April 1, 2009

Teacher Movement/School Changes

For those unfamiliar with the way things work in terms of staff in Japanese schools, here's a primer based on what was sprung on me this year.

  • School year ends in late March
  • Teachers are selected (not sure on what basis, sometimes it seems random, sometimes it seems like they asked for a transfer) to change schools or even positions (a teacher becoming a vice-principal, that sort of thing)
  • The teachers leaving are announced near the end of March
  • On April 1, the new teachers move to their new schools
  • Also on April 1, all teachers are officially assigned their jobs for the year

I have teachers transferring from one of my schools to another of my schools, most teachers changing grades, and an overall change of administration at my favorite school Youdo (principal and vice-principal both changing). My favorite vice-principal (Yoshimoto @ Yanase) retired, and I have yet to see what's happened at all at Ookura.

This combined with the changing of my base school from Ookura to Yanase, the switching of days from M, T from Yanase to Ookura and vise versa, and the requirement of the government this year for 5th and 6th graders to have English every week has me wondering how the year is going to turn out. Every school goes through it, and thousands of JETs have done the same thing, but it's always different when it happens to you.

Either way, all I can do is try to do my job. I never really get in tight with the teachers anyways, since I spend most of my free time playing with kids or doing personal crap in the office, and most of their conversations are either boring or beyond my Japanese comprehension. Mainly the latter.

5 comments:

Def Selector said...

Think about it this way - the change in teachers *might* mean that you are now paired with some hot senseitachi! The rule on student-teacher relations doesn't apply to co-workers ;-)

Anonymous said...

so what does this really mean for you?

Anonymous said...

that's me
mom

Androo said...

@Def Selector
Actually, things have worked out ok at one school. Out go 2 teachers who didn't control their classes along with 2 normal teachers, in come 4 young women :) Haven't talked to them yet, but we'll see what happens.

@Mom
Well, the main reason I was worried about the teacher changes is because the dynamics of the class depend so much upon the nature and personality of the homeroom teacher. Some teachers bring out the best in the kids, and some just sit in the back and read or grade papers, leaving me to fend for myself. with 25 hyper 3rd graders.

Anonymous said...

yep the nature of a real job, but you may be plesantly surprised

btw folks at CBF miss you and say hello