As the public increasingly looks harder at education, teachers are losing confidence and sight of their social roles.

Do they even teach? No wonder they have no confidence, they teach for the tests and have loads of other duties that have little to do with teaching.

It's good not to be overconfident.

Don't worry teachers, in a few decades there won't be any junior high kids about!

This shouldn't come as a surprise considering the pathetic state of teacher training in this country which requires almost no practical experience. Basically, university students tack on a few education courses to their major field of study, enabling them to sit for the teacher licensing exams. They take part in a two-to-three-week practicum in which their biggest obligation might be taking over the morning and afternoon homeroom duties from their sponsor teachers. The rest of their time is spent observing lessons and learning about general school administrivia. At most, these student teachers will only have actually "solo" taught one or two demonstration lessons by the end of their practicum. Finally, they can sit for their teacher licensing exams, and, provided they pass, when they step in front of their own class for the first time as a certified teacher, it will really only be the second or third time they have taught a lesson on their own.

The problem is as I see it,

1, Teachers here are saddled with an amazing number, and also diversity of kind, of duties. They have so many papers to file and so many things to keep track of, projects to roll out, and homeroom kids to look after, that they cannot focus on planning lessons, thinking of new ideas and trying new things. (And don't forget being a club advisor such that they attend practice after school and on weekends, and have to travel to all kinds of tournaments).

2, The god darn college entrance exams, which dictate exactly what must be taught to the kids in exactly what manner. Teachers must focus on "test" education, and nationally approved textbooks (almost exclusively), irregardless of having no time to get together new ideas, as per reason 1 above.

I have a question about the quote. Is the professor talking about all teachers in Japan and using junior high school teachers as an example, or is he talking about junior high school teachers in particular? If the latter is the case, then the problems that are endemic to junior high school teachers school be addressed.