The Teachers they come and they go...
As the school year comes to a close, everyone starts wondering which teachers will stay for next year, and who will leave. You see, in Japan, teachers stay at most 8 years at a school; though most stay only 3. Why? I don't know the official reason, but I can guess that it keeps the schools from being stagnant and students get a chance to learn from a variety of teachers. The other important thing is that who's leaving is a secret kept from students and teachers alike. Occasionally teachers will tell a couple of their coworkers, but most keep tight mouthed about it. I know for a fact that at least one of my English coworkers will be leaving and one will be staying, but I'm not sure about the third. It makes me wonder if a long time ago one of the teachers let slip who was leaving, so they decided not to tell other teachers either. Hmmm. I can certainly see why you wouldn't tell the students though.
The thing that gets me about the teacher exchanging is that the schools are controlled by the prefecture, so when transferred teachers can be sent anywhere in the prefecture. In other, smaller prefectures that might not be so bad, but Nagano is pretty big. Some teachers end up getting sent to the other side of the prefecture from their families and have to live alone in an apartment if their family is not able to move with them. I know that in the US transfers are also common, but as far as I know moving every three years is not the norm, especially for people with families. I have heard that when they place the teachers here, they try to take that person's family into account. The idea that they change the staff so often was very strange to me when I first came; I think many of the teachers from my school days are still working at the same schools. I imagine it's difficult to feel comfortable and settle into a new school so often; it's also difficult to make lasting friendships with coworkers that are changing so often.
Luckily, and seeing as I'm not employed by the prefecture, I am not susceptible to a transfer, but if I want to change schools, I have to find a new school through a new company. There are quite a few companies hiring for my kind of position,and there are a lot of people applying for this kind of position... I guess I'm a dime a dozen. But my coworkers have commented on my work ethic. Compared to other assistant English teachers that they've worked with, they tell me that I'm more a part of the school; I go to events and meetings, for example. I've never been at another school or seen the way other AETs work, so I don't really know if they're in earnest or not. It's always nice to hear though. (^_^)
As the school year comes to a close, everyone starts wondering which teachers will stay for next year, and who will leave. You see, in Japan, teachers stay at most 8 years at a school; though most stay only 3. Why? I don't know the official reason, but I can guess that it keeps the schools from being stagnant and students get a chance to learn from a variety of teachers. The other important thing is that who's leaving is a secret kept from students and teachers alike. Occasionally teachers will tell a couple of their coworkers, but most keep tight mouthed about it. I know for a fact that at least one of my English coworkers will be leaving and one will be staying, but I'm not sure about the third. It makes me wonder if a long time ago one of the teachers let slip who was leaving, so they decided not to tell other teachers either. Hmmm. I can certainly see why you wouldn't tell the students though.
The thing that gets me about the teacher exchanging is that the schools are controlled by the prefecture, so when transferred teachers can be sent anywhere in the prefecture. In other, smaller prefectures that might not be so bad, but Nagano is pretty big. Some teachers end up getting sent to the other side of the prefecture from their families and have to live alone in an apartment if their family is not able to move with them. I know that in the US transfers are also common, but as far as I know moving every three years is not the norm, especially for people with families. I have heard that when they place the teachers here, they try to take that person's family into account. The idea that they change the staff so often was very strange to me when I first came; I think many of the teachers from my school days are still working at the same schools. I imagine it's difficult to feel comfortable and settle into a new school so often; it's also difficult to make lasting friendships with coworkers that are changing so often.
Luckily, and seeing as I'm not employed by the prefecture, I am not susceptible to a transfer, but if I want to change schools, I have to find a new school through a new company. There are quite a few companies hiring for my kind of position,and there are a lot of people applying for this kind of position... I guess I'm a dime a dozen. But my coworkers have commented on my work ethic. Compared to other assistant English teachers that they've worked with, they tell me that I'm more a part of the school; I go to events and meetings, for example. I've never been at another school or seen the way other AETs work, so I don't really know if they're in earnest or not. It's always nice to hear though. (^_^)
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