Job Discussion Forums

[taikibansei]

[JaredW]

Yeah I know I can do better, but it's difficult to define because I haven't worked there. In fact, my only reference points are to American Universities, which after reading seem totally different. Apologies for unneccessary repetitions.

[PAULH]

[Doglover]

I would suggest you look at some of the following links: some of the best and well-known schools in Japan have contracts that are considered detrimental to foreigners. People take these jobs because they have families to support and if they dont take them they go hungry.


http://www.debito.org/blacklist.html

[abufletcher]

Our university which is overall one of the few "foreigner friendly" universities in terms of full-time professors, also has the occasional position for a "gaikokugokyoshi" (which my Japanese colleagues all too often subvert into "gaikokujinkyoshi"). These positions are limited to one 2-year contract with no extensions possible. The officially stated reason for this is some kind of 2-year reciprical tax break arrangement with the US. This is deeply entrenched and I fought hard against it as a member of a 3-person hiring committee.

I think what many universities fear is that if they ofter renewable limited time contracts they will eventually get stuck having to keep the foreigner on full time, either from a legal standpoint or some sense of obligation. Better not to allow them to get too settled.

Then, of course, there really are a lot of Japanese who see gaijin as a disposable resource with a definite "use by" date. Gaijin teachers should, in this view, be young (similar in age to the students), genki, and need not necessarily have any EFL training. They are not necessarily looking for EFL professionals.

When our search committee ended up recommending a 60 year old for one of the gaikokugokyoshi positions we knew were were in for a rocky ride through the approval committees. This just wasn't what gaijin were supposed to be like. Well, actually she DID have blue eyes and was about as genki as anyone could hope to be but...

[JaredW]

Thank you so much everyone. I really appreciate all your input. Boy, I sure would like a permanent position to live in Japan, but that seems like it will take a lot of work if not impossible. Plus, I am forward thinking to retiremnt and giving up a tenured position at an American public high school with retirement benefits seems foolhardy.

[abufletcher]

We all like to fantasize about escaping from the realities of our current situations. My two alternative fantasies are getting a tenure-track position at an American university and returning to a lotus-eating EFL position in the Middle East. Unfortunately, neither of these options is any better in reality than my current situation so it's really just about doing what you want with your life.

If you are a 20-something already thinking about retirement prospects I suspect a life as an overseas EFL teacher is not for you.

[Doglover]

double posting

[Doglover]

Working part-time at a university? Maybe not for much longer!

In the past few months we have had a mini-flood of enquiries from members and non-members alike about the changing situation for part-time instructors in private universities throughout Kansai. These range from Kyoto Seika Daigaku introducing a changed policy raising the minimum student sign-up numbers to Osaka Kogyo Daigaku (Osaka Industrial University), which has notified staff that it is closing its night school and limiting the student intake for its day school with notice given that this will impact on the amount of work available to part-timers. Kobe Yakka Daigaku (Kobe Pharmaceutical University) has also given notice that work will be reduced due to changes in course structuring.

Part-time instructors are at the mercy of management in their attempt to cut back on overheads as universities face massive restructuring over the next few years, at a time when the university age population is on a steady decline, with the number of available places matching the number of possible candidates. In Kansai we have seen the pay and bonuses of full-time faculty at Otemon and Kyoto Seika universities cut with an increase in their teaching load, further reducing the work available to part-time instructors.

Generally part-timers have the fewest, if any rights of any worker in Japan. Whilst being paid much less per class than full-timers the overwhelming majority also are ineligible for enrollment in employment insurance (koyo hoken) and very few are enrolled in shakai hoken (employer supported health and pension insurance) thus forcing many part-timers onto the much more costly kokumin kenko hoken (national health insurance) or to take out private insurance, with all the exclusions that entails, or in not a few cases to be insurance-less.

Not all is doom and gloom however. Whilst part-timers are in the weakest position of all employees in terms of job security, pay and benefits, union membership can be a massive advantage in the face of management attacks on our conditions. Last year the General Union was able to reverse cut-backs in the cases of members at Otemon and Kyoto Gaigo Universities. This year we are already working with members in Kyoto Seika and Osaka Kogyo Universities to protect their conditions.

Join now to protect your job

Whilst union membership or your case being taken up by the union is no guarantee of success, it is realistically the only option available to most part-time university instructors. As mentioned above, the attacks we are seeing at the moment are part of a much wider trend that is affecting the whole tertiary education sector. Massive restructuring is coming in, but it is not a foregone conclusion that managements will get everything they want. The General Union calls on all university instructors, full-time and part-time, reading this article to not only get in touch with us without delay, but to join the General Union and begin the process of protecting your job and conditions before it is too late.

Over the years we have had the most success where members came to us early with potential problems, even just rumours. The summer period is the time when most colleges make their personnel decisions for the following academic year. If you wait until the autumn or even early 2006 to contact the union about restructuring at your workplace it may well be too late to salvage your job or a decent redundancy package. Time is not on your side. And if you think your job is safe for next year, how confident are you that you can say the same for 2007?

Kyoto Seika Dai.

In March this university announced that it was changing the minimum student sign-up number form 1 to 5 for a course to actually run. This was despite teachers signing contracts stating the previous policy of a minimum of one being necessary. At negotiations with the General Union on July 1st, Kyoto Seika said that they withdrew this policy after our initial intervention on behalf of our members at Seika, though it is still on the table that this change will be introduced in 2006.

Our members oppose this policy as it is an attempt by the management at a time of falling rolls to cut the variety of courses on offer to the student body and will impact on the quality of education at Seika. During negotiations management admitted a deficit of 250 million yen in the previous year, but only admitted this was the case after a failed investment of 4 billion yen in Argentine golf courses. We made it clear that we are not prepared to tolerate our members� jobs being sacrificed to pay for bad management. The example of our members� fight at Ritsumeikan University should leave all universities clear that we will fight wherever we have to.

University goes bust

Already one university, Hagi International University, in Yamaguchi prefecture has filed for bankruptcy. This university was originally a womens� junior college, but became a university several years ago when the junior college sector began to suffer a haemorrhage of students. Not a few junior colleges became universities in the 90�s. In Kyoto, Heian Jo Gakuin closed its junior college to become a university, in the process it fired all its part-time instructors, though those who were members of the General Union were the only ones to receive a redundancy package, non-members left with nothing. Hagi International will probably not be the last one to close. Will yours be next?

[abufletcher]

I believe it is a mistake for an overseas EFL teacher to get too attached to any particular country. The EFL job market, along with the world economy, is in constant flux and part of the job is going where the best jobs, salaries, and conditions currently are. Japan is currently in an ecomonic and demographic slump. That's not going to turn around anytime soon. By 2020 Japan may be back on the rise but by then many of the best paying jobs in EFL may be in China. Who knows.

Wives beware. Marrying an EFL teacher is like marrying a gypsy -- or a sailor!

[Brooks]

I work at a high school, and every month teachers have to pay into the bankruptcy fund.
It is not only universities which will close in the future.
Some elementary and secondary schools may close as well.

[Doglover]

[abufletcher]

There was a cartoon I once saw in an EFL teacher's office in Oman called "The Four Ages of EFL" and it went like this:

First frame: 20-something guy saying "It might be interesting to teach overseas for a while"

Second frame: "35 year old saying "I gotta think of something else to do."

Third frame: "Balding 45 year old holding someone hostage saying "Please publish my paper."

Fourth frame: "Mummy with a caption reading: "Did you see those new job adverts in Saudi."


This may seem funny now but....


...I was 25 when I took my first overseas teaching job (in Saudi)

...and 35 when I started playing around with the idea of moving into travel photojournalism.

...and 43 when I started my Ph.D. (and 49 now that I've finished it)

...and yes some of those Saudi jobs DO look appealing now that you mention it. Better than retiring in Phoenix.

[Doglover]

[abufletcher]