This article from the Asahi Shimbun is about the level of English skills among junior high and high school teachers throughout Japan, including Kumamoto. The benchmark used in the survey was 80 or more on the TOEF iBT (which would be about 550 on the old TOELF test), or 730 or more on the TOIEC, or jun’ikkyu (a step below the highest level) on the Eiken test. The article says that only about 50% of the high school teachers in Kumamoto are at this level and that the number falls to less than a quarter at the junior high school level. Both of these are below the national average which itself is pretty low.
I think that junior and senior high school teachers have to work very hard in Japan. It must be difficult to improve one’s English skill dramatically while working long hours every day. If that’s the case, however, I think that, for the sake of the children, teachers need more time to study and improve themselves. English teachers should be able to speak with confidence to young people about how they mastered the language – not how even they are having trouble getting the hang of it.
– Kirk