"Have AI Write Home Notices" AI Deployment Amid Teacher Exodus in Japan

Increase in Teachers Complaining of Mental Illness Due to Long Working Hours
Introducing Generative AI to Assist Teachers with Office and Administrative Tasks

The Japanese government is introducing generative artificial intelligence (AI) into schools as part of reforms to teachers' working methods. The AI is planned to be used to help teachers efficiently handle administrative tasks.

According to a report by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 28th, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) will assist teachers with administrative work using generative AI starting next month. The AI will take on roles such as ▲creating teacher training and promotional materials ▲writing and translating notices for parents ▲handling accounting tasks related to learning activities.

MEXT decided to introduce AI into school administrative offices to prevent teachers from leaving due to excessive administrative work.

According to the 2019 OECD "Teaching and Learning International Survey," Japanese secondary school teachers worked 57.4 hours per week, ranking first. This is about 10 hours more than the OECD average of 47.2 hours across 31 countries.

In particular, the time spent on administrative tasks was recorded as 5.6 hours, about twice the OECD average. As many teachers reported mental health issues due to these long hours of administrative work, MEXT planned to introduce AI to reduce administrative tasks.

According to Nihon Keizai, Higashimeikan Junior and Senior High School located in Saga Prefecture is currently using generative AI for all teachers to handle their work. They are reportedly using AI to analyze survey results and create practice problems for lessons.

[Photo by Pixabay]

MEXT plans to gradually distribute AI starting with schools that have established related measures considering the possibility of personal information leakage during AI-assisted work. The scope of AI usage will be at the discretion of each school principal.

In addition, the Japanese government plans to implement measures for reforming teachers' working methods, including ▲improving class hours exceeding the standard number ▲simplifying events such as sports days ▲organizational responses by schools to parents' complaints and demands.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.