You've hit on a key issue here.

BOEs across the nation are jumping on the outsourcing band-wagon.

They are well aware of the fact that contracted teachers are less likely to participate in such things as weekend conferences (that would definitely not be paid for by those teachers' employers).

However, with the extremely high turnover rate of foreign teachers, I think the BOEs believe that such professional development isn't worth it - the teachers they have now will be gone in a year or two anyway (especially if they are brokered teachers getting paid much less than direct hires to do the same job)!

So it's a vicious cycle spinning faster and faster with every year.

Before the problem can be solved, BOEs and MEXT will have to be convinced that there is a problem with this way of running their public English education system.

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Thanks tanabata27. I really don't know much about how English is being integrated into primary school curricula. I can empathise with the teachers who are frustrated by not being given a lesson plan or having it changed at the last minute. Who makes the lesson plans? I think you're right about communication, exchanges of opinion, and lesson observations - and yes, time is at a premium. Thanks again for your excellent contribution.

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