Job Discussion Forums

[DeanP]

Do Japanese employers generally enforce an upper age limit for ESL teachers? My wife and I are qualified teachers in our 50s with plenty of energy and experience. We�re teaching in Indonesia at present but we recently went for a holiday in Japan and decided we�d really like to work there. We�re wondering if it�s worth our while applying for jobs in Japan, or if we�d be wasting our time.

[Glenski]

For some employers, yes, they may want younger people.
For others (can't give you a percentage), no.

Bear in mind the market here is flooded with teachers and wannabes.

When did you want to work?
What EFL (not ESL) field did you hope to get into?
Are you qualified?

[flyer]

Yes, it depends very much on which area of teaching you are talking about. You were pretty vague?

IMO. There is NO one age limit, as such, but it does seem to get harder to get work (esp good work) once you get in the 40's

Does that mean that there is no work for 50 year olds? No, of course not but, unless you have good experience and qualifications, (and to a lesser extent Japanese language ability) it might be very difficult.

I mean just arriving in the country and turning up for an interview, how will they know how long you will stay when there are heaps of younger teachers to have been here for years? Hhhmmm? Japan is an expensive country to get started in! Might have left it too late?

[DeanP]

Thanks for your replies, flyer and Glenski.

I was vague, flyer, because I was just trying to get a sense of whether age is a factor in Japan generally. We were hoping to work in Japan next year after our current contracts expire and I figured it would take a few months to check out the situation and contact employers, etc. But I didn't want to make the effort if the general response was that employers won't hire older workers, or don't put a high value on experience.

We've both taught adults and teenagers and young children, but we'd prefer to teach adults, because that fits better with our qualifications and experience.

I'd appreciate it if anyone else could share their ideas or knowledge. Thanks in advance.

[razorhideki]

This topic, not surprisingly, has come up about 3 dozen times at this forum.

You can look at this previous thread, esp. the debate between Glenski & Mosley. I tend to lean to Mosley's case, but you can decide for yourself....

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=72003&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45