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kparise
Joined: 06 Jan 2009
Posts: 7
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 Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:13 am Post subject: Certification necessary when teaching in Japan??? |
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| I know this question has been asked a few times, and the gist seems to be that a teacher with a bachelor's degree who is also a native speaker will not have a problem landing a job teaching English in Japan WITHOUT some sort of TEFL cert. Is this accurate? Does anyone have personal experience of getting a good teaching job (if so, where and which program/school etc) without the certification? If I decided to not get certified, is there always the option to get certified once in Japan? I just don't want to waste the money (as I'm a poor grad student) on a TEFL certificate if it is unnecessary. Thanks!! |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:09 am Post subject: |
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| I just don't want to waste the money |
What are your goals in TEFL? Short term? Probably not a good idea to get the certification. Long term? Get it.
Have others gotten jobs without the certification? Heck yeah. Nobody is going to cite you figures or percentages, though. I'll tell you that 6000 JET Programme ALTs per year don't all have the certs, and if Cthulhu reads this, perhaps he can say roughly how many do. As for eikaiwa, though, I would hazard a guess that the majority don't. Read my green paragraph to see something additional about that.
Now, as to your exact wording of that question:
a teacher with a bachelor's degree who is also a native speaker will not have a problem landing a job teaching English in Japan WITHOUT some sort of TEFL cert.
"Will not have a problem" is the part that I will touch on here.
You can't say that. Everyone will have some sort of problem. Otherwise, what you wrote implies that native English speakers always get good jobs even without the cert, which is totally false. Some don't even get any jobs at all. The cert is not the only thing employers consider.
The fact is, most employers in Japan (especially for newbie teachers) don't have a clue about TEFL certs, and some are even afraid of them because they think certified teachers will change the format of the school.
Just think of your long and short term goals.
Additionally, if you think you may be at this for more than just short term but have not given it long-term thought, and you are clueless about EFL in general, you should consider getting the certification just so you are more well-informed about teaching methods and/or feel more comfortable in front of a class. |
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markle
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Posts: 1316
Location: Out of Japan
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| Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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I don't have a cert. But I had quite few years experience teaching. No cert and no experience don't give you any advantage over all the other applicants in an increasingly employer's market.
If the money is insurmountable and your only thinking short term, then try your luck. If your thinking long term, then try your luck and in a year or two get the cert. |
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