Board of Education Principal Hiring Process & Teacher Training

We asked each Board of Education member in the various cities about their process and procedures. The minister of education sets the curriculum for the country. Each prefecture however can have other areas of focus. Hiroshima schools have a "Peace Program" woven into the curriculum. In Kamaishi Elementary School there is a first if its kind "Disaster Prevention and Evacuation Program." Ironically we didn't discuss such a program Miyagi Junior High. The emphasis on the first of its kind is to highlight the rapid reaction adaption of safety programs in the US to seemingly obvious issues. Oklahoma is in Tornado Alley and obviously runs tornado drills. In Connecticut and and several others states after the New Town shootings school quickly adapted "Lock Down" drills, including CPS expanding their High School drills to include elementary schools. (Which husband already started with his community police one full year in advance of the requirement.)

Yokohama

When selecting principals, the Yokohama BOE observes teachers. When they see an exceptional teacher they will encourage them to come to the BOE and start training to be a principal. The individual has a choice to follow that path if they so desire or stay as a teacher. They take the Principal test. If they pass they go to the BoE for 4 years of training. Then they are an assistant principal for 4 years. Then they return to the BOE for 4 more years (which were told the Principals hate this step). Then finally they will get there own school where they stay for 1-3 years on a rotation of schools.

These steps obviously suit Japanese culture. The "further" training comes by rotating schools to see minor ways they might do things differently. The return to the BOE after benign an AP is seemingly meant to correct and "bad habits" they may have picked up at a school? 

Additionally, the BOE is responsible, after major events, to ensure that all students get home safe after World Cup or a tragedy. The principal checks that all the students are where they should be, and then report in to the BOE. They work late to ensure school children's safety. 

In the Kamaishi and Miyagi areas the  principals and teacher went searching for students after the tsunami because its part of their responsibilities. When the art teacher said on day 4 after the tsunami "it was difficult to find students, some of them left the area, and we didn't know for some time if they survived the water or not." 

Hiroshima

The 2 women BOE members explained has teachers come and suit their names to be considered to be a principal. Also parents and community members recommend people. They have to take a test to "qualify" and then they are included in a pool if candidates for various schools. The BOE works with the candidates to place them in a place they'd like to work. 

Teacher Training 

U.S. Professional Development

Licensed Teachers are hired and trained at 1 year, 2 years and 10 years. Only in Kamaishi was there an additional training added in at year 5. The single BOE member told me they have additional seminars for mental health. "Some teachers attend these trainings and others don't." However it wasn't clear to me if this mental health training was for the eventual student benefit or the teachers own mental health after the tsunami. 

Teacher Evaluations

In Hiroshima we learned the principals conduct evaluations of the teachers by observing their class. Then once a year the Principal writes a formal evaluation that is reported to the BOE and holds and informal "conversation" with the teacher. Teachers also meet to discuss each others work and will observe each others callses for peer "reviews." 

Teacher Salary

We had a great Italian Dinner in Osaka and a great conversation about our visits. Another international trend is to google it... Here's our teachers salary find.

http://www.aba.ne.jp/~sugita/71e.htm