Job Discussion Forums

[mistael]

I was wondering what the job market for teaching English in Japan or other places will be in the next 2-3 years? Better? Worse? The same? Is this a question that one can not really answer. I am just wondering because you guys would know better than I do. I researched that it is good now.

[Gordon]

I'd say the same. The market is huge here, nothing will change much in a few years.
10-20 years? Would be hard to say. The Japanese have voracious appetite for English language learning as a hobby.
The university teaching market is definitely on the decline, jobs are outsourced to dispatch companies and unis are closing. The Japanese are not having enough babies, but that is another subject altogether.

[sidjameson]

The yen seems to be in a long term decline. The starting salary here now is about the same as a shop assistant in the UK. This I would assume will result in fewer teachers willing to come here. Also the potential for savings, if thats what you"re after are now getting severely squeezed.

[bluefrog]

Elementary schools will start requiring 5th and 6th graders to study English next year so that area should grow. Although those jobs will probably go to dispatch companies and not direct BOE hires. Dispatch companies of course pay less than most other full time jobs.

[fat_chris]

Gordon,

Thanks for the link to that website. Had some good tidbits on it.

I am envious of all of you Japan old-timers. I am in the States finishing a Master's degree in TESOL and in the middle of my third year as an ESL teacher in a public school. All I want to do is return to "the field". I am very eager to go back into EFL somewhere in Asia. We'll see where I end up this fall. The prospect of teaching in Japan is exciting for me.

Regards,
fat_c

[Sweetsee]

Howdy Chris,
All Japan old-timers, even ones looking for jobs? That and I am curious about entry-level jobs for MA holders here. What do you see yourself doing here next year at this time? Thanks in advance.
Enjoy,
s

[seanmcginty]

I've been out of Japan for almost 2 years now, but during my time there (from 1999 to 2005) it seemed like things were in a very very slow decline.

One recent problem for Canadians (doesn't apply so much for Americans) is that the value of the yen has gone down significantly in relation to our currency in that time frame. When I started my salary in Yen worked out to nearly $50,000 Canadian, which was exceptionally good for a 23 year old just out of university. When I left that salary would work out to only a little over $30,000, which is a massive reduction and hardly makes it worth travelling all the way across the world on your own dime for.

There are a lot of problems with the Eikaiwa Gakko market that will have long term effects but probably won't affect things much in the next 2-3 years. One is the demographics. Japan's population just peaked and the number of young people is declining. When the big schools like NOVA and GEOS/AEON opened in the early 70s there were lots of baby-boomers in the high school/college age frame who wanted/needed to learn English. Now there aren't so many student aged people looking for lessons and a lot who are will be taking Chinese instead of English. The number of housewives and salarymen willing to fork over huge money to study a language they don't really need is pretty finite, so there is no room for the schools to expand or even maintain their current student base over the long term. So without a doubt the big four will have to start closing smaller schools and hiring fewer teachers in the future if they want to stay in business.

This stuff also applies to public school teachers/ ALTs. Fewer kids equals fewer students equals fewer teachers.

In addition you have other variables like the performance of the Japanese economy and cultural influenes that might make studying English less or more attractive.

[Alberta605]

The next two or three years probably won't see much change, i mean what does change that quickly anywhere? The next 20+ will have seen dramatic change of course as the population moves into old age and numbers of remaining numbers of youngers students become more and more interested in Chinese as a second language. However, this I think will be more than counterbalanced by the need for every Japanese who wants to work in a large organisation to learn English as millions of foreigners flood the vacuum left in the job market. I would hope that the chain schools, AEON , NOVA etc will be left behind in this as the Japanese Government passes laws to ensure better educational provision in state schools (including teachers who can actually speak the language in an advanced way, as well as merely teach it to high school level). Private companies and public organisations will also need to face this increasing long term need for English. Of course, this is a pretty stark reality for a presently anti-change Japan and will not be addressed until it is nearly too late or even past the point of no return by some. I am sure the Governemnt will at some point take the lead but such central encouragement is often a very small ripple in a largely stagnant pool.

[Mark]

I wouldn't expect to see much change in the next few years except that wages will probably continue to drop.

In the long-term, I think things will continue to get worse. Schools will continue to rely on temps from agencies and this trend is spreading to universities. Even if you get a full-time position with a university, you'll probably only teach the university version of "oral communication" and students will spend most of their time studying English with Japanese teachers entirely in Japanese.

My experience in Japanese high schools does not give me confidence that anything is going to change. Mombusho actually says all the right things, but they don't enforce anything and teachers don't listen to them.

Hopefully, at some point, they'll replace the university entrance exam with a much more communicative exam. But I tend to think that Japanese teachers would probably just continue teaching the same way. Many of them seem convinced that the present system really is the best way for Japanese to learn foreign languages.

[Glenski]

[User N. Ame]

[Dipso]

I too am considering jumping to Korea for economic reasons. I earn the same now as I did on my first trip to Japan in 1998. Back in 1998 the exchange rate was 180 yen to the British pound, now it's 235 and rising almost daily - an enormous difference to someone with financial commitments in their home country.

Although the cost of living in Japan would appear to have risen little in that same period, it would seem that the poor exhange rate is affecting teacher recruitment. When I was first here in 1998, all teachers at my company were required to have a Celta or equivalent and most of my colleagues had prior overseas teaching experience too. When I returned to Japan in 2006, I discovered that I was one of very few certified EFL teachers in my entire region and that most of my colleagues are fresh from university with no teaching experience.

[Alberta605]

I wonder if the changes in the economics of an English lesson can be compared to those of a Prada handbag? That would seem to be the existing equation in the minds of many Japanese language 'learners'.

[fat_chris]

[Glenski]