Yeah this post is going to seem like I am talking down to everyone, and I am not….this is genuine advice
I was a dispatch ALT for 5 years, and then I became a JTE (went to college in Japan, took the required courses, got a teaching license in country, got hired as a regular teacher)
However, because I used to be an ALT at the dispatch company that my local BoE uses, I have been the one put in charge of handling the shit with that company….nothing major, I just receive phone calls if there were schedule changes and so on.
Also, once in a while I go to trainings where the ALTs and JTEs mix, and because I used to be an ALT I still know a lot of the ALTs at those trainings.
Well I got a phone call Friday from the BoE, because an ALT at a local school here comes in late every single day, like 1st period starts at 8:25 and they walk into the building at 8:25.
The JTE complained and she said two things.
1. My dispatch company has never complained to me about it.
2. My official start time is listed as 8:20 on my sheet so even if I *am* late, it’s only a couple minutes.(as if that somehow makes it ok)
​
Now the reason they called me to tell me about that story is that it isn’t the first time something like this has happened. So they asked me, as a former employee of said dispatch company how I feel about them, and if it might not be a bad idea to contract with a different dispatch company. (contract renewal conversations usually happen around this time of year here)
Of course I said don’t drop the contact, because at the end of the day any dispatch company out there is going to have roughly the same quality of ALTs and chances are the new company who landed the contract would just cherry pick all the ALTs who wanted to stay from the old company anyway.
​
So….what is the point of this long winded post….the point is
1. Whether or not you think your salary is fair, or your work responsibilities are ‘important’ you are the one who signed the contract, took the job, and moved overseas to do it. No one forced you to be an ALT, and your compensation was no secret before you came here.
2. You were hired individually by the dispatch company, but all of the ALTs working in a BoE with the exception of 1-2 direct hires, got hired as a package by the BoE, so your dumbass actions can result in 50-60 people losing their jobs.
3. If you want to work the time that is written on your contract, exactly as it is written….that is fine, that is within your rights….but Japanese work culture is not that way…so do not expect to have a smooth experience at work. Whether or not you agree with Japanese work culture is your personal business, but your opinion is going to change nothing. If you don’t plan on having anything other than a working relationship with the JTEs at your school….cool, but if you want something more you are going to have to compromise a bit.
​
Now if anyone has made it this far, I will add in one more….I am not writing this to speak down from atop the hill now….I am writing this because I never bothered learning about the business at all when I was an ALT, and if I knew that the actions of a few dipshits in my company could have potentially lost me my job I would have been furious.
I know there are tons of good ALTs, and I firmly believe that ALTs are ‘teachers’ (if they want to be) I think it is an important job, and even though I am an American I use my ALT at school as much as possible, because a quick word of praise from an ALT, or an honest reaction to something a student said in English has a much bigger impact on them then something from me, because they see me everyday and in their eyes I’m not really an American anymore.
​
So yeah, even if you don’t give a shit about your own work, think about the students and other ALTs around you.
by Particular_Stop_3332