A caring person. A person who can take the time to listen to others. A person who can respond calmly to any person.

A typical job of a school nurse teacher, called "infirmary teacher," is to care for children and students who have been injured or become ill at school. However, since school nurses are not doctors, they cannot provide full-scale treatment. The main focus is on first aid and bed rest. In the case of a serious injury or other serious condition, they determine whether the student should be taken to a hospital or sent home to rest, and take the student to the hospital or ask the student's parents to come and pick him or her up.
Less obvious tasks include planning and preparing for physicals, dental examinations, vision screenings, and other health checkups at the school. They are also involved in the health checkups of teachers and staff, and are in charge of health management for the school as a whole. They are also in charge of managing the school's sanitary conditions by testing the quality of tap water and swimming pools, as well as the air and temperature in classrooms. Furthermore, they accompany students on field trips and school excursions to prepare for accidents and sudden illnesses, and provide health instruction such as tooth brushing and hand washing during classroom activities. They may also participate in health and physical education classes.
On the other hand, there are many students who come to the infirmary not because of physical injuries, but because of emotional wounds. It is also an important job of the school nurse teacher to gently receive such children and students and provide them with counseling.

To become a school nurse teacher, one must first obtain a "School Nurse Teacher License," a type of teaching license. There are three types of school nurse teacher licenses, which can be obtained by earning the required credits at universities, junior colleges, and vocational schools. Graduating from a university will give you a "first-class license," graduating from a junior college or vocational school will give you a "second-class license," and completing graduate school will give you a "specialized license. There is no difference or limitation in job content depending on the type of license, but there is a difference in salary depending on one's educational background. If you aim to become a principal or other managerial position in the future, you should obtain a first-class license rather than a second-class license, and a special training license rather than a first-class license. In addition, the difference between a Type 2 license and a Type 1 license is the number of credits earned. Therefore, even a Type 2 license can be switched to a Type 1 license by acquiring the missing credits at a "school nurse teacher training institution" designated by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
In addition, obtaining a school nurse teacher's license alone does not make one a school nurse teacher. If you want to become a school nurse teacher working at a public school, you must pass a teacher recruitment examination administered by the board of education of each prefecture. If you want to become a school nurse teacher working at a private school, you must pass the teacher recruitment examination of each school. However, since being a school nurse teacher is a popular profession and there is basically only one per school, the recruitment exam has a high ratio of applicants. It is a very tight gate.

A person who graduates from a nursing school and obtains national certification as a "public health nurse" or "nurse" may become a school nurse. Public health nurses are in charge of teaching people to avoid illness and injury, while nurses treat people who are sick or injured. Both are professionals with knowledge and experience that can be applied to the work of school nurses. When such public health nurses and nurses become school nurse teachers, they must first obtain a school nurse teacher license. However, if a public health nurse or nurse is qualified, she or he can obtain a "first-class license for school nurse teacher" after studying at a "school nurse teacher training institute" designated by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for at least six months for public health nurses and one year for nurses, and earning the required credits. In the case of public health nurses, if they have obtained 8 credits in 4 subjects designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, they can apply to the prefectural board of education to obtain a "second-class license as a school nurse teacher. Of course, obtaining a school nurse teacher's license alone is not enough to become a school nurse teacher. It is necessary to pass a teacher employment examination. Although it is a difficult gate to enter, having a qualification as a public health nurse or a nurse teacher may be advantageous for employment in private schools.

Japan is currently in a state of "declining birthrate" where the number of children is decreasing. It is expected that more and more schools with fewer children and students will be closed or integrated to combine several schools. As the number of schools decreases, the hiring of school nurse teachers, which is basically limited to one per school, will become more difficult. On the other hand, the number of children and students using health centers is increasing. Not only are there many children and students with injuries and illnesses, but there are also many children and students with mental illnesses and anxieties. One school nurse teacher is not enough to deal with such students. Some have called for more than one school nurse teacher to be assigned to a single school. If this is realized, there is a possibility that the number of school nurse-teachers will increase.
As society changes around children, the way they play and socialize with friends is changing rapidly. Serious problems such as bullying have not disappeared. The work of school nurses, who look after children and students and maintain their physical and mental health, will become even more important in the future.

Average annual salaries range from 5.65 to 7.31 million yen for elementary and junior high school teachers and from 5.84 to 8.35 million yen for high school teachers. For public schools, there are some differences by municipality, and for private schools, there are differences by each school.

Since the school is a five-day week system, they have two days off per week (Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays are off); they can take a summer vacation of about five days and a consecutive holiday during the year-end and New Year holidays (December 29 through January 3). Incidentally, even if students do not come to school during the summer vacation, school nurse teachers work the same as other teachers. They also work on Saturdays when classes are held.

Public and private elementary, middle, high school, and university health centers. In the case of public schools, since they are public employees, they are transferred to another school every few years. In such cases, you cannot choose your own place of work. You can express your wishes, but it is not always possible to fulfill them.

It's a chart that shows at a glance the main routes to getting a job as a school nurse!