Job Discussion Forums

[knautica]

Hi there , can you please advise me about EFL job prospects and pay in Japan.

I have;

TESOL Cert,
TESOL Diploma,
HND Business Studies,
first degree (Open University UK),
masters degree (MA Education),
PGCE (post compulsory) = equivalent of PGDE.

I�m a director of studies of an EFL Dept. at a UK College of FE and I�ve been teaching for 17 years.

Given my situation, what kind of jobs and salary might I expect Thanks very much for your help.

[Mr_Monkey]

A lot depends on what you want to do.

Assuming that your PGCE (it's nice to see some recognition of the PGDE - I hold one and most people say "whuh?" when I mention it) is backed up with QTS and a year of experience, you are 'qualified' to teach in an international school (dependent on the focus of the cert, the needs of the school and how you can swing the application).

The Dip TESOL is effectively meaningless here, in my opinion. Some organisations market themselves as employing a "CELTA" approach, which should tell you all you need to know about those organisations and suggest a great deal about the state of the market here.

With regards to your master's, it's a definite bonus that you have one - it will help you land university work. However, there is an increasing (bizarre, in my opinion) emphasis on journal publications for EFL jobs in tertiary education here. The PGCE won't really mean anything, in my experience - teacher training in Japan is exam based. I find the lack of interest in demonstrable, competence-based teacher training in Japan astonishing. I suspect you might too.

In terms of wages, I would suggest:

• International school:
  ~400,000/month (from what I've seen advertised in the area I live; I make no representations about the rest of the country).
  
  
• Eikaiwa - "Conversation school" (most probably very different from any UK EFL school you've ever worked in):
  200,000 - 300,000/month (depending on the employer)
  
  
• University; part-time:
  9,000 - 13,000/lesson (usually 90 minutes). However, these are often difficult to find (many aren't advertised) and there is little-to-no job security. It's effectively a casual job.
  
  
• University; full time - difficult to get into nowadays without publications and a shoe-in. Two or three year (renewable once) contracts are becoming increasingly common, while tenure track positions are becoming increasingly uncommon. If you want to try, go ahead chasing tenure for six years.
  300,000 - 400,000/month, depending on the university.
  
  Your MEd is the basic qualification, but the publications will be the determiner.
  
  
• Senmon Gakkou (vocational college) and Tanki Daigaku (roughly equivalent to a school offering HNDs, I guess):
  I don't really know. I don't know anyone that works in those contexts.

You will find that there is variety in the figures I posted, and, inevitably, someone will be along shortly to disagree.

[It's Scary!]

[knautica]

thanks for the info - sorry if I'm being dim but what do you mean by 'the ME'?

[It's Scary!]

Middle East. You have posted there as well, have you not, as well as about 20 other markets?

It's publish or perish, not teaching techniques that matter to Japanese uni hiring panels!

[Glenski]

As an addendum to what was posted on salaries.

Eikaiwa.
Yes, 200,000 to 300,000 depending on employer. Expect, however, the average salary to be closer to the low end of that spectrum, more like 220,000 to 250,000.

University part-time.
Your first job here will not be part-time in a uni. You cannot get a work visa for PT work. So, expect mostly 3-year contract work. Salaries will vary depending on what type of uni, too.

What was not mentioned was ALT jobs in public schools. ALTs/AETs are usually hired through dispatch agencies, and you may end up in more than one school per week or month. On rare occasions you can get a direct hire position by the school or board of education. Pay? I'm guessing 220,000-320,000.

Yes, university jobs will also require publications. I honestly don't see why people complain about such things. It's pretty much a norm around the world, even in native English speaking countries and in departments other than English. One would hope that someone with knautica's experience has some publications by now.

Language ability will also play a role. Look at the FAQs about university jobs for a lot more background info.

So, what are you actually looking for, and when did you want to start working?

[Inflames]

For part-time unis, there are tons of jobs around if you're in a major area. The problem is that you need publications and good Japanese. I was looking at JREIC-IN earlier this year and saw a lot of jobs in Kansai. They were looking for people who had a good grasp of Japanese (to the point where they could participate in meetings) or, for Japanese people, the ability to conduct a class entirely in English. Also note that most unis pay a set salary for the entire year, even for part-timers.

Most tandais are actually connected to a university so the hiring process is the same as the uni. Teachers might have one class from the university then their next class is an elective open to any student. Wages are the same as the uni.

Senmon gakkos seem to use dispatch companies mostly. They're somewhat easy to get into (if you hear about it - most use word of mouth) but the pay is worse (4,000 to 5,000 yen an hour when you work). They don't have many foreigners there so you're likely to be treated the exact same as a Japanese teacher.

[Glenski]