| Abstract | |
| Survey Number | 1258 |
| Survey Title | Research Project: Status of the Working Conditions of Teachers and Support Staffs in Japan, 2017 |
| Depositor | (Former Name:Study Group on Working Environment and Support Staff of Teachers (Research Representative: Nobumoto Higuchi)) |
| Restriction of Use |
For detailed information, please refer to 'For Data Users' on the SSJDA website.
- Apply to SSJDA. SSJDA's approval is required. |
| Educational Purpose | Available for both research and instructional purposes. |
| Period of Data Use Permission | One year |
| Access to Datasets | Download |
| SSJDA Data Analysis | Not available |
| Summary |
In recent years, teachers’ long working hours have become a major issue. For example, according to the International Survey of Teachers’ Teaching Environments (2013) conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Japanese teachers work 53.9 hours per week, which is extremely long compared to the average of 38.3 hours across the 34 countries participating in the survey. Under these circumstances, as one of several measures to lighten teachers' workload, attempts have been made to improve schools’ organizational management systems by adding a variety of external expert professional staff, other than teachers, to the school organization. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), in response to the Central Council for Education’s recommendations, has launched the "school as a team" initiative, which focuses on acquiring external staff with expertise in psychology and welfare to collaborate and cooperate with teachers in order to solve a wide range of complex educational issues in schools. In the course of efforts to realize the "school as a team" ideal, new problems are expected to arise as the number of outside support staff in schools increases. As a result of the involvement of a variety of external personnel in schools’ educational activities, collaboration and collegiality among teachers may be lost, and teachers' workload may even increase unless specific teachers are designated to coordinate with support staff. Based on awareness of the above issues, this survey included not only on-site teachers in elementary and junior high schools but also external support staff such as school counselors, Japanese language instructors, school librarians, club activity instructors (only in junior high schools), and learning support staff. In addition to clarifying the relationship between the assignment and working conditions of support staff and teachers’ workload, the actual conditions of support staff’s working and employment environments will be clarified. The main survey items are as follows. The teaching manager survey asks about the school where the teaching manager works, including (1) the basic situation, (2) the students’ situation, (3) the support staff’s working conditions, (4) the support staff coordination and cooperation system, and (5) the teaching manager’s actual working conditions and sense of burden. The class representative survey asks about (1) the status of the grade level over which the respondent presides, (2) coordination and cooperation between the respondent and the support staff, and (3) the actual status of the respondent’s work and their sense of burden. The support staff survey asks about (1) the actual status of work, (2) the system for cooperation with teachers at the school that received the questionnaire, and (3) the level of job satisfaction. |
| Data Type | quantitative research: micro data |
| Universe | Teaching managers, class representatives, and support staff (school counselors, school librarians, Japanese language instructors for JSL students, learning support staff, club activity instructors) at public elementary and junior high schools |
| Unit of Observation | Individual,Organization |
| Sample Size | 602 schools (230 elementary schools, 372 junior high schools) |
| Date of Collection |
2017-01 ~ 2017-03 2017/1-3 |
| Time Period |
2017 ~ 2017 |
| Spatial Unit | kanagawa hyogo aichi chiba shizuoka Kanagawa Prefecture, Hyogo Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, and Shizuoka Prefecture |
| Sampling Procedure | |
| Mode of Data Collection | Self-administered questionnaire: Paper Self-administered survey; distributed and collected by mail |
| Investigator | Study Group on Working Environment and Support Staff of Teachers (Research representative: Nobumoto Higuchi) |
| DOI | 10.34500/SSJDA.1258 |
| Sponsors (Funds) | |
| Related Publications (by the Investigator) | Please refer to the abstract in Japanese. |
| Related Publications (based on Secondary Analysis) | List of related publications (based on Secondary Analysis) |
| Documentation |
Questionnaires 【 Teaching manager 】【 Class representatives 】【 Support staff 】 Summary tables 【 Teaching manager 】【 Class representatives 】【 Support staff 】 |
| Major Survey Items |
[Teaching manager survey] (1) Basic situation at the school where the respondent works ・School size ・Institutional environment: administrative support system, establishment of regional headquarters for school support, etc. (2) Status of students ・Size of school’s student population: number of students enrolled in special needs classes, number of students who need Japanese language instruction, etc. ・Percentage of students in the highest grade attending a cram school ・Frequency of problematic behavior: bullying, violent behavior, class disruption, juvenile delinquency, etc. (3) Support staff’s working conditions ・Number of employees, number of days worked ・Work environment: teachers who coordinate support staff, support staff’s opportunities to exchange information among peers, etc. (4) Support staff coordination and cooperation at the school Whether the content and scope of the support staff’s duties are clear, whether the chain of command governing the support staff’s duties is clear, etc. (5) Actual working conditions and sense of burden ・Number of classes respondent supervises, the division of school duties respondent manages, whether the respondent is an advisor for club activities, overtime hours, breaks during working hours, days off work, etc. ・Sense of workload, satisfaction as a teacher, satisfaction with other aspects of teaching life ・Views on what should be prioritized (for schools, national/prefectural/municipal governments, etc.) ・Communication between respondent and support staff, and the extent to which support staff relieve the respondent's own burden (6) Social and demographic items Gender, age, age of the youngest child, whether the respondent is a caregiver to family members [Class representative survey] (1) Status of grades supervised ・Presence/absence of a class teacher, the size of the classes over which the respondent presides, the size of the grade level: number of students, number of regular classes ・Number of students in the grade: number of students enrolled in special needs classes, number of students who need Japanese language instruction, etc. (2) Cooperation and collaboration between students and support staff ・Communication with support staff, degree to which support staff reduce the respondent’s workload (3) Working conditions and sense of burden ・Number of classroom hours for classes over which the respondent presides, division of school duties under the respondent’s management purview, whether the respondent is an advisor for club activities, respondent’s total overtime, respondent’s total break time during working hours, number of days respondent spends working on holidays ・Respondent’s perception of their workload, satisfaction as a teacher, and satisfaction with other aspects of teaching life ・Respondent’s views on what should be prioritized (for schools, national, prefectural, and municipal governments) (4) Social and demographic items Gender, age, age of youngest child, whether the respondent is a caregiver for family members [Support staff survey] (1) Actual working conditions ・Number of workdays, working hours, frequency of overtime ・Annual income, social insurance coverage, overtime compensation, transportation expenses, and annual paid leave ・Work environment: teachers who coordinate support staff, support staff’s peer-to-peer information exchange opportunities, etc. ・Training allowed during working hours (2) Framework for cooperation with teachers at the school ・Relationship with the school: whether the content and scope of support staff’s duties are clear, whether the chain of command governing support staff’s duties is clear, etc. ・Whether the respondent believes that support staff help to reduce teachers' workload (3) Job satisfaction ・Satisfaction as a support staff member: salary, employment stability, working conditions, etc. ・Whether respondent receives positive evaluations from managers and teachers, whether respondent is trusted by students and their parents/guardians ・Reasons for working as support staff (4) Social and demographic items ・Gender, age, age of youngest child, whether the respondent is a caregiver for family members ・Respondent’s licenses and qualifications ・Number of years of experience as support staff, number of schools at which the respondent has worked |
| Date of Release | 2020/09/09 |
| Topics in CESSDA |
Click here for details EDUCATION Compulsory and pre-school education LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT Working conditions |
| Topics in SSJDA | Education/Learning Social Security/Welfare Employment/Labor |
| Version | 1 ： 2020-09-09 |
| Notes for Users | Data indicating the study area (prefecture names) are not disclosed to avoid regional identification. |