Today was an interesting day at school.  In Japan, teachers can't decide where they teach, they can just specify an area.  And they must stay at that school for 3 years, and after that it is possible to transfer, but of course, they can't decide where. 

So today was the day that the teachers find out what they are doin.  Needless to say, there was a different feelin in the office today.  Everyone seemed quite nervous and was pacin around.  I think most of the teachers wanted to stay, since my school is the top school in the city and the students are good.  Out of 10 of the English teachers at my school, 2 of them got transferred and 1 is retiring.  One of the teachers that got transferred is my supervisor, so I was disappointed she got transferred because she has been a good supervisor.  She is also a very good teacher and made our classes enjoyable.

But the whole system of transferring is quite strange.  The one good thing that I can gain from it is that there is never a school in need of a teacher.  All the positions are filled.  But it seems for a country that is so big on group work and team-centered, it would seem more logical to keep teachers where they are in order to create better relationships amongst the teachers.  Also, sometimes the teachers end up having to commute a long ways to work.  Plus its not performance based at all.  So there is no benefit of being a good teacher, it doesn't give you a better chance to stay or go.  I would like to hear the reasoning behind the system.  In fact, I just might ask someone.