TEACHER SHUFFLE AND TEAM

The SHUFFLE - Thats the thing in Japan you never stay at a spot too long, its not like back home where you can be in a teacher position forever. So every march its exciting to see who is coming and going. Here is how it works. For teachers if you are a rookie, they can shuffle you anywhere in the prefecture (state) so the teacher will probably be changing schools for their first 3 years or so. About a year at each school. If you are an older teacher you can stay at the same school for about 10 years or so, then you get the shuffle, you dont really get to choose on where you want to go, its up to the board of education for that. Then for principals and vice principals, its almost at random it seems, so far what i have seen its been about 3-5 years at a school, then they get the shuffle. Sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad thing. I cant see how anything innovative (for example an international exchange program between schools) would come about because you need time to create things and if you are only at it for a short time it will never come into play, because by the time you get it in place you will be gone, and your successor, well might not really care about what you did.

The TEAM - Back home in the usa, teachers kinda did their own thing, i dont really remember them hanging out with other teachers except for a cup of coffee. They had their own classes, students came to them, and if a problem arose they would work with the VP and Principal to work out problems.

But in Japan its very different, teachers have a big teachers office where everyone is seated. The teachers are divided into groups. Jr High has 3 grades, so we have 3 big groups. Every year the teacher moves with the students. So you may have the same teacher for 3 years. All the teachers hang out together during school, and even hang out in their groups outside of school. Teachers go to the students classes, so the students just sit in their class all day unless its for PE or art or home ec. If there is a problem with the student, its a 3 step process, 1st its entirely up to the homeroom teacher. They are the ones to handle the problem, not the VP like back home. Next step 2, if its beyond the homeroom teacher then other teachers in the grade help out, and if its more than that, then step 3 the VP and Principal step in. The reason i wrote this entry today was when i was sitting in the van at yesterdays dinner, and it was interesting to see how the teachers were planning to handle the students in the new upcoming year. Talking about who was good and who was bad, and what to do with the kids, they talked about it together as a team. It was interesting as i couldnt imagine my high school teachers talking about us kids like that. Maybe between some teachers, but not in a group like setting. Anyways that was random, but it was interesting to see the group dynamics of teachers here in japan compared to the usa. It seems that kids and teachers spend so much time together that its almost as if its their extended family. Some kids come to school up to 7 days a week. I wouldnt be suprised if the kids see their teachers more than their parents.