Fellowship Program develops leaders

Dear friends and supporters,

April marked the start of a new school year in Japan, and a milestone for our movement: in 2026, the cumulative number of Fellowship Program participants surpassed 400, and the students our Fellows have reached now exceed 60,000. This spring, 45 new Fellows of our 14th cohort stepped into classrooms for the first time, joining a community that this past year alone included 101 Fellows teaching at 95 public schools across 27 prefectures and directly reaching 8,389 students. Notably, over 81% of our Fellows bring professional experience from outside education, compared to roughly 4% among newly hired teachers nationwide, bringing fresh perspectives and real-world connections into Japanese classrooms.

Behind these numbers are stories of transformation. Emi, a Fellow teaching a special-needs class of eight elementary students, has built what she calls "one team" with children and their parents, exchanging daily notebooks with every family to align support between home and school. Her students now chat happily about school at home and about home at school. Another Fellow, Kazuaki, left a 14-year corporate career to teach. When he noticed his students feared making mistakes, he introduced a self-directed learning method where children choose what they need to study. Some began analyzing their own errors and building study strategies, learning how to learn.

The impact is measurable. Over 95% of school principals rated our Fellows at or above standard across all eight evaluation criteria, and independent assessment shows students in Fellows' classrooms score higher on self-regulated learning: they embrace mistakes as growth opportunities and pursue deeper understanding rather than memorization. Our partnership with Moriguchi City in Osaka is also showing what system-level change looks like: teacher overtime has dropped dramatically, and the city has recorded zero new-teacher resignations due to mental health issues for three consecutive years.

None of this happens without you. Your support helps us recruit, train, and support each Fellow through their two-year journey, and beyond, as alumni continue driving change in schools, government, and communities across Japan. Thank you for standing with our Fellows and the children they serve. We can't wait to share the stories of our 45 newest Fellows in the reports ahead.

With gratitude,
The Teach For Japan Team

Links:

• Impact Report
• Donation