Transfers looming

As I mentioned last year, high school teachers in Japan are organized at the prefectural level. They are technically employed by the equivalent of the state board of education, and are assigned a school much in the same way ALTs are. In an effort to standardize the quality of instruction throughout the prefecture, they shuffle teachers around periodically.

Nagasaki prefecture is one of the poorest in the country, owing in no small part to its many islands. (Tsushima, the Gotō, and Iki, just to name the biggest.) This makes it especially important for the prefecture to assign fresh teachers to different areas, because it's highly unlikely that teachers would otherwise choose to go to those islands. With that in mind, the prefecture has long required all teachers to serve 4-6 years in the schools of the small islands.

This isn't entirely unilateral. From what I've heard, each year teachers submit a form with their preferred placements. Iwase-sensei told me she was asked to rank Tsushima, Goto, and Iki in order of preference. The prefecture may not accommodate the request, but they at least keep it in mind. (This is a lot like my impression of how JET placements work.)

I've heard that high school teachers usually spend two years in a school on the main island before being shipped out for "island time," but not all do that. Graduating education majors, bound for high school certification, are also asked to submit the form. Some of them are assigned to an island straight out of university. Kamito-sensei is one of those, along with several other Tsushima High teachers.

Each year, after graduation, the school administration consults with the prefectural board of education, and they decide who will leave. That's as much as I know about the actual process: the vice principal and principal have a say in it. I don't know whether they only get to throw their two yen in, or if they get to do things like veto potential moves. Once the discussions are finished, the prefecture officially notifies all schools on the same day. The principal then calls the vice principal, relays the list of names, and the vice principal then informs the teachers.

For some teachers, the move comes as a surprise. Others can see it coming: those who are in or beyond their sixth year of island time expect it. Kurokawa-sensei is one of these. He's been preparing himself for the transfer all year.

Still others are tipped off ahead of time. It's all strictly unofficial, but the principal may make a friendly suggestion to a teacher in late February that he or she start preparing for a move. Satomi- and Kamito-sensei fall under this category. When Satomi mentioned it to me in passing, she said, "I will be leaving Tsushima in April." When I asked her how she knew, she quickly backpedaled: "It's not for sure, but maybe." Kamito gave me a similar, veiled "maybe." I get the feeling they're let in on it whenever possible, and are just asked to keep it quiet until the formal announcement.

At any rate, once the teachers are informed, they have until the beginning of the next term--April--to close up shop, pack up, ship everything off-island, say goodbye, find a place to live at the new assignment, and get settled in. I have a hard time imagining it, and I'm a bachelor. A good many teachers have families, with children who are uprooted from their schools without more than three weeks to say goodbye to all their friends.

This year, the call will come tomorrow. I'll be on the road to Izuhara from Toyotama, so I plan to head straight to Tsushima High to find out who's leaving.