午夜剧场

"I am in despair that it is still only Thursday." This book begins with these words from a junior high school teacher.

Common sense would suggest that with the rapid decline in the birthrate, the demand for teachers should have plummeted. Why, then, have schools fallen into such a severe teacher shortage?

To answer this question, this book clarifies the overall picture: what exactly a "teacher shortage" is, and how it has been brought about. The primary evidence used is original survey data conducted within a specific local government.

This survey revealed that the teacher shortage progressed through roughly four stages. Among the complex factors involved, the most significant cause was that local governments, anticipating a declining birthrate, excessively restricted the hiring of regular full-time teachers. Behind this was the national administrative and fiscal reforms that took place in the 2000s.

What should be done? Ten years ago, the issue could have been addressed by increasing the number of teacher recruits, but we have now fallen into a vicious cycle where the number of applicants has decreased, making it impossible to simply increase hiring. Therefore, in this book, I offer my own policy recommendations and examine what will happen if the teacher shortage is left unaddressed, using the situation in the United States as a reference.

In the United States, easing teacher licensing requirements has not improved the shortage, and an increasing number of states are putting military personnel and immigrants in the classroom. Children born in poor areas are unable to receive a proper education, cannot escape poverty for the rest of their lives, and social division deepens. The middle class struggles under the heavy burden of tuition to send their children to private schools, but those fees only continue to skyrocket. In other words, the teacher shortage is not merely an educational issue; it is a problem that concerns the very foundation of future Japanese society.

I receive congratulatory words saying, "This is a timely publication," but honestly, my feelings are complicated. Ideally, the problem should have been solved much sooner, making the publication of this book unnecessary. However, it may not be too late. I would be grateful if as many people as possible would pick up this book and think together about the future of Japan.

Aki Sakuma

Iwanami Shinsho

256 pages, 1,056 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.