Number of full-time teachers Japan 2023, by institution type

As of May 2023, around 424.3 thousand full-time teachers were working at Japanese elementary schools. That year, nearly19 thousand elementary schools were in operation in Japan, indicating an average of around 22 full-time teachers per elementary school.

Teaching license in Japan

Following educational reform in 1949, it became a standard for universities in Japan to offer training courses for students to become elementary or middle school teachers in their education departments. After completing required courses at national or private universities, or junior colleges, students are granted teaching certificates. Holders of this certificate are eligible to take highly competitive prefectural examinations to obtain their teaching license in the corresponding prefecture. With the country’s declining birth rates, the number of pupils enrolled in Japanese elementary schools has declined by approximately one million within the past two decades. This development could toughen the competition among aspiring teachers, as demand for teaching staff will reduce.

Working conditions for teachers in Japan

As for income and employment, teaching in Japan is considered to be a comparatively stable and desirable job, especially since teachers are granted tenure for life after completing a one-year internship following their license obtainment. The prefectural board of education assigns teachers to their schools and rotates them every three to five years to ensure consistent quality at all facilities. On the other hand, according to the TALIS survey held by the OECD in 2018, Japan came second to last out of fifty participating countries regarding job satisfaction among teachers. One of the biggest reasons for this dissatisfaction was the average working hours of 56 hours per week among junior high school teachers, much higher than in any other surveyed country – the average was around 38 hours a week.