Gov’t striving to cut teachers’ overwork

March 19, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's education ministry has kicked off earnest efforts for work style reform for school teachers, addressing a longtime problem for educators.

A fiscal 2016 survey by the ministry found that about 30 percent of public elementary school teachers and some 60 percent of junior high school teachers worked more than 60 hours per week, with work hours increasing in all job categories from the previous survey in fiscal 2006.

The amount of work is equivalent to 20 hours overtime per week, or 80 hours per month. The finding came as a shock because the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare defines more than 80 hours of overtime a month as the risk threshold for "karoshi," or death from overwork.

In late 2017, the Central Council for Education, an advisory panel to the minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology, recommended that 14 activities customarily performed by teachers should be classified into three categories: those that should outsourced, those that should not necessarily be carried out by teachers, and those that should be conducted by teachers but to a lesser extent.

The 14 areas include coaching for students' after-school sports and cultural activities, watching over students on their way to and from school, and class preparations.

In line with the recommendation, the ministry plans to draw up model rules for school administration that clarify the standard duties of teachers and propose these to local education boards to reduce teachers' overwork.

Some local governments have already started addressing the problem of teachers' heavy work burdens. For example, the Noda city office in China Prefecture, eastern Japan, introduced a program in fiscal 2017 to allow parents and other community volunteers to assist teachers in easy tasks, such as distributing handouts to students and scoring quizzes, in response to teacher requests.

The program has enabled teachers to spend more time preparing for classes and dealing with students, said an official of the Noda city board of education.

A survey conducted by the municipal government in October 2017 found that the share of elementary school teachers who worked 80 hours or more of overtime per month dropped to 56 pct of the fiscal 2016 level.

The result prompted the education ministry to decide to start the nationwide dispatch of "school support staff," according its budget plan for fiscal 2018.

Coaching students for after-school sports and directing cultural activities are the main reasons for teachers' overwork. The city government of Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan, has since fiscal 2002 cooperated with "junior clubs" operated by parents and other local volunteers in each junior high school district to provide opportunities for children to enjoy sports and cultural activities.

After-school activities under the guidance of school teachers are now limited to set hours on weekdays and junior club coaches take the lead in other hours on weekdays and for weekend activities.

Despite initial opposition, the program has taken hold "thanks to understanding and cooperation from parents," said an official at the Tajimi board of education.

The ministry plans to work out guidelines for limits on school teachers' work hours while informing local education boards and schools of successful attempts to reduce teachers' work burdens, such as those adopted by the Noda and Tajimi municipal governments.

"I hope cutting teachers' long work hours will enable them to improve efficiency in education," education minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said. Jiji Press