Comments for 教員

How do i know when yo use kyoshi, instead of sensei?

Hi Juan and 皆様,

This post is for 教員(kyōin) rather than 教師(kyōshi), so below I give a bit of context about both of them and answer your question about when to use 先生(sensei):

教員 -> This is the official legal and technical term for the profession of teachers under Japanese law and is often used in official contexts. You can think of it as 'educator'.

• 例: 教員免許を持っています

教師 -> Focuses on the role of teaching and sharing knowledge, being broader than 教員, including both formal educators and informal teachers, such as skill teachers or religious instructors. The catch here to understand the difference between this one and 先生 is that again it brings the nuance of the role/position/profession. If you use it to address someone, they will understand that you are talking about their professional capacity rather than directly addressing them.

• 例: 私は英語教師です
• 例: 田中教師は学習指導の経験が高いです

先生 -> When we think about the actual meaning of the kanjis for sensei, it translates to 'one who was born before'. It is a respectful term for referring to teachers and other professionals such as doctors, lawyers, artists... It is very common regardless of context(formal or informal) and is not limited to educators as it can be used for anyone with authority or superior skills in a field.

• 例: 田中先生は優しいです

TLDR - When to use 教師 and when to use 先生 :

Use 教師 when referring to the profession/role/position.

Use 先生 when adressing teachers.

• 例: 田中先生は数学教師です

Final considerations:

I don't wanna bother you with more details as I think the above is all necessary to start understanding this topic, and neither have I dominated all nuances to give a full explanation on how to refer to teachers under the japanese culture. 

Things to keep in mind and that my explanation fail to address: 

1. 先生 can be used to describe someone's position in casual conversations as well,  normally together with the possessive particle の such as in: 英語の先生
2. There are many other terms that can be used when talking to/about teachers. One other that I know and might be relevant on your studies is 教授. My understanding is that it works similar as 先生, but is specific to university professors.
3. Reach me on Instagram and let's help each other on this journey 頑張ろう！