Teacher Work Schedule

One thing that is confusing to many foreigners is the Japanese work schedule. Not only in the school system, but in other occupations as well, it seems that ALL Japanese people are workaholics. Putting other occupations aside at the moment, let me explain something I learned this week over lunch at one of my favorite restaurants (Kappa Sushi) about why teachers "work" so much.

First of all, Japanese teachers DO have regularly set 40-hour work weeks. For instance, teachers at my one school are required to be at school at 8:30am and may leave at 5pm. There is a 45 minute lunch break. Hence, a 7 hour 45 minute working day (multiplied by 5 days per week = ~ 40hr work week). At my other school, I believe the day begins at 8:10am and "finishes" at 4:40pm. However, I cannot be sure because NO teacher leaves at that time.

Teachers do not leave school at the end of the work day because of club activities. I knew from earlier this year that club activities took up as much time as actually teaching, but I never understood the requirement or reason for being a club adviser until now.

So, at the end of the year, a paper is given to every teacher to make year-end comments and write down vacation days, etc. On this sheet, there is a place to put what club a teacher would like to volunteer to advise. The teacher writes his top three choices for the club(s) he wants to volunteer to advise. Now, the key word is "volunteer", which I actually do not think exists in the Japanese vocabulary or there must be some kind of translation error. If the teacher does not want to volunteer and leaves that section blank, the paper is returned with the vice-principal saying, "You forgot to fill out this section...".

Okay, so to volunteer to be a club adviser is mandatory, but does that mean the teacher MUST stay after the scheduled work day? Technically, no. However, there are several reasons as to why a teacher would "volunteer" to stay at school. First, at some level in every person, there is a sense of responsibility to the community and the students. The advisers are not only coaches but mentors, and often students will join the club activity that his/her homeroom teacher advises. However, even if the teacher does not have a sense moral responsibility, he could be held responsible if anything happens to the students; this pertains mostly to the sports clubs. For example, if the students are practicing and someone breaks a leg but the coach is not there to help him, he will be accountable later. The VP or Principle might say, "Why were you not watching over the students` activities? You did write that you wanted to volunteer to advise, right?" I am not sure as to the level of punishment for an absent teacher (being fired?), but, in Japan, shame itself governs as the whip.

In the end, aside from the 40-hr teaching work week, many teachers end up staying at school until 6:30-7pm every day (+10-15 hrs/week) as well as sometimes having to commit Saturdays and Sundays to club activities as well. Sometimes daikyuu is given for working during the weekend, but exactly when and how daikyuu is accumulated and able to be used by Japanese teachers is still unknown to me...that will be my next research project, lol.

Forced volunteerism, which could extend the work week from 40 to upwards of 60 hours per week....

Only in Japan