Discuss the state of the teaching industry in Japan with your fellow teachers! Use this thread to discuss salary trends, companies, minor questions that don’t warrant a whole post, and build a rapport with other members of the community.
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My tenure on JET is going well. I’m in my second year but that 3rd year looms. I’m thinking of the next step but most other teaching jobs don’t pay as well.
It’s so sad.
One thing I kinda find interesting with teachers is how a minor point for one is a major revelation for another. So someone might think Krashen is the sht because they grew up with more traditional methods or another person might find cognitive load theory a revelation while someone else thinks its just common sense. I feel sometimes teachers use this to judge others when they really shouldn’t because the person you are judging could easily see something you think as profound as just a simple truth just as you do with their belief.
I’m not quite sure how to phrase this so this may come off as a disorganized ramble…
I think there’s a certain amount of resume-stuffing that goes on and I don’t like it. There’s a certain Association for Language Teachers in Japan and some of the presentations I’ve seen/heard of are, let’s say, heavily dependent on narrative. There’s even a conference where Teachers can give a presentation about their Journey in/around language teaching and I feel like a lot of the content just boils down to “I’m A Weird Guy and Now I’m a Language Teacher” or “Let Me Just Talk About My Classroom” without a lot of substance. Those are absolutely fine topics for a chat over a cup of coffee, though.
In other conferences/events, some of the presentations give off vibes like “I’m A Black Trans Paraplegic Language Teacher, So What” or something. Which, again, fine for a chat at Starbucks. But when I bust my ass doing actual research about how a certain activity increases student performance in a measurable way, or even just doing research about student perceptions of X or Y, I feel a little incensed that other people are doing “”””academic”””” presentations about Themselves – that’s it! – and putting that on their CV. I guess it’s alright if you’re just starting out and need *something* but all of those narrative presentations just look like fluff to me. Did any of this make sense to anyone?
is having an associates really a deal breaker?
A little while ago I made a topic about whether having a Master’s degree is crucial for getting better pay and benefits.
While this still does seem to be the case, i forgot about two factors that can alo play a role… it just so happens these are the factors which you will have very little control over: luck and timing.
Short version is that I managed to find a dispatch job that is VERY different from the usual ones at a JHS/SHS. I won’t say it pays university/International School level, but it’s a big step up from most of the Big Company situations. All because I happened to see it and say “Why the heck not”.
Of course, it’s not guarenteed, but I feel like I have a good chance anyways.