International Schools in Japan – qualifications

8 comments

1. >would I need another 2 years of teaching in country as well or there are ever exceptions to that?

   The same for most countries but those 2 years ‘unlocks’ better roles. You can technically find schools with only 1 year experience, but given the competitiveness of Japanese international schools in general, those may just be good timing or really desperate schools. I’ve not heard of any teacher who’s found a job with 0 years experience teaching (eg fresh grad).

   >are there ever times when teachers get hired for International Schools in Japan with an online teacher’s certification?

   YMMV but at least in my school, I’ve not heard of any. The thing is specifically for *you*, you’d be stacking undesirable + undesirable traits. Many parts of Japanese admin (even in international schools) is old-school. Since they’re able to pick from the cream of the crop, their golden geese would have: qualifications from top university + relevant experience. If you’re ‘sacrificing’ experience, you’d want to rely on having a ‘good name’ university, and vice versa.

   ETA: In my school, majority of teachers fall in either 1 or the other category. Those with “experience” have been DP coordinators, HSGs, examiners, etc. Those with “qualifications” and < 3 years experience have come from top universities from their countries.

2. A state certificate is a state certificate. Whether from Moreland or your Alma mater.

   The big thing is experience. That’s the key.

3. [deleted]

4. For the better international schools, previous teaching experience in IB schools in essential.

5. Hi, I’m an MYP-DP teacher working in Germany, originally from Mexico, due to start come August in Tokyo.

   My experience so far with both schools’ hiring process has been that teaching experience and IB certificates are more valuable than big-name-uni diplomas. I see the point with the latter, but, imho, it is more of an English speaking world thing. I work with highly competent and skilled professionals, mostly European, and not once has there been a mention of university degrees as the main reason to hire someone over the other candidates. But, I’m also quite aware it doesn’t hurt if you have said certificate in your CV.

   If you’d like to land a job overseas, I believe you could start by getting a job at an IB school in your area. Once there, you obtain the teaching experience, and you go on PD that the school (if it’s one of the serious ones) is required to send you to at least once per school cycle. These trainings can be face-to-face or online, and they go from Cat. 1-3. These are the diplomas that IB schools look for because the courses are about the methodology and specific requirements of the programmes.

   I came to Germany with plenty of those, a BA from a uni not even people in my town know about, and an almost complete online MA in education. And I was hired in Japan, I believe, mainly because I also have an IBEN role as school evaluator and workshop leader (of the PDs I mentioned). The last two are desired for small schools in the process of getting certified by the IB.

   A tip for you that may be useful. You may have teaching experience, but not in the IB. You can find the subject and program guides online with bunch of examples of: evaluation (authentic assessment), differentiation, and concept-based learning. Those aspects are not the most important (the structure is very complex), but, besides classroom management, educational philosophy, and international mindedness, they will be mentioned during an interview, and IB programme knowledge will be useful to answer those questions. Btw you can sign up for IB Workshops as a ‘guest’ (not belonging to any IB school).

   Hope it’s useful.

6. While some people can get these jobs with overseas teaching quals, one thing I’d ask is ‘why teaching?’ Like if you’re gonna do a full bachelor’s degree then why not think anout a career change as well?

   Teaching’s never gonna be particularly well paid. Also, there’s a very high turnover of teachers.

7. Everyone else has answered your question quite well but as a teacher at an IB international school in Japan, I will just reiterate that IB experience trumps everything else. IB is such a different program. The coordinators at my school have told me they value a few years of IB experience more than veteran teachers with no IB experience. Of course, there are outliers, especially teachers from countries with very strong inquiry-based teaching styles. Even then, any teacher in the first year of the PYP/MYP is basically a trainee, regardless of how many years they’ve taught.

   Btw, UBC is ranked in the top 15 in the world for their teaching program. It’s a very well known university in the IS scene. It might make an admin look twice at your resume but again, it probably won’t do much if you have no teaching experience. My advice… get 2 years of full-time teaching in Canada… full-time, not substitute teaching. Most schools don’t count subbing as real experience.

8. I am IB certified and have 5 years experience in MYP and DP but I can’t seem to find a decent job in Japan (cries)