Job Discussion Forums

[alexcase]

As several people have replied to questions of mine with "Ah, if you only worked in a university you would understand!", I have to ask- is it really that great?

I am coming at this question with a reasonably open mind but some negative preconceptions due to:

- A negative view generally of how much universities anywhere attend to their students rather than just to their favourite research topics
- An even more negative view of the Japanese education system in general
- Knowing how some students who still spend most of university in Japan goofing off and get away with it, despite some recent changes
- My (non-English major) recent graduates who study with me in Business English classes etc. having an average spoken level of Pre-Int, with not much better reading or listening
- An image of the film Brazil that pops into my head whenever I think about what the bureaucracy and paperwork must be like (not sure where that came from, will start therapy shortly...)
- Working in a senmongakko, which is the closest thing I do, being the thing I most want to get out of

Please note that all these are meant to show the reasons for my initial view rather than evidence to support it (of which I will happily accept I have none!). If I am wrong, please try and convince me...

[Glenski]

Good things about working at universities:
1. You don't usually have to work with people that have degrees unrelated to teaching.
2. Classroom hours are usually shorter per week. Figure 6-10 classes (90 minutes each).
3. Lots of autonomy in designing and executing class design, and in grading.
4. Private offices (for full-timers, anyway) with private phone.
5. Research funds to be used for a wide variety of things (depending on the school) including books, journals, equipment, membership to societies, and travel.
6. Higher salary than most jobs, including allowances for commuting, housing, heating, family, etc.

Some negative things:
1. Low student motivation (due in part to the fact that many English classes are merely mandatory credits to be gotten out of the way in favor of the courses for the students' majors)
2. Large class sizes (although there are classes of 10 or less sometimes, you could face classes of 50 to 100 or more)
3. Just as poor textbooks (IMO) as in HS
4. Lack of tenure/lifetime employment

The above are my comments as they relate to full-time teachers only.

What did you mean by "bureaucracy and paperwork"?

[gaijinalways]

I get some of that, bureaucracy. An example is with room scheduling. Often my initial room assignment would have me moving too much. I have to then redo my whiteboard (I tend to put quite a bit up on it) and reset everything on the pc (if I am in a lab), besides moving the papers that I have displayed as I use handouts, etc. So I go and request to be put in the same room (ideally all day), or if not in at least 1 room for the morning, another for the afternoon. Every year it's a struggle to get this set up.

Another problem is getting them to keep the aircon on for late afternoon classes. I'm not looking forward to coming back when it's still hot, as the room heats up quite a bit later on. No amount of pleading seems to change this situation. Maybe students not refusing to pay their tutition would help .

I could on, but there are certain things that keep cropping up that make the teacher's job more difficult, and there often is no other reason than that they haven't thought about changing it, no one can be bothered to change it within a reasonable time frame, or it's a saving money move (getting more of those recently ).

As to paperwork, there is more than my other job (which has almost zero), but it tends to come in spurts and is manageable.

[Gordon]

I don't deal with all that much paperwork, far less than any college I worked at in Canada. The pros far outweigh the cons in uni work in Japan.

[alexcase]

Thanks for the detailed answers guys. If I can try to summarize, would "It's a cushy number" be an exaggeration?

[fluffyhamster]

It would be cushier if they got sofas with big cushions.

[alexcase]

That would just make it cushionier, surely.

(Sorry)

I must say, none of what has been written has made me any keener to try it. I prefer the more swashbuckling parts of TEFL myself.

(Whether they'd take me anyway is entirely another matter...)

[markle]

I wonder if you are aware of the Aesop fable of the Fox and the Sour grapes?

[fat_chris]

[alexcase]

Having your TEFL buckles regularly swashed isnt for everyone, but the sense of adventure works for me...

[Chris21]

Why can't you swash your TEFL buckles in a university? They teach English there, too (but with double the salary, quadruple the vacation, and more teacher autonomy)