Job Discussion Forums

[nicenicegaijin]

I feel that the ALT program is a complete waste of resources. There is too much dirty business going on with the contract bidding and ALT outsourcing companies, creating unhappy employees. It has got so bad now salary wise ALT companies have to recruit low level candidates emotionally unstable people and people who should not be around children.
I propose a scheme where government schools or MEXT interview the candidates, they put ads on JREC or JACET the same was universities recruit. They hire Japanese people who have teaching licenses and can speak English with an IELTS score of 8 or hire non-Japanese native English speakers who can speak enough to deal with simple student problems and who have teaching licenses from their own country. Pay them a decent wage. The universities can do it, so there is no excuse why the government schools can't do it. Unless the prefer the cronyism of dispatch companies and the kick backs they may provide, just speculation here.

[rxk22]

I haven't been an alt for years. Is the quality dropping still? I wonder with the USA's econ recovering less people want to come?
I know the Filipino count is growing. Which brings wages down in the end for us all

[steki47]

[nicenicegaijin]

Do dispatch companies really train ALTs? I work ft at a uni now, but I was an ALT years ago and I don't remember any training. I remember been shown the school and introduced, but that was it. Surely the BOE could do that.

[Maitoshi]

I thought you "been" teaching on the East Coast, stateside.

[rxk22]

[fluffyhamster]

Even if the requirements are raised (more bilingual, and licensed teacher back home), and the pay accordingly also, I can't see this proposal appealing to truly communicative Japanese or even that many "properly-qualified" westerners. Who wants to make teaching to highly prescribed syllabuses/textbooks with the BOE now breathing down their neck their actual career? Probably with no small amount of homeroom-like responsibilities thrown in for good measure. One might almost begin to pine for the good ol' team-teaching days!

[RM1983]

How am I supposed to know if the quality is dropping? Ive met but 10 ALTs briefly in a few years and they were a mixed bag of people. Most seem quite enthusiastic and into their job but everyone acknowledges it isnt a long term thing, if that helps? Some longer term ALTs seem to have gone part time and juggle ALT work with more lucrative afternoon/evening work.

What are you basing that ALT companies are hiring "lower level" people on? Was it not always thus? As long as I have known about it this has been the rep of ALTs anyway

I agree the dispatch companies are messing things up, but from reading around it seems more and more are getting hired directly by the boards.

Also, my ALT training was a week and paid at a low rate. The actual teaching training was very good (was surprised!) but there was too much about fitting into Japanese culture.

[RM1983]

[rxk22]

True RM, but at this point they need to drastically overhaul the system anyhow. It seems like it was a stop gap that accidentally became a perm system

[RM1983]

[RustyShackleford]

I'm in Spain right now on a very similar program and see a lot that Japan could learn from it. Spain's program also has a lot of ridiculousness, but there is are some crucial differences I see in how each is implemented. The educational approaches are completely different but I think Japan could learn somethings about implementation.

The program with a lot of the ALT/JET thing is that they're run by so many different organizations (BOE/MEXT/school) that the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing. Spain on the other hand pretty much leaves the assistant alone when not in the classroom. No development meetings and contracts are only extendable to two years. Salaries are "Spain-high" at 1000 euro a month, which isn't outright horrible but nothing you want to build a family with either.

Part of this is a problem but it does show one advantage - Spain knows what it wants out of native speakers. It wants you to come in, help out and go. It seems like Japanese education wants the same given the racket going on with the dispatchers, but the central government itself keeps JET around.

Being a former JET, I think it's great and much prefer the salary and benefits given to me by CLAIR et all, but it would do them some good to either a) incentivize staying around (As part of it wants to build Japanese immigration) or b) make the revolving door intention clearer - no expensive meetings/workshops, all this jazz.

I'm grateful the latter is there as it helped me find direction in life, but the thought on the back of my mind was "Why am I getting all this help and support if we're all only gonna be here for a few more years?"

Especially when the bulk of ALTing in both countries does involve a good amount of "stand out around the classroom and don't look too bored while keeping things going smoothly," although I find myself more engaged and heading classes more often in the Spanish setting compared to Human Tape Recorder in Japan.

[nicenicegaijin]

How do you manage to survive in Spain teaching English and why do you do it? I heard it is extremely difficult to make a living from teaching English in Spain.

[RustyShackleford]

Off-topic but I do it to get my Masters degree here and others who are just normal assistant teachers do it for the same reason anyone in Japan does - they are curious about the country/area and are willing to sacrifice certain things to live there. People are also often coming up with ideas for how they can stay.

JET's material benefits were great when they wanted to show people how Japan wasn't a scary monster built out of Nintendo and Walkman. The current glut of dispatch companies screwing people and the numbers who sign up regardless show that they aren't strictly necessary at this point. I think that the program should be under the auspices of the government and not business but it does need some tweaking.

[nightsintodreams]

Just ignore MATeacher, he's always talking like that.

I'm loving the new account name by the way, very original. Any new pieces in your antiques collection? Be sure to tell us all about them.