Job Discussion Forums

kawasaki · Joined: 12 Dec 2008 Posts: 3

HI

I have a phone interview with GABA and they have sent me their Itaku or whatever its called contract. It is a tiered system and starts at Y1500 per 40 mins I think rising each time after you have stayed long enough there.

Can GABA peeps tell me if you get enough hours and stuff? How does it work? Are you guaranteed work when you want it? It's a bit of a freelance sort of contratc it looks like to me. Is it worth it or is it risky? I don't want to be left i not enough income if I went all the way over there.

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

I have worked at Gaba in the past. In my opinion it is ok as a part time job if you don't need to earn a certain amount and won't suffer too much if you don't get a lot of bookings one week.

Nothing is guaranteed- as a worse case scenario, if no students book your lessons then you don't get paid anything. You are under no obligation to be at the school if you have no lessons booked, you can close them and leave.

I heard that recently a message came from management to say that Gaba would be doing some belt-tightening, so it looks like sales and student numbers are not good right now. I also read on another forum that teachers who used to have plenty of lessons booked on weekends for example are now seeing big gaps in their schedules.

I recommend looking for a job where you have a guaranteed income, especially in this economic climate.

BobbyBan · Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 201

This is a tricky one. Having worked at GABA before, mostly on a part-time basis I can tell you that there are plenty of teachers who make enough money to get by but even the most successful ones can only count on getting something close to "entry level" wages and only by making themselves available for just about all their waking hours.

If you really become popular then there will be no problem making money if you are also prepared to work about eight lessons a day for five or six days in that week.

This has to be somewhat balanced against the school you are based in as many of them do better than others.

For the most part, the students have been very pleasant, in my experience and the head teachers are usually pretty motivated to help you out.