【Window of World Education】
A good teacher is a scarce resource, and compulsory education is a basic national policy in many countries. The distribution and balance of scarce resources in the public sphere is crucial to ensuring social justice.
Many countries in the world have faculty rotation systems. Japan has accumulated rich experience in the establishment of the faculty rotation system and policy implementation. Its management system is mature, supporting mechanisms are complete, and certain practical results have been achieved. Encountered many difficult and realistic challenges.
1 Why implement the teacher rotation system
After World War II, the Japanese government incorporated education development into the overall national development strategy, focusing on further popularizing compulsory education and improving the level of education.
In 1947, the Japanese government formulated the "Basic Education Law" and "School Education Law", and compulsory education changed from the original six-year system to the nine-year system.
With the continuous advancement of compulsory education, how to reduce the gap in the strength of teachers among different regions to achieve equity in the field of education has become an urgent problem to be solved.
The teacher rotation system is gradually established under this background.
In the early postwar period, the right to appoint teachers in public elementary and middle schools in Japan was managed by the education committees of the cities, towns, and villages.
The Japanese government found that the scope of teachers under the jurisdiction of all levels of government under this system is too small, which is very disadvantageous in terms of unified and integrated management.
In order to narrow the gap in teaching levels between different regions and different schools, rationally allocate teacher resources to achieve the fairness and stability of education, and at the same time clarify the specific responsibilities of local educational administrative agencies, the Japanese government began to try to formulate relevant policies to promote the teacher rotation system Standardization of implementation.
On June 30, 1956, the Japanese government promulgated the "Laws and Regulations on Local Educational Administrative Organizations and Operations", which stipulated that the appointment of faculty members should be transferred to the education committees of the prefectures and other state-level administrative regions. The "Teacher Personnel Transfer" policy is implemented within the scope, the scope of teacher rotation and the scale of staff continue to expand, and the work efficiency and implementation efforts have also been greatly improved.
In the early 1960s, the Japanese teacher rotation system was formally established, and the management of the rotation system tended to be improved, which to a certain extent promoted the balanced allocation of teachers across the country.
Since then, the Japanese government and prefectures and prefectures have continuously supplemented and improved the related policies and regulations of teacher rotation, making the aspects covered by the policy more comprehensive.
For example, in the "Special Measures Regarding the Salaries of Faculty and Staff in Public Compulsory Education Schools" published on May 28, 1971, the composition of the salaries of faculty and staff was explained in detail.
On February 25, 1974, the Japanese government promulgated the "Special Measures Act on Improving the Educational Standards of Schools and Ensuring Talents for Educational Staff in Compulsory Education Schools", which clearly stipulated that the salary of education staff in compulsory education schools should be compared with the salary of general public servants. Salaries should be more generous.
On December 22, 2006, Japan revised the "Basic Education Law" that came into effect on March 31, 1947, and made new changes to the four aspects of "education purpose and philosophy, basic content of education implementation, education administration, and law formulation". Interpretation.
On August 8, 2015, the Japanese government promulgated the "Law on State Burden of Compulsory Education Fees", and on December 14, 2016, the "Law on Ensuring Educational Opportunities at the Compulsory Education Stage" was promulgated to ensure that all citizens accept the obligation The right to education.
After more than half a century of operation and adjustment, the scope of implementation of the Japanese teacher rotation system has continued to expand. Faculty members can rotate in cities, towns, and villages, as well as in prefecture and county level areas.
Teacher rotation has promoted the fairness of compulsory education in Japan to a greater extent.
2 From teacher rotation to faculty rotation
After more than half a century of unremitting efforts, the implementation of the Japanese teacher rotation system has become more and more mature.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan launched a statistical survey of teachers in various schools across the country in 2019. On March 25, 2021, various related data will be published on e-stat (a comprehensive website for the Japanese government to collect various survey data).
According to the survey results report, in 2019, the number of public elementary school teachers in Japan was 63,886, and the rotation rate was about 15%. The number of public junior high school teachers was 36,689, and the rotation rate was about 16%. Public high school teachers were rotated. The number is 20,945, and the rotation rate is about 10%.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan does not make uniform regulations on the specific content of teacher rotation, such as the object, time, region, and process. Instead, it is based on the national conditions of the country. Each prefecture and county pays attention to targeted development according to the specific local conditions. Relevant teacher rotation policies, but the core is the same, that is, based on student education, promote the balanced development of education across the country, and truly implement the rotation of teachers.
In terms of the objects involved in the Japanese teacher rotation system, there are two aspects of personnel involved.
One is the teachers at the school teaching level, including principals, vice-principals, deans, teachers and other relevant leaders and teachers at the teaching level from top to bottom. Nutritionist and so on.
It can be seen from this that the Japanese teacher rotation system has expanded and evolved into a public school full-staff rotation system of faculty and staff.
The basic principle for the implementation of teacher rotation in various local governments in Japan is a combination of uniform regulations and voluntariness.
Teachers in public elementary and secondary schools, vocational schools, and special support schools can work in a school for 7 years. However, there are a few areas where the rule is 10 years, such as Osaka Prefecture.
After exceeding the prescribed time, you must compulsorily participate in rotation in accordance with the law.
In addition, teachers in public primary and secondary schools and vocational schools who have taught at the same school for more than 3 years and less than 8 years, and new teachers who have taught for more than 5 years and less than 6 years can apply for rotation voluntarily.
For school administrators such as principals and vice principals, generally, more than 3 years and 5 years have voluntarily filed for personnel transfer applications.
In addition, some other special circumstances also require personnel transfers.
For example, there are too many teachers for one course in a school, and the teachers of other subjects need to be balanced; when the age composition of school teachers is too single, it is necessary to rotate jobs to optimize the structure of the "young, middle, and senior" teachers; When the husband and wife teach in the same school, and the husband and wife are in the management of the same city, village, or town, one of the husband and wife is required to rotate; their children cannot study at the school taught by their parents; they will be punished due to their own scandal. Teachers must be rotated; due to their excellent teaching ability, they have accepted invitations from other schools.
The reason for such detailed faculty rotation requirements is mainly because the Japanese government pursues a balanced allocation of faculty, so that education across the country is fair, from the principal and other management faculty members to the basic faculty engaged in teaching. , It also effectively guarantees the educational vitality of each school.
3 How to implement teacher rotation system in Japan
In the specific implementation process of teacher rotation, the Japanese government pays attention to respecting the wishes of teachers.
Each local government has detailed implementation procedures.
Although there are some differences in the specific scope and date of implementation, the basic content is the same.
According to the situation of Japanese teacher rotation over the years, faculty and staff generally rotate within the lower-level cities, towns, and villages of prefectures and prefectures.
If teachers want to transfer to other prefectures due to objective reasons such as marriage or moving, they must follow the regulations of the local government and pass the local teacher recruitment examination.
However, depending on the local government, teachers’ longer teaching age and rich experience will also be taken into consideration, so that they will be exempted from examinations and directly recruited.
According to the website of the Education Committee of each local government in Japan, generally in early October each year, each prefectural education committee announces the specific content of the implementation area and implementation requirements of the teacher rotation system for this year in the form of an outline, and sends it to Teachers who meet the qualifications for rotation and are willing to rotate will distribute the rotation intention form.
The intention table generally includes the following content: whether you want to rotate and why, the three cities, towns, and villages you want to transfer, whether you are willing to go to remote areas, and the three types of schools: "public elementary school, public middle school, and special support school" Choose, the subject you want to teach or the activity you want to teach, etc.
After that, in late October, the teachers conducted interviews with the principal based on their own intentions and submitted a rotation intention form.
After summarizing the form of intent, the principal submits it to the competent department at the city, town, and village level for review, and finally the director of education at the prefectural and county level will approve it.
In early February of the following year, teachers who have submitted a letter of intent to rotate will be told whether the assigned area is consistent with their own wishes, but if they are inconsistent, they will not be able to inform the transferred area.
In early March, the teacher learned of the school he was transferred to through internal notification and contacted the school principal.
Then, at the end of March, the rotation list will be announced on newspapers, websites and other platforms.
Generally speaking, before the start of the new semester on April 1, teachers who have been transferred can go to the new school.
After years of practice, this implementation procedure respects the wishes of the faculty and staff to a certain extent, and also increases the enthusiasm of the faculty to participate in rotation. It is one of the important measures to ensure the smooth implementation of the rotation.
4 System guarantee for faculty allowance
After years of exploration and summary, the Japanese government has established a complete and reasonable economic security policy and management system related to teacher benefits and allowances based on teachers, and strives to provide comprehensive and strong support and protection for rotating faculty and staff.
In terms of salary, Japanese teachers are called "educational civil servants" and belong to the high-paying group.
On February 25, 1974, the Japanese government promulgated the "Special Measures Act on Improving the Educational Standards of Schools and Ensuring the Talents of Educational Staff in Compulsory Education Schools", which clearly stipulated that the salary of Japanese teachers should be 4% higher than that of other ordinary civil servants.
According to relevant data from the "2019 National Survey of Teachers in Various Schools" published on e-stat on March 25, 2021, the average monthly salary of public kindergarten teachers is 266,400 yen, which is approximately RMB 15,500; the average public elementary school teacher The monthly salary is 336,100 yen, or about 19,600 yuan; the average monthly salary of public junior high school teachers is 337,700 yen, or about 19,700 yuan; the average monthly salary of public high school teachers is 358,200 yen, or about 20,900 yuan.
The Japanese government has also formulated relevant laws and regulations to promote the smooth implementation of compulsory education and solve the economic problems of faculty and staff.
For example, the "Law on the Burden of Salaries of Municipal Schools and Staff" promulgated on July 10, 1948 (last amended in 2017), the "Special Regulations on Educational Civil Servants" published on January 12, 1949 (last amended in 2017), The "Law on the State Treasury's Payment of Compulsory Education School Facilities and Other Fees" promulgated on April 25, 1958 (last revised in 2006), and "Regarding the Salaries of Public Compulsory Education Schools and Other Related Contents" promulgated on May 28, 1971 "Special Measures" (last revised in 2015), etc., all have detailed regulations on the salaries of faculty in Japanese public schools. All public school faculty and staff are paid by prefectures or government-designated units.
Therefore, Japanese teachers do not have to worry about their salary changes due to personnel changes, which makes the salary of Japanese faculty members have laws to follow.
In addition, the Japanese government is constantly revising relevant laws and regulations with the development of the times, and always keeps its policies up to date.
In addition to wage protection, the Japanese government also pays great attention to improving the subsidy and subsidy policy for faculty and staff during rotation, so as to solve the worries of faculty and staff as much as possible.
The Japanese government has formulated a series of economic guarantee policies to ensure the smooth implementation of job rotation.
For example, on June 1, 1954, Japan promulgated the "Laws and Regulations for the Promotion of Education in Remote Areas" (last revised in 2014), which aims to actively promote the flow of high-quality teachers to remote areas and improve natural, economic, and cultural conditions. The educational level of the region.
In the law, the "remote area allowance" is set, which divides the remote area into five levels, and the amount of allowance set at each level is different.
In addition, there are also relocation allowances, allowances for cold areas, allowances for long-distance personnel transfers, etc. depending on the local government.
Effectively protect the rights and interests of teachers and increase teachers' enthusiasm to go to remote areas.
5 The lack of teacher rotation in Japan
With the continuous improvement of relevant laws and regulations, Japanese faculty and staff rotation has achieved great results, but there are also some problems, which are mainly reflected in two aspects. One is the limitation of the system itself, and the other is the rotation of faculty and staff. The real problems faced.
First, the Japanese teacher rotation system is too stylized, causing some capable young faculty members to be suppressed by their superiors and fail to develop.
Although the final appointment power of the Japanese teacher rotation system belongs to the prefectural education committees, from the perspective of faculty and staff, the principal is the person who has direct contact with the letter of intent, and the authority is too large.
If there is a conflict with the principal, it may happen that the teacher is forced to carry out personnel transfers regardless of the teacher's personal wishes.
For example, a young teacher proposed to marry someone in a nearby area in the near future, but the principal deliberately ignored his request and transferred him to a far away area.
In addition, if you have connections with civil servants in the Personnel Department of each county education committee, some faculty members may be transferred to the school they want to go to through improper means.
This requires the government to pay more attention to and improve the problems of complicated procedures and excessive authority of the personnel management in the process of job rotation.
Secondly, regardless of the age of the faculty and the length of teaching experience, most faculty and staff will encounter various distresses in the new school after the personnel changes, which are mainly reflected in the three aspects of cultural differences, interpersonal relationships and personal life. .
In terms of cultural differences, if the environment of the new school, the rules followed in the school, and the culture of the school are too different from the previous school, the faculty members may have a large gap in their hearts and it will be difficult to adapt to the culture of the new school.
In addition, if faculty and staff go to schools in remote areas to rotate, they may have to accept the situation of "unacceptable".
The rules and habits of the new school have not kept up with the pace of development in the Mainland, and the transferred faculty cannot easily change the school’s rules. For faculty who are already accustomed to advanced management methods, it is more difficult to adapt to the relatively lagging school culture .
For example, some schools have a prevalent overtime culture, and they work overtime until late every day, and even during holidays, they will be forced to go to school to work.
Some schools even give priority to the ideas of the management, thereby negating the suggestions or doubts put forward by the faculty and staff.
In addition, changes in interpersonal relationships can be said to be the biggest problem faced by rotating faculty and staff.
After the faculty transfers personnel, it is necessary to rebuild the relationship with students, colleagues and other related personnel. However, in this process, new teachers and teachers who have not been rotated often have different values and ways of thinking. Communication problems.
For example, the lack of collective awareness among teachers is usually manifested in aspects such as "disagree to do group work together, and colleagues will not answer their own questions about work".
In addition, there will also be unequal treatment of new and old faculty and staff.
Due to the "power system" of some schools, the management used their powers to force rotation of faculty and staff to add a lot of work outside the scope of their responsibilities; there were also management staff who scolded new faculty and staff in front of students regardless of the occasion. There is no majesty in front of them; some schools will also have the phenomenon of "sexual harassment in the workplace." Some high-ranking leaders relied on their rights to harass the rotating faculty and staff, causing great trouble to their daily lives and work.
For a long time, due to personal psychological, experience and other issues, some rotating faculty members have difficulty adapting to life and work in the new area, and worry about their families.
These problems cannot be ignored.
For the rotating faculty, their life circle has changed, and psychological problems such as anxiety will appear temporarily.
In addition, for faculty and staff who are married and have children, it is necessary not only to support elderly parents, but also to consider the issue of parenting.
Especially when the parents are sick, they will be very worried about the care of the elderly.
In terms of childcare, it is also a problem whether the family moves to a rotation area together, or whether to leave the children and family members to live and study in the original place of residence.
Behind the faculty and staff is a small family, there are many issues to consider, it is difficult to rotate without worry.
The government needs to solve the worries of the faculty and staff, so that they can rest assured that the family behind them will be handed over to the government, so that the faculty and staff rotation system can be implemented smoothly.
6 Experience of Japanese teacher rotation system
Japan has implemented the teacher rotation system for more than half a century. According to an OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) survey, among the 35 wealthy countries in the world, Japan provides the most equitable education to students.
First of all, improve the legal system and related policies so that teacher rotation has laws to follow.
Japan began to implement teacher rotation after World War II, but the results were not satisfactory in the first few years.
However, with the official promulgation of the "Laws and Regulations on Local Educational Administrative Organizations and Operations", the rotation of faculty and staff has begun to follow, and the rotation of teachers has gradually been carried out in an orderly manner throughout Japan.
In the following decades, after timely revisions, the policy system has gradually improved, and the number of rotating teachers has also increased.
Secondly, Japan has invested heavily in basic education, and the campus facilities of elementary and middle schools are constructed in accordance with national standards.
Regardless of whether it is schools in Tokyo or in more remote areas, the school facilities are fully equipped. This also allows Japanese faculty and staff to adapt to the new school environment quickly no matter which school they go to when they are rotated. Psychological gap.
Third, Japan has established laws and regulations such as the "Laws and Regulations for the Promotion of Education in Remote Areas" and the Law on the Burden of Staff Salaries in Municipal Schools, and has established various allowances such as allowances for single persons, regional allowances, allowances for remote areas, allowances for cold regions, and other allowances for rotating teachers. The system and economic guarantee are provided, and teachers’ worries are resolved, thereby attracting more teachers to rotate jobs in areas with relatively underdeveloped economy.
Finally, for every teacher who conducts personnel transfer, problems in school conditions, interpersonal relationships, and differences in teaching environment will bring psychological pressure.
At this time, timely psychological counseling is very important.
To this end, psychological counseling agencies can be set up in schools or relevant departments to regularly care about and inquire about the lives and work conditions of rotating teachers, and help them adapt to the work and living environment of the new school and the new area as soon as possible, so as to encourage the rotating teachers to take care of their teaching work. Always maintain a positive attitude.
The practice of the Japanese teacher rotation system shows that the rotation of faculty members should not be limited to the establishment of laws and regulations, but should pay more attention to the worries of faculty members and provide them with financial security and psychological support. Only in this way can teaching staff be minimized. The worries of the staff, to promote the effective implementation of faculty and staff rotation, in order to realize the balanced development of education and true education fairness.
(Author: Yang Hongjun and Yu Mengjia, associate professors and postgraduates of the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Nanjing University of Technology, respectively. This article is the research project of party building and ideological and political education of Nanjing University of Technology in 2021 "Research on Ideological and Political Construction of Japanese Courses in Colleges and Universities" [Project No.: SZ20210208)] Phase results)