) Afraid that teachers will get too comfortable in their jobs, the Japanese powers-that-be transfer them to different schools within the area every few years. And first-year teachers are always transferred somewhere else for their second year.
2) Students are off for just about six weeks in the summer, which falls in the middle of the school year, and teachers work year-round, planning lessons while the kids are on vacation.
3) So committed is the community I visited (a town called Yakage in the Okayama prefecture, roughly between Osaka and Hiroshima) to the concept of neighborhood schools that class sizes vary wildly so students can attend the school closest to their home. I saw one school that has 40 kids to a class and another a few miles away with an average class size of 10. I heard about a class with only one child.
4) While discipline isn't perfect, teachers are generally revered by their students and in society. (This is also true in the Philippines, which explains why many of the Filipino teachers here experience culture shock when they enter American classrooms.) The same Japanese word, "sensei," is used to refer to teachers, doctors and priests.






Comments
Glad to have you back.
Japan's school system will no doubt experience real challenges in the next several decades. Their population is on such a steep decline that it may be a real shock to the system to scale back.
Posted by: VoiceForSchoolTruth | September 3, 2008 5:41 PM
I am sorry to say as a teacher in Japan for the last 12 years I hate to say that this is SOOO misleading. Spend a day or two at a one or two schools doesn't gvie you any kind of real picture of the Japanese school system. If you are going to write about the Japanese school system ask someone who has been a part of it for the last 12 years.
Posted by: tripank | September 7, 2008 7:57 PM
If you ever want a real scoop on education here in Japan let me know. I will fill you in, but it may be a very different picture then you thought.
Posted by: Thomas | September 7, 2008 7:59 PM