Research Project: Status of the Working Conditions of Teachers and Support Staffs in Japan
RESEARCH REPORT
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●Research Purpose
●Funds, Investigator
●Survey
●Questionnaires
●Prompt Reports
●Publication of Research Results
●Final Reports
●Research Purpose
We, Japanese educational researchers, launched research project from FY2016.
The project, “Research on the Reduction of Pressure of Work on Teachers
in a School and the Way of Cooperation between School Support Staffs and
Teachers”, is funded by Japan Society for the Science Promotion (JSPS).
The main purpose of the research project is to set up the possible measures
to reduce the long working time of Japanese teachers for their work-life
balance. Therefore we will study how school teachers should work in a school
and how their working hours should be controlled.
●Funds, Investigator
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B),Grant Number 16H03773,and titled as "Research on the Reduction of Pressure of Work on Teachers in a School and the Way of Cooperation between School Support Staffs and Teachers”.
●Survey
Status of the working conditions of teachers and support staff
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Lead Researcher Higuchi Nobumoto
More Information:
Mioko Tsuboya
Yokohama City University
+81-45-787-2364 <045-787-2364> tsuboya(at)yokohama-cu.ac.jp
１．Outline of this research
Investigation period：From January 2017 to March 2017
Target schools：Public elementary schools and junior high schools in Kanagawa
prefecture,Hyogo prefecture, Aichi prefecture, Chiba prefecture and Shizuoka
prefecture
Study target：Chiefs of Academic Affairs, representatives from each grade,
support staff ( one of school counselors, school librarians, Japanese instructors
for foreign students, learning support staff and instructors of club activities
at each school respectively)
Survey method：We posted questionnaires to each school through prefectural teachers’ unions and the study targets answered by self-report.
School extraction：We asked the prefectural teachers’ unions to select the schools so as not to bias the areas as much as possible.
●Questionnaires
１．Status of the working conditions of teachers and support staff questionnaire_Chiefs of Academic Affaires
２．Status of the working conditions of teachers and support staff questionnaire_Grade Representatives
３．Status of the working conditions of teachers and support staff questionnaire_Support Staffs
●Prompt Reports
２．From the survey of the Chiefs of Academic Affairs
（１）The average workforce of support staff
When looking at the average number of support staff by school unit, the largest was learning support staff and the smallest was support staff for science experiments in junior high schools.
（２）Recognition for reduction of burden by support staff
Many Chiefs of Academic Affairs recognized the burden reduction created by support staff. The highest percentage was the support staff for science experiments in elementary schools. The lowest was the school social workers in junior high schools.
（３）Status of contact with support staff
In proportion to the recognition of the burden reduction, the percentage that there were communication between the Chiefs of Academic Affairs and the support staff was about 50% in general. The highest percentage was with the learning support staff in elementary schools and the lowest percentage was with the social workers in junior high schools.
３．From the survey of grade representative teachers
（１）Recognition for reduction of burden by support staff
We asked the grade representative teachers at the surveyed schools whether
or not it was helpful to post the support staff for reducing the burden
on teachers. (Five point scale, “Very helpful,” ”Somewhat helpful,” “Not
very helpful,” “Not helpful at all,” “No support staff.”)
Figure 3−1, we summarized the results from the teachers of the schools
where the support staff are working. In the elementary schools, support
staff who are helpful for reducing the burden are arranged in the decreasing
order of: the school librarian, the Assistant Language Teacher, and the
learning support staff. On the other hand, for school social workers and
ICT support staff, few respondents indicated that they are helpful for
reducing the burden of representative teachers.In junior high schools,
responses answering helpfulness are arranged in the decreasing order of:
school counselor, learning support staff, and Japanese instructor for foreign
students. Few respondents thought support staff were helpful.such as support
staff for science experiments, ICT support staff, and school social workers
（２）Status of communication with support staff
We asked representatives from each grade at the surveyed schools about the status of communication with the support staff. (Five point scale, “Effective communication,” “Somewhat effective,” “Not communicating well,” “No communication,” “No support staff.”) Figure 3-2, we summarized the results from the teachers of the schools where the support staff are working. The support staff with whom representatives from each grade in elementary schools communicated are arranged in the decreasing order: the school librarian, learning support staff, and the Assistant Language Teacher respectively. On the other hand, few teachers communicated with the school social workers, ICT support staff, or support staff for science experiments.
In junior high schools, many respondents answered that they communicated with the school counselors, learning support staff, and the instructors of club activities. On the other hand, there were few teachers communicated with support staff such as the support staff for science experiments, ICT support staff, the school librarians or the Assistant Language Teachers.
４．From the survey of support staff
（１）Number of working days as support staff
We asked the support staff at each school how many days they worked, and
then summarized the data for all schools. These support staff include the
school counselors, school librarians, Japanese instructors for foreign
students, learning support staff, and instructors of club activities.
In elementary schools, except for the school counselors, “Working about
5 days a week” was the most frequent reply for the staff. More than 60%
of learning support staff are in the work situation of “About 5 days a
week.”
In junior high schools, 60% or more of learning support staff are “Working about 5 days a week,” followed by the Japanese instructors, school librarians, school counselors, and instructors of club activities. 16% of instructors of club activities were found to be in the work situation of “About 6 days a week.”
（２）Collaboration and cooperation with teachers at schools
Regarding whether or not the support staff of schools who received the questionnaires were able to communicate and cooperate with teachers, the majority of respondents answered “Effective collaboration” and “Somewhat collaboration.” This is true for both of the support staff at elementary schools and junior high schools.
（３）Recognition of whether we (support staff) are helpful to reduce work burden of teachers
At schools which received the questionnaire, we asked the support staff “Do you think whether or not you are helpful to reduce teachers’ working burden.” In elementary schools, most Japanese instructors recognized that they were helpful to reduce the burden on teachers, followed by learning support staff, the school librarians, and the school counselors.
The support staff who had the most consciousness that they are helpful to reduce the burden on teachers in junior high schools are the instructors of club activities, then the school librarian, the Japanese instructor, the learning support staff, and the school counselor.
●Publication of Research Results
樋口修資・神林寿幸, 2017, 「専門スタッフとの連携が教員の業務負担軽減に与える効果検証」日本教育行政学会第52回大会 （ 2017年10月14日 ）
●Final Reports
information
Mioko Tsuboya
Yokohama City University +81-45-787-2364
<045-787-2364>
tsuboya(at)yokohama-cu.ac.jp