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[joncharles]

Here is a copy of a story from the June 1 Japan Times and reprinted in the June 3 ELT Newsletter.

THE ZEIT GIST

'No sex please, you're teachers'
Nova teachers unhappy with rules, reports

By TONY MCNICOL

"I feel offended that anyone would tell me who I can or can't hang out with," says Brendan (not his real name), one of 6,000 foreign language instructors employed by Nova Corp. in Japan.

Nova Corp. Schools, where foreign teachers give English classes in glass-walled cubicles, are omnipresent around Japan.

According to the language school chain's instructor contract, foreign employees are forbidden to "participate in any interaction with the clients of the employer outside the place of employment." In theory, insist Nova instructors, they are under threat of the sack for so much as a chance encounter with any of the company's 450,000 students.

"Instructors can be harassed and disciplined for socializing with people they don't even know are Nova students," says Robert Bisom, one of two plaintiffs who took a case against Nova to the Osaka Bar Association last year.

Earlier this year the lawyers' group issued a ruling against Nova saying that it was wrong for the company to "unilaterally prohibit socialization of employees, which is essentially private and free behavior." The lawyers' group also pointed out that the rule was only applied to foreign staff -- in effect, a form of racial discrimination.

Nova employees claim that the rule is hypocritical to boot since many of the foreign "trainers" likely to report teachers for "fraternization" are frequently guilty of the same offense.

"I do know of trainers that have gone to parties with the students, I have seen that for myself," says one teacher in his 30s from north Osaka. Other teachers claim that the rule is doubly hypocritical because many of Nova's foreign managers are married to ex-students themselves.

Although not legally binding, bar association rulings in Japan are usually very influential. When Nova attempted to force its teachers to take drug tests in the mid 1990s, the Osaka Bar Association issued a ruling saying that Nova's actions were illegal. To date, no teacher has been drug tested by the company in Japan.

After this year's ruling, Nova said in its defense that the 10-year-old clause in their contracts was introduced to "protect both the teachers and the students from trouble, as they do not know each other's cultures and customs." A Nova director, Yukitomo Ishimatsu, put it slightly more graphically: "We cannot allow kissing or improper conduct (in our schools)."



"Now that they are cornered, Nova is starting to drum up the fear of foreigners thing," says Bisom. "It's socially and politically irresponsible." He says that, in any case, the rule is almost impossible to enforce and in fact broken at least as often as it's kept.

According to Nova's company profile, posted in English on their Web site, "Nova aims to create an age in which communication crosses geographical borders, and lines of nationality, race, culture, and language; an age in which people can communicate whenever, wherever, and with whomever they choose."

However, when contacted last week and asked for the reason behind their nonsocialization policy, Nova replied by e-mail (in Japanese) that "since it is necessary to explain (the reasons for) the rule by reference to the cultural background of Japanese people, it will be extremely difficult to reply in a limited amount of time or written reply."

Other big language schools say that they don't particularly encourage or discourage socialization between staff and students. A spokesman for ECC said that "It's not up to us how teachers behave outside class. That should depend on teacher's own morals."

Things aren't made any easier for teachers and students by some language school advertising that subtly (or not so subtly) plays toward aspirations of international romance. One language school poster for a large chain (not Nova) shows a young women handcuffed to her smartly suited foreign instructor. Another features a cartoon-drawn female student straddling a rocket and staring deeply into the eyes of a handsome Caucasian-looking man.

"Practically speaking, it's hard to stop teachers socializing with students," says Mark McBennett, editor of English Language Teaching News. "A lot of students come for the social side of things rather than strictly just to learn English."

Some believe Nova is caught in a Catch-22 situation: they can't be seen to be condoning unprofessional behavior by their instructors, but they can't afford to alienate those students who may have things other than the search for pure knowledge in mind when they come to learn English.

Others speculate that Nova is worried about teachers arranging to meet up with their students for private classes. In a highly competitive market, no language school can afford to lose students.

The teacher's working environment, at least, makes life difficult for any would-be moonlighters.

"We teach in tiny cubicles that adjoin each other and are glass from the waist up," says Brendan. "We always feel like we are being watched. This really adds to the stress of teaching."

Other teachers talk about an atmosphere of "paranoia." All the current Nova teachers contacted for this article requested that their full names not be used. One teacher, contacted by e-mail, asked for proof that we were really writing for The Japan Times and not undercover Nova management.

Rancorous relations between staff and managers is a problem in many of Japan's language schools, says Shawn Thir, who used to teach at a large chain school, and runs an Internet bulletin board for language teachers.

"I think it's because of the high staff turnover. There is never a chance to build any trust between anybody."

Bisom points out that teachers are left highly dependent on their schools; the "eikaiwa" schools are normally responsible for their teachers' visas, and often their apartments. Many teachers are young, frequently in their first or second jobs and in an unfamiliar country. Unsociable hours can make it difficult to meet new people.

"The only Japanese people they meet here in their first year, generally speaking, who can speak English, are their students." And if teachers are unable to speak Japanese, they are likely to end up spending all their time with other language teachers.

"Teachers are kept cowed and obedient because they don't know what to expect and are intimidated by the laws of a new country," says one ex-teacher from Tokyo.

"It means that they don't really have an experience of Japan," says Bisom. "They have an experience of hanging out with foreigners."

"What business is it of Nova's what we do in our free time? We're adults, let us make our own choices," argues one Osaka teacher.

Send your comments to [email protected]

The Japan Times: June 1, 2004
(C) All rights reserved

[Mosley]

NOVA management(to say nothing of the ownership) is lower than pond scum. BTW the story I heard was that an Osaka court ruled, earlier this year, that it was illegal for the company to insist upon this policy.

[Iwantmyrightsnow]

[PAULH]

Unfortunately, the mass media, doing what they do best, have managed to reduce a serious issue to the level of the gutter. The "respected" newspaper 'Nihon Keizai Shimbun' made asses of themselves by putting a heart mark alongside their headline reporting the case. One panelist on Ogura's 'Tokutane' morning news on Channel 8 also missed the point, saying 'They signed the contract; if they don't like it, they can leave; there are loads of schools around'. Some teachers have even expressed the opinion that the union is fighting for the right to have sex with students!

Let's look at the facts. NOVA has been abusing its rights by using the socialisation issue as a reason to dismiss teachers in serious relationships. In our complaint we listed some examples from the year 2000:

ｷ a teacher who got engaged to a young woman who was by chance a student in a different NOVA school from his.

ｷ a teacher who was given the choice to quit or be fired for getting engaged (See 'Justin's Story', below).

ｷ a teacher who was forced to quit for meeting and dating someone he had first met in a bakery, who again, happened to be a NOVA student.

In the first case, the union won the withdrawal of the dismissal, but with the abuses continuing, we decided that we should attack the policy at its root, as a violation of the most basic rights of freedom of association guaranteed in the Constitution.

We are not fighting simply for the 'right to date', and certainly not for the right to take advantage of students. Some people will do bad things regardless of rules, but we don't criminalise driving because of car accidents.

The Recommendation
The Bar Association's letter of 24 February recommended that NOVA delete the offending clauses from contracts and working rules, and withdraw the dismissal of one of the plaintiffs. Its comment on the reasons for its findings included these points:

ｷ NOVA's policy is a violation of freedom of association and the right to privacy, and they cannot prohibit employees' activities outside the workplace.

ｷ The rules are too vague and too extensive to be used as regulations.

ｷ Even though teachers sign these contracts, the employee is in an inherently weak position and cannot object to regulations proposed by an employer.

ｷ Japanese staff are under no such restrictions, and so the non-socialisation policy for foreigners is problematic from the point of view of equality.

NOVA Backs Down?
In the Bar's letter, they wrote, 'According to the defendant's lawyer, they have now started revising the present Instructor's Contract and Working Regulations in their entirety, intending to delete the aforementioned provisions prohibiting socialisation with students, and a new contract and regulations are to be decided this December.' The GU will hold NOVA to its word.

Justin's Story (NOVA's non-socialisation policy)

Justin enthusiastically agreed to have his name put in the original complaint filed against NOVA in February last year, and after the Bar's ruling, he wrote this letter to the union:

"I can't express the satisfaction I feel that the General Union has won such a victory over NOVA! Wow! This is something I've been waiting to hear for nearly 4 years now. I always knew that what I had done was not something worthy of being (fired) forced to resign for. I was so angry when it all happened then. After all, mine was an honest relationship that turned into a happy marriage which I am still very blessed with. I was not out taking advantage of students, but I knew a lot who were: nothing ever happened to them.

Because the Assistant Trainer (A.T.) at the branch I worked in knew that I stood for what I believed in, regardless of it being for or against NOVA, I truly believe that she singled me out to make an example of me...and therefore, turned me in. Her name was A.. She was the A.T. at the Kurashiki Ekimae branch of NOVA during the first 7 months of the year 2000. The supervisor that forced me to resign was named Sharon..... I can't remember her last name but I think she still works for NOVA somewhere.

Anyway, and fortunately, because of me having to leave NOVA, I was able to move on to better opportunities. I found a much better job with better pay. Nonetheless, what you have done to make sure that what I went through at NOVA never happens to another teacher/employee again is very noble and worthy of much praise. I thank you very much for your efforts to do what is right and protect human rights in Japan.

Currently, I'm living in Hawaii and I work for a bank. I'm very happy out here. My wife is out here with me and we are making a pretty good life for ourselves.

To imagine that I should have just ignored her and not dated her just because of NOVA's stupid policy of anti-socialisation would have been one of my biggest regrets and I definitely would not have had the happiness I have now. I'm truly grateful that I did what was right and believed in myself enough to take a stand and a risk, even though it meant losing my job. That's precisely what you are doing for others now and it's to be commended. Thanks to you, teachers at NOVA will have the basic rights they are entitled to as honest, hardworking members of a great society.

With lots of sincere thanks and aloha,
Justin Christensen

[Mosley]

Thanks PAULH!

I'd take Al-Qaeda over NOVA....