Job Discussion Forums

[Vince]

Correct me if I'm wrong (like I need to say that), but I remember reading that the government basically mandated non-renewable contracts for foreign teachers. The way it apparently plays out is that the schools say the government requires it, and the government says it was a suggestion ultimately up to the schools.

[womblingfree]

[Mr_Monkey]

I stumbled across a rather old paper that indicated that it is a practice of Japanese organisations to develop detail-oriented generalists and temporarily employ specialists and women to provide flexibility in the workforce.

If I remember correctly, there was a legal case a few years back where a Japanese woman successfully took 7/11 to court after being summarily dismissed. She had worked there for a good few years, and the judge ruled that she was actually a full employee under Japanese labour laws, and entitled to the same working privileges and protections as any full-time employee. In terms of legal precedent, it would make any employee with more than three years of service almost impossible to dismiss without demonstration of misconduct, in practical terms.

Of course, my mind might be playing tricks on me, or I may have misunderstood the practical implications of the story I read. However, I'm sure I read the story, and its implications explain the whole "three year" thing.

I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to correct me.

[Glenski]

womblingfree,
Dispatch at universities is illegal. Westgate circumvents that somehow, and even though you may find some universities that still use dispatchers, it's still illegal, and people run the risk of losing their jobs if they go that route.

As for this:

[PO1]

I'm curious about this as well. If I have a Professor visa, doesn't that make me eligible to teach at universities? I may not still be qualified by certain standards (I have a Master's, teaching license, but no publications unless you count poetry ) I'll have a Spousal visa next year sometime so I realize that will at least make me eligible to pursue any kind of work for which I am qualified.

If the standard is not to let foreigners teach over a certain number of years, then how have you kept your uni job Glenski? Just wondering what has worked for you. I don't plan on having any kind of long term FT ESL career unless it involves teaching privates in my spare time or teaching PT at a uni or some other school. I'm hoping to segue into publishing later after studying lots and lots of Japanese. I'd say I'm probably JLPT 4 level now.

Anyway, yeah, wondering about universities myself.

[gaijinalways]

I'll let Glenski answer that in fuller detail, but I would guess it has a lot to do with his degree and the university where he works as they need someone with a science background there.

shimokitazawa posted

[Imseriouslylost]

[womblingfree]

[gaijinalways]

womblingfree posted

[womblingfree]

[Shimokitazawa]

This thread is interesting and useful in that there is a lot of information and experience, often conflicting, here to draw from. It also speaks to the disparity in contracts terms, compensation, and working conditions of foreign university English teachers in Japan. One thing is for sure, there is absolutely no standardization in Japan when it comes to the hiring of foreign university English teachers - not even in the national or prefectural or city run universities.

In sum, you'd have to be mad to ever aspire to want to be a foreign university EFL teacher in Japan. The current situation, from what I understand, is unlivable and insane. A step in the right direction would be for foreign teachers to start saying "No" to these terminal contracts and the two-tiered sytems (one for local professors andh one for foreign professors). But with the advent of the dispatch system of teachers that can do the job for JPY 250, 000 a month instead of JPY 600, 000 a month and with little to zero benefits, I don't see universities changing. The dispatch companies have all kinds of people lined up - unqualified people - to teach as dispatch professors anywhere in Japan

Japanese university administrators must love dispatch companies! They can pay the foreign dispatch Professor half the salary of a local professor, and they do not have to pay any bonuses or retirement benefits; do not have to give promotions or raises, etc. And then, before the foreign instructors become to "Japanized" and lose their "foreignness", they can recycle these people after 2 or 3 years for a fresh batch of foreign experts.

Anyways, so the question that comes to mind is: Where is the incentive for a Ph.D in Education, Linguistics, or TESOL to come over and work a 1 or 3 year dead end job in a Japanese university for JPY 230, 000 a month? They may as well just stay home and work at Block Buster or Walmart - at least they'd get benefits.

[Glenski]

wombling,
Please be more clear about the Rikkyo jobs, ok? You keep bringing that up as if it were the rule instead of the exception. Even Ritsumeikan had FT openings at one time, but it turned out they were a specialist kind of teacher with low to zero benefits, and the jobs were offered as a substitute for the FTers that they booted out just to save money.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[gaijinalways]

GambateBingBangBOOM posted

[AdamtheJohnson]

I'd like to get back on topic with my initial line of questioning.

Actually, I'd do Japan tomorrow, but I've heard that all the "key fees" and other start up costs can run as much as $5,000 or MORE just to be handed the keys.

Now I also recently talked to a girl who did AEON and said she did on $2,000, and she even knew a few who did it on $1,000, though it wasn't fun.

So, which is more accurate? If it's only 2K, my decision is made. But Is imply cannot do 5K or more, in six months, at my current salary.

Any thoughts?