With long working hours becoming a serious issue, a survey of more than 900 teachers found that 17%, or one in six, were required to rewrite their working hours to "underreport."
The researchers who surveyed point out that it may not be possible to accurately grasp the actual conditions that are the premise of work style reform.
The survey was conducted online last November by Professor Ryo Uchida of Nagoya University Graduate School in an attempt to understand the actual working conditions of teachers, using national research funds. We received responses from 924 faculty members.
Among them, 19% of the respondents answered that they did not declare their working hours accurately or that they were not required to declare them on weekdays, and 44% on Saturdays and Sundays.
In addition, when asked if they had been asked to rewrite less working hours on paper over the last two years, 17% said they did, and one in six was asked to underreport their work. I found out.
As part of work style reform, the government issued a guideline to set the upper limit of overtime hours per month to 45 hours two years ago, and requires that working hours be objectively grasped with a time card or the like.
The salary of teachers at public elementary and junior high schools and high schools is a law enacted half a century ago, and while the average overtime hours of the month at that time, about 8 hours, is paid equivalent to 4% of the monthly salary. However, even if overtime hours increase, there is no overtime pay, so there are voices on SNS etc. complaining about the plight of "unlimited work for a fixed amount".
Professor Uchida, who surveyed, said, "In a system where teachers at public schools do not have to pay for overtime, they are asked to return early without reducing the amount of work, and as a result, there is an overwhelming situation of reducing apparent overtime. The government must proceed with the revision of the law to pay for the work, and take all measures in response to the fact that there are not enough people in the field of education. "
Public high school teachers are also required by managers to underreport their work
A man who was a teacher at a public high school also said that he was asked by a manager to underreport his work.
The man sent information to NHK's information service "News Post" to let him know the actual working conditions of teachers.
He is said to have been a new graduate and became a high school teacher in the Kanto region last spring, and was in charge of the baseball club in club activities.
The practice was until 8 pm, and there were club activities on Saturdays and Sundays, but when I applied for working hours, the vice-principal said, "If you report honest time, it will be troublesome, so please report a short time." It means that it was requested.
"I knew that underreporting was bad because managers were adjusting overtime to not exceed 80 hours, but I followed it because it was a hassle to correct."
The men's schedule book states that from May to June, the baseball club practice games continued on Saturdays and Sundays, and they worked 45 days in a row until they were canceled due to rain.
While some teachers were on leave due to poor physical condition, the teachers around me couldn't talk about themselves, and the man was diagnosed with adjustment disorder in December and couldn't return to school.
From the experience of being bullied and having trouble learning when he was in elementary school, he decided to work hard and chose to be a teacher to deal deeply with his children, but he recalls that his feelings have disappeared.
The man said, "I'm surprised that my passion as a student has cooled down like a lie. I think that it was an unusual environment now, and I've worked hard to become a teacher at the university. I wonder what it was like for four years, I'm really disappointed. "
Vice-principal of elementary school "Work tampering so that long working hours do not become a problem"
The vice-principal of an elementary school in western Japan revealed that he prepared materials to report to the board of education after falsifying the working hours of teachers.
The vice-principal said that he thought that he had no choice but to falsify the numbers because he was called by the principal about the work of the teacher last year and was instructed to "adjust and report well".
In fact, when I was shown the work records before and after falsification, there were cases where the work of teachers who worked overtime 92 hours a month was reduced by 36 hours.
Although I think that the vice-principal is illegal, teachers at public schools do not have overtime pay and even if they cut down on work, it does not affect their salary, and if it exceeds 80 hours, they will have to take a break from class for an industrial physician interview. I confessed that I had tampered with it.
The vice-principal said, "We are in the process of reforming the working styles of teachers, which is essential for the field, but I feel that there are barriers and limitations that cannot be overcome by that alone. It is impossible, and I am trying to survive by means of "work tampering" so that long working hours do not become a problem, but the current situation is that we are lying, as we usually teach "don't lie". I'm sorry. "
According to multiple faculty and staff unions, consultations about "there is a possibility that the work has been tampered with by managers" are received almost every year.