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School Workload Reform

Last updated 2026-05-03 · Source: digital.go.jp

How to read this dashboard

Use this page to see where local public school systems still lack outside owners, support staff, or tools for work that can otherwise fall on teachers.

Who is counted
Municipal boards of education, which run local public school systems. This is not a survey of individual schools, private schools, teachers, students, or families.
What the number means
For each listed job, the percent is the share of boards that said the support, ownership, staffing, or tool is not in place yet.
How to read it
Lower is better. A high value means many local public school systems still have not set up that support or assigned that work to another owner.
What it covers
The rows cover concrete jobs such as handling problems on the way to school, club activity support, grading administration, surveys, event preparation, and family support.
What it does not cover
These are workload and responsibility metrics. They do not measure service quality, legal compliance, transport contracts, vehicle checks, or individual incidents.

Source definitions follow the Digital Agency page.

School Workload Reform shows 16 scorecard values for the 2024 municipal-board teacher workload survey. The captured view is filtered to Not in place, so the useful signal is where reforms remain least adopted: community staff or volunteers helping supervise students during breaks (77.0%), community staff or volunteers helping with school cleaning (69.9%), and support staff helping with career guidance (67.1%).

The page now labels each reform item and keeps the source link visible, so an English-speaking policy, business, or research team can cite the Digital Agency dashboard, check the MEXT survey definitions, and revisit the same URL as the underlying dashboard updates.

Reviewed 2026-05-07 by Tetsu. Terms adjusted for English readers.


Scorecard source data

Where support is not in place

Each row is one job that can fall on schools or teachers unless another owner is clearly in place. The percent is the share of municipal education boards that say the support, ownership, staffing, or tool listed in that row is not in place yet.

Who is counted
Municipal boards of education, which run local public school systems. This is not a survey of individual schools, private schools, teachers, students, or families.
What the percent means
The board answered that the arrangement is not in place yet. Depending on the row, that can mean no outside owner, no extra staff, no specialist support, or no digital tool.
How to read it
Lower is better. For example, 16.0% means about 16 out of 100 applicable boards say that specific support or ownership is not in place.
What it is not
These are workload and responsibility metrics. They do not measure service quality, legal compliance, transport contracts, vehicle checks, or individual incidents.

Highest shares not in place: Who helps supervise students during breaks (77.0%); Who helps with school cleaning (69.9%); Who helps with career guidance (67.1%).

Reform itemShare not in place

1. Who handles problems on the way to and from school

This asks whether people or organizations outside the school take the lead when problems come up while students are going to or from school.

Why it matters: It covers route safety, traffic-watch duties, accidents, incidents, complaints, and coordination with parents, police, or local government.

Not covered: This is not a school-bus, charter-bus, driver-vetting, or field-trip procurement metric.

Needs an owner outside the school / Not in place

16.0%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 16.0% of municipal boards say no outside-school lead is in place for problems during the trip to or from school.

2-1. Who does after-school and night patrols

This asks whether local authorities, parents, or community patrols take the lead on after-school and night patrols.

Needs an owner outside the school / Not in place

48.1%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 48.1% of municipal boards say after-school and night patrols have not been moved to local authorities or community patrols.

2-2. Who responds when students get into trouble outside class

This asks whether parents, local government, education boards, or community personnel take the lead when students need guidance after being reported or picked up outside normal class settings.

Needs an owner outside the school / Not in place

53.1%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 53.1% of municipal boards say out-of-class student guidance still has no outside-school lead.

3. Who collects and manages school fees

This asks whether money for school expenses is collected and managed through public accounting or administrative processes, without teachers handling the money.

Needs an owner outside the school / Not in place

25.0%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 25.0% of municipal boards say teacher-free fee collection and accounting is not in place.

4. Who coordinates community volunteers

This asks whether a coordinator or outside organization handles communication with community volunteers and instructors, instead of a school staff member doing it directly.

Needs an owner outside the school / Not in place

21.6%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 21.6% of municipal boards say community-volunteer coordination still has no outside owner.

5. Who answers surveys and statistics requests

This asks whether administrative staff handle surveys, statistics requests, and paperwork that do not require a teacher's professional judgment.

Bring in non-teacher help / Not in place

35.2%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 35.2% of municipal boards say survey, statistics, and paperwork support is not in place.

6. Who helps supervise students during breaks

This asks whether local staff or volunteers help supervise and support students during break times.

Bring in non-teacher help / Not in place

77.0%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 77.0% of municipal boards say local help for break-time supervision is not in place.

7. Who helps with school cleaning

This asks whether community staff, volunteers, or contractors help with school cleaning work.

Bring in non-teacher help / Not in place

69.9%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 69.9% of municipal boards say outside help for school cleaning is not in place.

8. Who helps run club activities

This asks whether club activities involve outside coaches, club-activity instructors, or local partners instead of relying only on teachers.

Not covered: This measures staffing support for clubs, not transport contracts or travel safety checks for away matches.

Bring in non-teacher help / Not in place

3.0%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 3.0% of municipal boards say outside support for club activities is not in place.

9. Who helps teachers during school lunch

This asks whether lunch-time duties are shared with nutrition teachers, support staff, or community helpers instead of falling only to classroom teachers.

Reduce teacher workload / Not in place

59.8%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 59.8% of municipal boards say lunch-time support is not in place.

10. Who helps prepare classes

This asks whether support staff help prepare materials, equipment, or classroom setup before lessons.

Reduce teacher workload / Not in place

13.0%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 13.0% of municipal boards say support staff for class preparation are not in place.

11-1. Who helps with assessment and grade processing

This asks whether support staff help with the administrative parts of assessment and grade processing.

Reduce teacher workload / Not in place

36.5%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 36.5% of municipal boards say support staff for assessment and grade processing are not in place.

11-2. Whether grading uses digital tools

This asks whether schools use tools such as grading software to record, calculate, or manage assessment and grades.

Reduce teacher workload / Not in place

25.5%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 25.5% of municipal boards say digital tools for assessment and grade processing are not in place.

12. Who helps prepare and run school events

This asks whether volunteers, community staff, or contractors help set up and run school events.

Reduce teacher workload / Not in place

27.6%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 27.6% of municipal boards say outside help for school-event work is not in place.

13. Who helps with career guidance

This asks whether specialist or administrative staff help with career guidance, especially tasks such as gathering job-placement information.

Reduce teacher workload / Not in place

67.1%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 67.1% of municipal boards say support staff for career guidance are not in place.

14. Who supports students and families needing extra help

This asks whether specialists such as counselors, social workers, special-needs support staff, or Japanese-language support staff help with difficult student or family cases.

Reduce teacher workload / Not in place

0.8%

of boards say not in place

Meaning of the number: 0.8% of municipal boards say specialist support for students and families is not in place.

Metric labels are recovered from the Digital Agency data definition and the captured dashboard text. Open the source dashboard for the official dashboard layout.

Source: Japan Digital Agency. JP Data preserves the official source link and re-renders extracted rows for speed, English labels, and citation.