Kayoko Hama: Appointed as the First Female Superintendent of the Tokyo Metropolitan Curriculum Advisory Committee

There are about one million children studying in public schools in Tokyo. Education in Tokyo covers a very wide range and carries heavy responsibility. While the environment surrounding children's education is changing significantly and I feel the weight of that responsibility, looking back, it has been a challenging but enjoyable year.

The enthusiasm and sense of responsibility of the teachers on the front lines are truly incredible when seen up close. As the person in charge, I want to fulfill my role to ensure that this enthusiasm and sense of responsibility are properly conveyed to the citizens of Tokyo, and that the Metropolitan Curriculum Advisory Committee moves in the direction it should go.

I had the impression that the education industry might value tradition too much, but that is not the case at all; there are many people who are eager to take on new things. Since I have never worked in educational administration before, when I ask without any preconceptions, "Why don't we do it this way?" they accept it flexibly, saying, "That's one way of thinking."

There is an atmosphere within the organization of doing new things through discussion, like saying, "Why don't we try it like this?" It's fun to feel every day that various things are changing little by little. I don't feel like I'm working hard alone; everyone else is trying to change too, so I find it rewarding.

To begin with, I believe there is almost no work that can be done by one person alone. I tell young people to always be conscious of the fact that work is not something you do by yourself. Looking back, even the jobs I think "went well" were not things I did alone, but were possible because of the bosses who supported me and the people who cooperated with me.

Now, even if I create the initial spark, it is the staff, section chiefs, and department directors who handle the fine details. Working in an organization is interesting because you work in teams like that, and conversely, I think big jobs cannot be done unless you are in a team. I think that is the fun and the real thrill of working within an organization.

Yes. Around my third year at the workplace, I made a mistake so big that I couldn't handle it myself. When I was at a loss, my boss and seniors helped me recover. At that time, I was told, "Work is done by an organization, so even if someone fails, the organization as a whole finishes the job properly. You were helped this time, but someday you will be on the side that helps others. This is what it means to work in an organization," and I was convinced.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government originally had many women who worked for a long time, and many became managers, but of course, there were many who did not. The people in my workplace at that time entrusted me with a wide range of work and let me do various things for the future. It is one of the workplaces that I think was a turning point.

The original reason I joined the Tokyo Metropolitan Government was that, in an era where the trend in private companies was that you had to work twice as hard as a man to get the same salary, I thought civil service was a place where I could get the same salary if I did the same amount of work.

At the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, there is a fair promotion exam, and if you pass it, you can be promoted to a certain level regardless of gender. Even when I joined, there were women at the Officer level. However, back then, the posts women could be promoted to were fixed, and the era of limited female utilization continued for a long time. Around the time I passed the management exam, the number of female successful candidates increased and there weren't enough posts, so they started trying things like placing women in this or that department.

Now, the generation slightly after mine is increasing in number at the director level, just one step away from rising to the Officer level, so from now on, I think it will become a matter of "happening to be a woman" or "happening to be a man."

It was a bit of a topic last year, but we finally have a prospect of eliminating gender-segregated enrollment quotas, which remained only in Tokyo metropolitan high schools nationwide. Progress is also being made in not using gender-segregated rosters.

Also, as you know, there are many female school teachers, but few in management positions. In particular, the number of female principals decreases as you go up from elementary to middle to high school. I believe it is necessary to systematically nurture and appoint them.

Not really (laughs). But when I was at the director level, I worked in child welfare. It was right around the time of the "I failed to get into nursery school, Japan can die!" controversy, and childcare administration was difficult, but I was also in charge of responding to child abuse. When thinking about how to quickly find and reach out to children who have difficulties at home, I thought the catalyst would be the school.

If those children are connected to school, we can notice changes or they can find a place to belong, so the role of public schools is significant.

Now that I am doing educational administration as the Superintendent, I want school teachers, families, and children to feel that "as long as you are connected to school, you are safe."

I went to public school until middle school, and I don't think it has changed that much. Among the students, there are children from homes where the only proper meal they can eat is school lunch, and there are families who find it difficult to write the documents to be submitted to the government to receive necessary assistance for learning.

The ones who can notice these things are, after all, the homeroom teachers and school nurses who see the children every day. I think schools are the first to find children who are called "young carers."

However, if we think that school teachers have to handle everything alone, they will burn out and the issues won't be solved. It's about how to connect them from there to welfare and other agencies. I think it's important to create such a system. We at the Curriculum Advisory Committee are thinking about this, and the welfare side is also talking about working together.

This has become the most important issue for the Curriculum Advisory Committee. The competition ratio for teacher recruitment exams is dropping steadily. Work-style reform for teachers cannot wait, and we are also reviewing the recruitment exams. I don't think there is only one reason why applicants are decreasing, but first, the time constraints are severe. Also, schools have become closed spaces, making it difficult to consult with those around them, and there may be anxiety about having to handle parents and children all alone.

In any case, we are securing a budget to deploy external personnel to reduce the work that teachers must do as much as possible. For example, we are deploying personnel to help vice-principals with administrative work and staff to help with lesson preparation. Or, we are deploying school counselors to consult with children. In this way, we are ensuring that not just teachers, but various people are involved in the school and share the workload.

Club activities are also a considerable burden on teachers. We have just started an initiative to secure external instructors so that, basically, teachers do not have to handle club activities on Saturdays and Sundays.

That's right. Otherwise, teachers alone won't have enough manpower, and for children, I think it's a good thing to grow up interacting with various adults.

Yes. When I started job hunting, at that time, none of the ordinary large companies would even give interviews to women. So, that was the first time I thought, "Oh, I'm a woman" (laughs). If you're from Keio Girls Senior High School, you don't really think about that, do you?

I thought, "I have to live in this world from now on, this is a problem." At that time, among the jobs I looked for where I would be evaluated the same if I did the same amount of work, the one I found was the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

That's difficult (laughs). But looking at my own daughter, I think it's better not to think too hard about the future. Recently, schools have been putting effort into career education, saying it's necessary to think about what kind of profession you want to have and how you want to live in the future, and to work toward that. But I think doing that too much might actually be bad.

I don't think the image of the future you can draw while young sees the world very broadly. Even I didn't think I could work so enjoyably or be promoted this much when I joined the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. But I've found it fun, and I'm really glad I've come this far.

I think many people don't have a goal and don't know which direction to move in, but I don't think they need to rush. If you can't find a goal, just do your best at what you can do now. By accumulating that, you might find something where you think, "This was right for me." I don't think it's a bad thing at all not to know what to work hard at.

I'm just playing it by ear (laughs).

I think that's the free and good part of Keio. It means that if you're a Keio student, you'll eventually find your own path.

Most adults don't have a clear sense of what profession they will have when they enter university; they find their path during job hunting, get a job, work hard there, and live reasonably happily. I think that's not bad at all.

If people call me easygoing, then I am, but in every post I've held, I've ended up thinking, "This is interesting work, so I don't want to transfer." When I became the Director General of the Bureau of Waterworks, I went there thinking, "Can I do this?" and then thought, "What an interesting job!" I think you can enjoy any job if you try your best, and results will follow later.

I am quite curious. For example, the work of the Bureau of Waterworks is basically the work of technical experts. So, there are many things I don't understand, like construction. But when I ask, "Why is it like that?" the technical experts are happy to teach me. Then I become more knowledgeable, human relationships improve, and it becomes easier to communicate things like, "Actually, there's this problem."

Even in fields I had no connection with, if someone teaches me, I get interested in anything, and if I get interested, I start to understand a little bit about where the difficulties and challenges are.

It's true for me, but even looking at young people in the workplace, results don't come when you're trying too hard to produce them. The more you think you want to finish this job well and be evaluated, praised, or recognized, the more often good results don't come. Instead, I feel that better results come when you're just thinking about doing the best you can.

I'm glad I went to Keio Girls Senior High School because I think my current free-spirited way of thinking exists because of those three years.

The whole of Keio is like that, isn't it? We don't call teachers "Sensei," we call everyone "-san." Especially at the girls' high school, we talk freely without even thinking of teachers as "teachers" (laughs). If we have something to say, we say it; when we don't understand, we say "I don't understand"; and when we don't like something, we say "I don't like it." That free-spirited feeling probably wasn't in me until middle school.

Since I started working, I've been told several times, "I'm surprised you can say things so casually to your superiors." While everyone else is scared and stays away from a certain boss, I just walk right up and talk to them. I talk freely, say "that's wrong" when it is, and say "I can't do it" when I can't (laughs).

I don't argue blindly, but if you have a proper conversation, you can reach a single answer even if your positions are different. I think that sense of security was acquired during my time at the girls' high school.

I was told that everyone, including young staff, started speaking up more during meetings in the Officer's room, and that made me happy. I also ask "Why?" and tell everyone, "It's okay to voice your doubts."