Japanese teachers have longest workdays - OECD survey

In terms of working hours of the teachers, Japan has ranked top since it began to participate in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development survey held once in every five or six years.

According to the Teaching and Learning International Survey, elementary school teachers in Japan worked an average of 52.1 hours per week, the longest among 16 countries and regions participating in the survey, with junior high school teachers' 55.1 hours, the longest among 55 participating countries and regions.

The averages of surveyed countries and regions were 40.4 hours for elementary school and 41 hours for junior high school teachers, according to the survey.

The figures of Japan remain significantly higher than the international average, though the working hours at both levels of school in Japan declined four hours since 2018 when the last survey was conducted, due to efforts by the country's education ministry, such as reforming work styles and clarifying tasks that should not be delegated to teachers.

The 2024 survey in Japan was conducted from February through March, covering 6,914 teachers and 402 principals from 403 elementary and junior high schools.

The results showed that the average class times per week were 23.2 hours for elementary school and 17.8 hours for junior high school, while communication with parents averaged 1.4 hours for both levels, being shorter than the international average.

Japanese teachers continue to record the longest working hours in the OECD survey, which non-member countries also participated in, since Japan began to participate in 2013 for elementary school and 2018 for junior high school, with administrative and management duties taking up much of their time.

Hours spent on club activities have fallen due to efforts to move them to community programs but still far exceed international averages. The survey also showed rising stress from paperwork and parental demands, along with increasing staff shortages reported by school principals.

Seeking to ease the strain on educators, the government has pledged to tackle excessive workloads and improve teachers' well-being, with a goal of cutting average overtime to 30 hours a month by fiscal 2029.

Earlier, it was reported that Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party elected a new leader - 64-year-old Sanae Takaichi.