What do you think about the quality of school teachers in Japan?

There are good teachers and bad teachers. It's a mixed bunch like everywhere else.

There are several things that make it difficult for them:

One is the administration of the education system. The administrators and government officials who run the education system are in an ivory tower and cut off from reality. They instruct teachers to teach what traditionally has been taught rather than what is needed and wanted. As a result, curricula - especially the High School curriculum - often have little or no bearing on the information that people actually need to survive as adults in the 21st century. They also come up with idiotic plans like the open classroom, where, in elementary schools, there are no doors between classrooms and often you have to shout to be heard.

Teachers have to write long and detailed reports and lesson plans, consuming time that could be used more effectively. The records and lesson plans are just dumped in a filing cabinet. This hasn't led to any improvement in conditions in the classroom. Teachers have less time to do what they really should be doing - communicating with their students, visiting them at home, communicating with their student's families.

Heads of schools are often under pressure from parents to give their children good marks and good comments, however bad the kid is. In one school I was connected with, the teachers weren't allowed to give conduct grades lower than B (Satisfactory) and no negative comments were allowed in School Reports.

Classes are too large. There is less communication where more is needed and to save time, tests are multiple choice rather than essays. So children do not develop communication skills.

Many parents blame teachers for their children's misbehaviour when they are the cause of It. This is compounded by heads taking seriously what, in all honesty, should be ignored.

Because there is too little time for meaningful communication between teacher and student, problems like bullying come up. The teachers get blamed for this, when it is not entirely their fault.

If anything goes wrong, the teacher is the one who gets the blame.

It's a tough job.

Nothing wrong with the teachers, only with the system.

Well said Bertie.

Foxy, there are plenty of horrible teachers out there who are allowed to teach because of the horrible system.

"Teachers" first and foremost need to be recognized as "people".

Contrary to what many people complain about, teachers in Japan, like everywhere else largely just try to do their jobs well and for every 1 news story you read about some wackjob pulling stunts, there are thousands who are going in and working hard with what would i suppose would pass for "passion" here in Japan.

What I find though is that the teachers in general are NOT given ample amounts of constructive criticism and or feedback on their lessons and job performance from peers OR from management. I also think that alot of teachers aren't perhaps equipped with the emotional maturaity to hear that kind of criticism and NOT take it very personally.

I believe there is also a marked lack of training, follow-up training and teacher-led workshops. The general approach seems to be "well you graduated with a degree in teaching so, here ya go teach!" In a system like this, people who have natural affulence to the job will do OK perhaps, but those that have the potential to be good but need more direction may fall on either side of the fence.

It is like anything here. The thousands of hours wasted in useless non-constructive meetings that are mandatory could be much better spent in more proactive ways and actual teacher development.

The general approach seems to be "well you graduated with a degree in teaching so, here ya go teach!"

If only that were true. I'm willing to bet that less than 30% of those teaching here have a degree in education. They take a few classes and get a certificate.

100% agree with the rest of your post!

I read and hear about all the horrible stories all the time. But so far we have had amazing teachers for our kids. Maybe we have just been lucky, I dont know. I have a really good impression of teachers here based on personal experience, but overall not a good impression based on the news.

Elementary school teachers are excellent. This is the strength of the Japanese education system.

If only that were true. I'm willing to bet that less than 30% of those teaching here have a degree in education

If you are talking about gaijin English teachers, then I agree with you 100%. If you are talking about Japanese teachers, how much do you wanna wager? The bets are on!

I agree with the other posters, there are good and bad teachers, as in any country. At least they don't strike every other month demanding a pay rise like in my home country.

Like the quality of anything else in Japan or indeed anywhere, everything from very good to very bad via middling.

We had one horrendous elementary school teacher who within weeks of the school year starting had almost every parent of a child in her 'care' baying for her blood. (In addition to being clueless about how to actually teach small (grade 2) kids, she resorted to physical punishment and ridicule as a means of keeping 'order'). The school made the unusual step of replacing her mid-term. Her replacement was a very good teacher.

There was also one exceptionally good high school teacher who my son and a lot of his classmates are still in touch with, a decade after graduation. Cast in gold, that one. All the teachers at his private school were excellent. Some of those at my daughter's public high school required more parental supervision, while others were again excellent - unsung heroes.

I also second BertieWooster's points about lack of time and class size.

It's the educational system that sucks..the 'Jimmu teki' approach that makes them look like robots, all because of the system being imposed by the school's principal and the board of education committee. They are not allowed to show emotions or compassion or understanding to each individual student to get to know them better as they are growing up...they are not given the time to explore one's personality...through my experience I can say that if my son was an Olympic aspirant inspite of his mischievousness in school he would have been loved and attended fully, sad to say he wasn't, although he's got a good heart all in all, the teachers, his home room advisers, etc never discovered this in him.

Public school teachers are overworked and underpaid.

Here is some trivia for you to ponder. In the prefecture in which I live, public school teachers earn less than:

-- Midori no obasan

-- Cleaners

-- Janitors

-- "Official" chauffeurs (glorified taxi drivers)

They earn about as much as a school cafeteria worker.

The details are in here. Sorry I don't have time to dig up the page number right now.

http://www.city.okayama.jp/contents/000091448.pdf

Same as anywhere else in the world. aklthough many of the ones at my local primamry school are fit.

If you are talking about gaijin English teachers, then I agree with you 100%. If you are talking about Japanese teachers, how much do you wanna wager? The bets are on!

Off you go to get the details. Any idea how many kyoiku unis there are compared to how many unis offer education certificates?

And 30% for foreigners is laughable. I'd go for about 3% with education degrees.

Off you go to get the details. Any idea how many kyoiku unis there are compared to how many unis offer education certificates?

Umm, in general, the term "school teacher" usually refers to a teacher who teaches in a school below the college level, so I don't why you are harping on about "college teachers".

If you are claiming that less than 30% of school teachers (K12 teachers) have the proper qualifications, then you need to back it up with evidence. Get back to us when you find the results.

Um, where do you think teachers get their qualifications to teach? Give you a hint, starts with a U and ends with niversity.

You're the one disagreeing. YOU wanted to make the wager. Off you go.

JHS teachers are a mixed bag of good teachers and worthless teachers that hang on only to get a pension... It's JOB SECURITY !!! That's the only reason the worthless teachers hang on to their teaching jobs.

Elementary school teachers are more great at what they do. 85% of Elementary school teachers are open to " NEW " ideas and etc.

15 percent are worthless and nutty !!!!

If only that were true. I'm willing to bet that less than 30% of those teaching here have a degree in education. They take a few classes and get a certificate.

I don't even know why I am bothering answering this for you. As someone who claims to know so much about education in Japan, you should understand that when you make claims like this, you need to back it up with evidence. Without that evidence, you are just talking out of your arse.

So here we go. Let's look at tmarie's claims. Here's a rundown of school teacher numbers.

419,779 Elementary school teachers

250,899 JHS teachers

307,812 HS teachers.

Now let's presume that the the Elementary school teachers have degrees in education, because that is the norm for Elementary teachers. Let's also make a wild and improbable assumption that not one single JHS or HS teacher has a degree in education. They all graduated in humanities, science etc. and got a teaching certificate afterwards so they can teach that subject in school (God forbid teachers actually knowing something about the subject they teach!)

That leaves us with roughly 43% of teachers holding a degree in Education.

If you have hard, solid facts to refute this, then by all means, make your case for us here. Take your time.

All my data comes from the Japanese Statistics Bureau.

http://www.stat.go.jp/data/nihon/22.htm

http://www.nier.go.jp/English/EducationInJapan/Education_in_Japan/Education_in_Japan_files/201103TTCS.pdf#search='education+degrees+teaching+certificates+japan'

Let's see.... Would the country go to all this work to hand out teaching certificates if they had so many teachers graduating with education degree? I think not. I think in my time here I've worked with one English teacher who had a BEd and not a degree in Lit or British American studies. Most math/science degree have... Degrees in math and sciences...

@ tmarie

I can't get your link to work, so it is difficult to comment, but it seems to me that for someone working in the education sector, you show a lack of understanding of how the system works.

For a JHS, HS teacher, a BEd is not a prerequisite and for good reason. It is expected that a teacher should have specialist knowledge in the subject that they are going to teach. A BEd does not give you that knowledge. The usual path to becoming a teacher in these schools is to do a degree in the topic you wish to specialize in, be it history, math, science etc., then, as either part of your degree or at a later date, you take a course in 教職課程 .

This is how many, if not most teachers overseas get their qualifications too. They study a specific subject at university and then do a 1yr DipEd (or MEd) to get their qualification to teach. How is Japan any different to overseas? A BEd, both in Japan and overseas is primarily considered a qualification for teaching primary school level children. You need more specialist knowledge to teach older kids, so it is no surprise your colleagues had degrees in Literature etc. I don't know if you've ever taught in your own country, but you will probably find it is the same there.

On the other hand, if you only have a BEd and teaching in JHS, technically, you aren't qualified for the job because you don't have any specialist knowledge in the subject you are teaching. So, let me guess, all this while you have though you were the qualified one and all your Japanese colleagues were uneducated imposters, when in fact the opposite is true. Ouch, the truth hurts.

I get that a BEd is not required but you need to go back and look at the comment I made that you are arguing with. A certificate is not the same as an education degree. Period. Admit you were wrong and move on.

Teachers here do NOT do it the same way as you've described above with regards to foreign countries and B.Ed or teaching qualifications. Learn the system here and then make comparisons because you clearly don't understand the system here.

You're also making a lot of assumptions with regards to my experience and background. Trust me, you don't want to start to play that game with me. Ouch, the truth hurts. Go read the MEXT page on certification here and learn something.

@ tmarie

I'm willing to bet that less than 30% of those teaching here have a degree in education. They take a few classes and get a certificate.

That is what you claimed, and I proved you wrong with real statistics. If I added kindergarten teachers and special school teachers, the percentage would be even higher. Why don't you just move on before you embarrass yourself some more, or present your case with real facts.

You haven't backed up anything with stats. If anything, you're supporting my comments with all this talk about certificates. You also need to learn about the process here - and abroad - with regards to being able to teach, the difference between certificates and the procedures to get a B.Ed/MEd.

Ughh, I feel like I'm talking to a broken record.

Do you, or do you not claim that less than 30% of teachers have degrees in education? If yes, please support your answer with facts. Do you understand my point of contention? "Well, look at all the kyoiku unis" does not cut it, I'm afraid.

The perceived quality of "certificates" vis a vis B.Eds is not really the point of this debate, though obviously it is something you feel strongly about. Though you don't say it explicitly I am under the assumption that you believe Japanese teachers are inferior to teachers in your own country because they are not trained as well? Is this a correct assumption?

Why don't you be a sport and make a list of what you believe to be the shortcomings of Japanese teacher training compared to your country of origin? Then we may be getting somewhere.

So do I . More so when debating with someone who doesn't have a clue about the certification process, nor the point of the debate it seems.

Waffling on about how the Japanese certification process is inferior to overseas without offering one shred of evidence or even reasoning to support your claim is not "debating", it's ranting.

I have asked you a specific question numerous times, which you have conveniently ignored. Instead of addressing the question, you try and push through your personal agenda, then have the gall to accuse me of "not understanding the point of the debate". It's a shame, because this is an important topic that I wish could be discussed civilly.

If you consider yourself such an expert on the certification process for teachers compared to this supposed amateur who don't have a clue, why don't you tell me exactly what the problem with the certification problem is? You are presenting yourself as an expert in this area, but all you do is regurgitate the same line - "the certification is different, therefore inferior" How is it different? How is it inferior? Where can they improve? Because you fail to answer these legitimate questions, one is forced to question whether you even understand the certification process yourself??

The Japanese education system is by no means perfect, I do not deny that. But dismissing the majority of teachers as unqualified because they don't meet your personal education standards is an extremely elitist, narrow-minded view to take. Japan consistently outranks most of the Western world in TIMSS and PIRLS tests, so their teachers must be doing something right. Just because you don't like them, doesn't make them bad teachers.