Principals, vice principals, senior teachers seek demotion+

Principals, vice principals, senior teachers seek demotion+

TOKYO, Nov. 8 (Kyodo) — The number of principals, vice principals and senior teachers at public elementary, junior high and senior high schools across Japan who sought demotion voluntarily to ordinary teaching staff during the 2010 school year through March 31 this year came to 211, a decrease of 12 from the previous school year, the education ministry said in a report released Tuesday.

The figure declined slightly from the record high of 223 in the 2009 school year but still remains at a high level, an official of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said.

Nearly half of them cited health problems as reasons for seeking demotion, according to the report.

Principals, vice principals and senior teachers at public schools are managers and therefore busy, the official said, noting that many of them say they are unable to take on the heavy responsibilities involved.

The ministry expects the trend may continue for some time, the official said.

The 211 who sought demotion to ordinary teachers included 103 senior teachers, 86 vice principals, and seven principals.

Health problems, including mental illness, accounted for 47 percent of reasons for seeking demotion, compared with 32 percent who cited occupational reasons, such as seeking more contacts with pupils and students, and 20 percent who cited family matters.

By board of education, Kanagawa Prefecture accounted for 44 of the 211, followed by 41 in Tokyo, 28 in Yokohama and 26 in Osaka Prefecture.

Meanwhile, the number of teachers whose teaching capabilities were regarded by local boards of education as insufficient mainly due to a lack of communication with students during the 2010 school year came to 208, a decline of 52 from a year earlier, the report said.

The figure represented a 60 percent decline from the peak in the 2004 school year.

By school, elementary schools accounted for 50 percent of the 208 who were regarded as lacking in teaching capabilities, compared with 31 percent at junior high schools and 14 percent at senior high schools.

The report said 75 percent of them were men. By age, teachers in their 50s accounted for 48 percent of the total and those in their 40s 33 percent.

As of the 2010 school year, all prefectural boards of education in the country's 47 prefectures and municipal boards of education in 18 out of the country's 19 largest cities allowed principals, vice principals and senior teachers to seek demotion to ordinary teaching staff voluntarily.