What is happening in Japan?
News On Japan reported on 20 October 2026 that local governments across Japan are stepping up efforts to recruit people who hold a teaching licence but do not work in schools. They are known as "paper teachers": former teachers who left the profession, and people who qualified but never taught. The reason is a worsening shortage. According to a survey by the Ministry of Education, the national ratio of applicants to available elementary school positions fell from 12.5 in fiscal 2000 to 2 in 2025, and for junior high schools from 17.9 to 3.6.
In some regions the situation is tighter still. The report gives a ratio of 0.7 for special-needs schools in Toyama Prefecture, which means fewer applicants than positions, 1.1 for elementary schools in Akita, 1.2 for special-needs schools in Niigata and 1.2 for elementary schools in Miyazaki.
How are local governments recruiting?
- Information sessions. Yamanashi Prefecture is running three training sessions this fiscal year for paper teachers. Participants hear about working arrangements and employment conditions, can have individual consultations and can register on the spot as prospective instructors, to be contacted when vacancies arise. The sessions have attracted company employees and homemakers. One woman in her 30s, licensed but without classroom experience, came to find out whether teaching could fit around raising her children, and registered afterwards.
- Water bills. Osaka printed information about school observation visits for paper teachers on the back of water charge notices, which reach about 1.2 million households. The number of licensed but inactive teachers among them is unknown, but the report says some residents have already registered.
What does the education adviser warn about?
Education adviser Akihiro Shimizu cautions that schools should not expect paper teachers to be fully effective from day one. Giving a newly recruited teacher full responsibility for a class in the first year could leave them struggling with the workload, short of personal time and professionally isolated. He suggests setting up arrangements so that new and returning teachers can consult experienced colleagues whenever they face difficulties. Practical guidance and a supportive environment, he says, would help them adjust and make it less likely that they leave again.
He also sees benefits: teachers with experience in other industries can bring different perspectives, and can show pupils how what they learn at school is used in everyday and working life. Former Olympic athlete Asuka Terada, speaking as a parent, welcomed the idea of more varied life experience in classrooms.
Shimizu's overall verdict is measured. Recruiting inactive licence holders could fill vacancies in the short term, but it is not a fundamental solution. The harder task is to create working conditions and support that keep teachers in schools over the long term.
What can a school head take from this?
These points are our own general suggestions, not statements from the report:
- Plan the first year of a new teacher. A lighter first timetable, with a named colleague to consult, costs little and is easier than replacing a teacher who leaves.
- Make working conditions clear before the first day. Hours, subjects, classes and responsibilities, written down, answer most of the doubts that make a candidate hesitate.
- Look beyond the usual pool. Qualified people outside the profession, including parents and former teachers, sometimes only need a way to ask questions and a flexible start.
- Treat retention as part of recruitment. Support that keeps a good teacher is worth as much as a new vacancy filled.
When a new teacher joins, assigning their subjects and classes without clashing with a colleague's lessons is a timetable job. The ClassMata guide Build the timetable without conflicts walks through it step by step.