Previous studies reported that more than 50% of teachers on sick leave are due to mental health problems. Several reasons underlie the deterioration of the mental health of teachers. One notable reason, however, is that the work of teachers is diverse and complex, and that the work content tends to be conducted by one person.
In recent years, the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) into schools has been promoted under the GIGA School Concept, which aims to develop a high-speed, large-capacity communication network for each person. Furthermore, it intends to realize education that fosters fair and individually optimized creativity. In this manner, introducing ICT into schools is promoted from the perspective of education for students. Alternatively, however, it represents a significant reform from the perspective of the elimination of the busyness and complexity of the work of teachers.
Therefore, this workshop was held with the objective of examining the introduction of ICT into schools from the perspective of eliminating the busyness and complexity of teachers’ work.
The workshop was scheduled for 3 h. First, the participants shared their experiences. For the next activity, the participants listed and classified two types of teachers’ work, namely, those whose efficiency (1) can and (2) cannot be improved using ICT. For the first group, the participants contributed concrete ideas for ICT, discussed these ideas among themselves, and exchanged opinions to improve each idea.
Five ideas were cited as tasks whose efficiency can be improved using ICT as follows:
① Blackboard: A Combination of a blackboard and a projector; A teachers adds by hand on the image and projects a slide created using PowerPoint on a blackboard or a whiteboard.
② Searching for and making teaching materials: A system that enables teachers to share and search for various resources, such as newspaper articles, dissertations, books, videos, and props.
③ Printing and management of prints: Convert to PDF and preserve using tablets.
④ Simultaneous lecture style lessons: Use zoom and Google Classroom.
⑤ Creating office communication and office documents: Use of calendar applications, such as Google Calendar, or a business management system.
The results of the workshop suggested that the work of teachers is a heavy burden due to the accumulation of small inefficiencies and difficulties.
The participants gained a wealth of opinions, because the other participants were from various training schools. The study made use of the current situation of the busyness and complex work load of teachers and the possibility of solving them using ICT, by providing a direction for future studies.