A teacher in a primary school giving a healthy-living lesson
Japanese Teachers Put In Longer Hours Than Any Other Teachers on the Planet
“Being a teacher is like being a 7-11. Open 24 hours.”
Here’s the project: The Japanese government, like many Asian countries with high performing schools, wants to educate students to become more innovative and creative in order to compete with AI and participate more fully in a global economy. They are promoting English language instruction (with an emphasis on speaking), creativity, self-expression, meta-cognition, critical thinking and problem-solving. I’m on a research trip in Japan to find out more.
Thanks to all the folks (and especially teachers!) emailing me questions and sharing reflections. Very inspiring. Keep those emails coming.
You Asked: What’s It Like To Be a Public School Teacher in Japan?
So I Looked Into It!
Answer: They Get a Ton of Respect But the Hours Are Crippling.
And lots of teachers fear the push to change schools is going to make those hours even worse.
The Good Part: It takes time and determination to teach in a public school in Japan. You need a college degree with an emphasis on education, a supervised practicum and you need to get a license and renew it every few years. The job application process is highly selective and only the best candidates land jobs. Once you get a job, you are encouraged to collaborate with your fellow teachers, and do a great deal of observation of other classrooms. Professional development is considered necessary for everyone.
Being a public school teacher in Japan is a prestigious job. You are entrusted to look after the academic, social and emotional lives of students as individuals and also foster group harmony, so people consider you a moral beacon. You teach kids life skills (like brushing teeth), help them navigate socially, help direct their careers and even do a little ad hoc family counseling.
Unlike in the US, where reformers often suggest that kids in low-performing schools would learn more if teachers were smarter, better educated or more dedicated, Japanese people regard the teachers in their local public school as something akin to a pastor or a doctor in a local clinic. The government appreciates you. Parents don’t criticize you. And school administrators are pretty supportive as well. The pay is pretty decent, definitely enough to live a middle class life.
The Bad Part: The hours are shockingly long.
In 2006, primary school teacher worked 53.16 hours a week.
In 2016, primary school teachers worked a whopping 57.29 hours per week.
Senior teachers and vice principals have even it worse.
In 2006, they reported working 59.05 hours a week.
In 2016, they logged 63.8 hours per week.
That includes teaching time, supervising clubs and activities after school, counseling, lesson planning, grading and preparing materials. Teachers also take their students on class trips on Saturdays.
In the Japanese context, working long hours is considered a virtue. But karoshi, literally working yourself to death, has become a big social problem in many sectors of the economy in Japan. And teachers are not immune.
Makamura Kunihiko is a veteran teacher and now principal at Sapporo Fushimi junior high school. (His photo is below) In an interview a few days ago, he told me that among his staff, about 20% of his teachers, usually parents of young kids, leave
at 5 pm. About 20% of the teachers in his school stay until midnight– working.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“only the best candidates land jobs”
Same in Finland but the hours are not as grueling there.
TFA recruits and scabs would not make it in Japan. They would be ignored and the door would be slammed in their face breaking their noses.
Their hours sound like mine were in my last job although working until midnight at the school is over the top. The big differences are in compensation, respect, and voice. Professional development for us was generally workshop based and was top down, district wide (K-12), not necessarily germane to a particular teacher’s need. There was little built in time for collaboration with colleagues. I was in an economically deprived, minority community, so resources were tight. Given the circumstances, there was a lot they at least tried to do right, but the climate for the last twenty plus years has been toxic for teachers in the U.S.
I was about to write a bit about my experience, but they echo yours. My hours? Well, I taught in the classroom less than 6 hours per day, but occasionally had ‘study hall’ duty. And, I taught four different courses (later reduced to three). Thus, the ‘non-classroom’ time didn’t come close to the prep time.
Then, I was ‘expected’ to coach for at least two sports seasons, which involved at least an extra two hours (plus planning time) if we didn’t have a scheduled competition. On the 2-3 days a week that involved ‘game days’ (tennis, swimming), this meant an extra hour if a ‘home match’, and an extra 3 hours if away. For ‘conference meets’, this could be as long as an extra 6 hours on a Saturday. And, then there were the papers.
My ‘specialty’ was Physics, and for every homework, for every test paper, I had to analyze the thought process as students attempted to solve a problem, not just the answer. This took time. Granted, I only had about 90 students, however at even the minimum (5 minutes per paper, 10 minutes per test), this added an extra 2 hours to the day.
I DID take summers ‘off’ and usually worked as a pool ‘manager’ at some club in the summers, so I only worked for 3 quarters under those academic circumstances , but I only got paid by the Academy for those 3 quarters.
So, I understand the plight of those Japanese teachers. The difference is that they get paid well and (most importantly) get respect (support) from the rest of society. Here in the US, it’s fashionable to bash teachers and declare that theachers are being ‘overpaid’. Here, we think a machine can raise human children and that we can, nevertheless, maintain a human society.
I’ve always been interested to learn more about Toshiro Kanamori, featured in the documentary Children Full of Life. I wonder if Peg’s study covers or will cover Mr. Kanamori. Peg, will it?
A few days ago, I found the following article about teaching hours in Japan interesting: http://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/AJ201906200065.html. Teachers in Japan work longer hours by far than the rest of the world, yet spend less time actually teaching, 18 of 56 hours a week in middle school. A great deal of time is instead devoted to extracurricular and administrative/clerical duties, and almost no time goes to professional development. The article suggested the Japanese government is going to have trouble getting teachers to be more interactive (less rote memorization, more creativity) because the teachers are already overburdened. I can relate to that. Working longer usually doesn’t mean working better. Teachers need academic and personal freedom.
Japan reminds me of KIPP.
Before my teaching career here in the USA, I taught English in South Korea and Japan for a total of three years at private academies in the mid 90s…kids came to these schools after their public school hours (including Saturdays). Many students in these nations spend a lot of time in academies learning English and other subjects…if you can afford the classes you get ahead of your peers. Public school classes often have 30-40 students. Yikes! Student suicide rates are high-not getting into elite schools the main reason. With kids and teachers putting in so many hours, it’s no wonder creativity suffers.
30-40 students per class is par for the course in my classes in Utah, or even higher. I would actually give my eye teeth for a class of 30 at this point.
I think teachers should teach 4 classes a day, and then spend at most two hours with grading and preparation for next days’ classes. Anything more degrades their enthusiasm for the job. The teacher’s mood and energy level may affect 100 or more kids.
Both Japan and the US needs to losen up. No need to invent the wheel, just learn from the Finnish—who apparently learnt from US ed researchers.
Teachers in the US are experiencing similar hours. I currently teach from 8:00 to 3:00 with 60 minues of planning and a 45 minute lunch. I work with students during my lunch time and after school for makeups, extra help, etc. (I teach high school math – 3 and 4 preps per trimesters) I spend at least 4 hours outside of the school hours preparing or grading papers. I typically work at least another 10 hours during the weekends trying to get ahead of the game for the following week. We meet students everyday for 60 minutes so a lot of planning has to happen before the start of the week to maintain any sense of sanity – especially if I want to deliver interesting, thought-provoking lessons and not just have students involved in “drill and kill” math lessons.
And I have been doing this for 40 years total!
Clearly, there is a need for twice as many teachers to cut American teachers’ load in half. Those who think teachers need to work 8 hours as other people sit in front of the computer which doesn’t need to be inspired and stoked.
Yes, yes, yes. I had a similar schedule that never let up during my thirty years in the classroom (1975 – 2005). I worked 60 to 100 hours a week doing my job as a teacher.
25 hours a week was spent with my English students in class with instruction and monitoring, et al. I gave up my lunches so my room would be open to the student chess club, the student environmental club, and the journalism students. Usually, they didn’t all meet at the same time but sometimes they did.
The rest of the time was spent making phone calls, attending meetings, planning lessons, in parent conferences (even if the parents did not show up, you had to be there and wait for them to show up late or not at all), correcting student work, and doing grades.
Whoops, forgot about the before-and-after school duty at different events like sporting events or when the drama students produced a play and it was on stage. Teachers had to be there to make sure the school had staff on hand to deal with any problems that came up. I almost always took a thick stack of student work with me and corrected papers during the duties, because there was never enough time to get all the correcting done unless you gave up most of your free time outside of class.
There were days I arrived on campus soon after 6 AM when the gates were unlocked and didn’t leave until almost 11 PM that night before the gates locked my car inside the lot. The custodians were nice enough to knock on my classroom door and warm me that the alarms were being turned on and the gates locked.
Then I was back to school again the next day soon after 6 AM.
Forcing teachers into such schedule, one cannot expect the “joy of teaching and learning”. I hope the Japanese will learn from these descriptions. “Modern age” should mean less work, more living, not ever increasing workload to support the billionaires economy.
I know this might seem strange. When I see stories like this of people working 50-60 hours per week or more, I often think of those photos of the vastness of space, far-away galaxies, etc. I remember that we are just a speck of dust in an infinitude. Why do people want to ruin their lives working like dogs, driving themselves into the ground? What is it for? What are you gaining? Really….it WILL be ok if your lesson plan hasn’t attained perfection. I know it’s a philosophical question, but a little introspection might not hurt. 🙂
Longer doesn’t mean better. More doesn’t mean better. Yes, “…a little introspection might not hurt.”
Extremes don’t help.