TOKYO, Oct 08 (News On Japan) –
Elementary and junior highschool academics in Japan nonetheless work the longest hours amongst their friends worldwide, based on an OECD report launched on Tuesday. While the 2024 outcomes by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development confirmed working hours had fallen by round 4 hours per week in contrast with the earlier survey in 2018, Japan’s academics nonetheless far exceeded their world counterparts.
The survey discovered that full-time elementary faculty academics in Japan labored a median of 52.1 hours per week, whereas junior highschool academics logged 55.1 hours. By comparability, elementary faculty academics worldwide averaged 40.4 hours per week, and center faculty academics 41 hours. Despite the lengthy hours, Japanese academics spent much less time on precise educating than the worldwide common, with a lot of their time devoted as a substitute to lesson preparation, administrative duties, and supervising extracurricular actions.
The 2024 Teaching and Learning International Survey, the fourth of its type since being launched in 2008, gathered responses from 200 elementary and 200 center colleges in every of the 55 collaborating international locations and areas.
The report additionally revealed deepening issues over trainer shortages in Japan. When requested what sources have been missing in elementary colleges, 40.7% of principals cited a scarcity of academics — greater than double the 19.2% reported within the earlier survey and nicely above the worldwide common of 28.7%. Among junior excessive colleges, 35.6% of principals pointed to staffing shortages, up from 27.5% within the prior survey and in contrast with the worldwide common of 23.1%.
In distinction, comparatively few Japanese colleges reported deficiencies in data and communication expertise (ICT) schooling, with solely about 12% of elementary and junior highschool principals citing this problem — far under the worldwide common. However, Japan lagged sharply within the classroom adoption of synthetic intelligence. Only 16% of elementary and 17.4% of junior highschool academics stated that they had used AI of their courses over the previous yr, in contrast with greater than 36% globally. This positioned Japan second-to-last among the many international locations surveyed, far behind leaders such because the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, the place about 75% of academics reported utilizing AI of their educating.
The OECD famous that Japanese educators stay cautious about integrating AI into lecture rooms, expressing issues about potential bias reinforcement, information privateness, and the moral implications of counting on automated instruments in schooling. While efforts to scale back workloads have seen modest outcomes, the findings underline the persevering with pressure confronted by Japan’s academics — a problem that continues to be among the many most urgent within the nation’s schooling system.
Source: テレ東BIZ