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Senior high school teachers

How to become an Upper Secondary School Teacher

Also called: High School Teacher, High School Nutrition Teacher, High School Health Teacher

Teaches their specialist subject to high school students and guides students as a class teacher.

Main tasks

Workers in this job say university or a master's degree is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.

How to become one

You can get a high school teacher's licence by earning the required credits at a university or similar. As a rule, earning the credits includes a teaching placement at a high school. People usually then start work by passing a prefectural teacher recruitment exam or a private high school's recruitment exam. After becoming a teacher, there is plenty of training to improve skills in your specialist subject, student guidance and other areas. As well as specialist knowledge and skills in your subject, a broad general education and understanding of and responsibility for your students are important. Counselling knowledge and skills are also desirable.

Ways in

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Questions people ask

How do I become an Upper Secondary School Teacher?

You can get a high school teacher's licence by earning the required credits at a university or similar. As a rule, earning the credits includes a teaching placement at a high school. People usually then start work by passing a prefectural teacher recruitment exam or a private high school's recruitment exam. After becoming a teacher, there is plenty of training to improve skills in your specialist subject, student guidance and other areas. As well as specialist knowledge and skills in your subject, a broad general education and understanding of and responsibility for your students are important. Counselling knowledge and skills are also desirable.

How much does an Upper Secondary School Teacher earn in Japan?

Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥6,661,000 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare).

Do you need a degree to become an Upper Secondary School Teacher?

Usually. In this job's census occupation group, 97% of workers are university graduates.

Will AI change the work of an Upper Secondary School Teacher?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.

Updated 4 October 2026