Fulfill Your Mission!
Teacher Conduct Guideline
For Children For yourself For families
(Abbreviated Version for JETS and ALTS)
This document was prepared by the Tokyo Board of Education in May 2017, as you can see. But I only received an English-language version this week, on Tuesday, July 14, 2020.
This year the Tokyo B of Ed has released a mountain of documents that I've never seen before. In large part it's due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has required a host of new procedures, protocols, and alternative procedures and protocols.
But it also has to do with the Abe government's decision two years ago to allow foreign workers to immigrate into Japan on short working visas in order to fill growing gaps in the Japanese economy. Foreign teachers have complained for years that in our jobs the School Board habitually not only fails to meet its legal obligations towards us, but actually violates the law. And it's been true, but it's been murder trying to get any movement out of the B of Ed on several issues because they require foreign teachers 1) to unionize, 2) to hire lawyers, 3) to embark on long and expensive courtroom procedures and, 4) to get the B of Ed to even acknowledge us, our union, our lawyers, and our court actions.
But now, the Abe government's decision of foreign immigrant labour has quickly accomplished much of what foreign workers here have complained about for years by filling loopholes in the law to meet the official policy regarding foreign labour. The government, and the Tokyo Board of Education, are cleaning up their act.