My coworker and I are both applying for direct hire positions at other schools. We are thinking about how much to ask for. We have worked for our current employers a long time, and we don’t know how much the going rates are.
I’d be interested in knowing the salaries, raises and bonuses for direct hire teachers in middle schools, high schools, elementary and any other levels. Both full-time and part-time.
If you’re comfortable, could you also include your city or prefecture, whether you have a Master’s or other qualifications, number of teaching hours per week, and your duties besides teaching classes?
That would be incredibly helpful! Thank you!
by -shirankedo-
21 comments
What are your qualifications? Depends a lot on location, type of school, public/private/international/non-profit etc. what’s your role going to be also. DP chemistry teacher, probably makes a lot. ALT, not so much
If you’re a normal teacher working for the prefectural BOE I think the BOEs usually have a standard formula they use to calculate teachers salaries and it isn’t really the kind of position where you can ask for a certain salary.
The last BOE I worked for as a direct hire ALT paid 30 man per month, no bonus. Also, yearly contract, no raises. But no responsibilities outside of the 3 to four classes per day. Quite adequate for a single person, but difficult to raise a family on.
Public or private schools? The salaries range very widely.
Two municipal BoEs in my region pay a flat 330,000/mo for fiscally appointed ALTs.
Look up Saitama Prefecture. They induct non-Japanese teachers to become full-time subject teachers. The salary depends on qualifications (350,000-460,000/mo).
Direct hired ALTs in my private school make about 3.9 million yen at the start and can get up to 4.3 million after a few years.
Edit: ALTs team teach between 12-18 lessons per week. No clubs, no home room duties. Must work all school events and entrance examinations.
Okinawa, I make 23.5万 a month with 2 bonuses a year (1.2x monthly salary in theory, in practice it’s 1.2x whatever the average salary of the previous 6 months was). No work for a month in summer. Small pay raises every year, but not much more than whatever inflation is. It’s perfectly livable here, but I’m looking for something with a higher salary since it would be difficult to raise a family on that salary.
I’m a a private school doing 15 classes a week teaching solo. Have to make exams bla bla. No home room duties.
Extra pay for 講習, open school etc. 20 paid holidays per year. Yearly salary increase.
Currently at 8m.
4.7m (bonuses and subsidies included) but quitting next month and embracing the NEET life. That said, I don’t see how you are going to “negotiate” for a better salary. Usually, they offer the salary and its up to you whether you want to take it or not.
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Private high school with 17 lesson hours from M-F. I manage the English club for 2-3 hours a week. Salary with bonus and extras is about 4.6 m a year.
I have a post-graduate TESOL diploma from my home country.
Direct hire teachers I know earn 40-50 a month in private jhs and hs
Bonuses are a very important part of pay because this is not including bonuses. Some schools provide good bonuses of a month or two salary twice a year, which means those teachers effectively get more like 50-70 a month on average.
Some teachers may also be expected to work as much as the Japanese teachers, staying late, often coming in 6 days a week etc.
As a (recent) direct hire myself, this is good to know!
Your question covers such a huge range of potential situations that it’s hard to give an exact answer. Direct hire (ALT) can go as low as 2.8m, and as high as (full position, responsibilities, jp language, department pres, certification/degrees, private school) 7m+.
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The short of it is, it depends on the position, how qualified you are, how competitive, and a bit of luck.
Salary negotiations is not a thing in Japan ~ I mean not something a Japanese person would do at all. It’s a cultural difference of being “thankful for receiving a job” from your employer and being humble towards your superior. But, if you are applying for direct hire, the BOEs will be the deciding the salary amount…not you. Salary depends from pref/city and their budget.
¥187 000 a month plus two bonuses of ¥400 000, which is around ¥3M a year
If you have a Master’s and want to do uni teaching, the general rates are;
For part time work, 25-38,000 yen per koma. A koma is a 90 minute class, taught once a week for a month. Generally this is paid all year. So if you teach 10 koma you would make 250,000 to 380,000 per month. The good part is there are only 2 terms of 15-16 weeks a year, the rest of your time is your own.
For yearly contracts, from 4-6 million is standard. Usually involves teaching 8-10 koma, plus other duties. Also includes getting on the school pension/health insurance, which is good if you have a family/kids.
Mate, why do you wanna know where we are? That’s uncomfortable af.
I work for a private school and I didn’t negotiate a salary, I just accepted what they offered so I’m curious what others in private school are getting. Monthly salary is 300,000. Plus travel expenses, a couple of man towards living and 2 bonuses which are are calculated at monthly salary X 1.3. Hours are long, 7.55 until 17.00 (But rarely manage to get out before 18.00). Also work a lot of Saturdays, which is normal for private schools I think.
Uni, Part-time, 3 institutions. 4.7 million after tax. 2+ months off a year.
Door to door
Mon-Tues 7:30-1:30
Tues-Fri -7:00-4:30
Wed 6-5
When I was direct hire I only made ¥230,000 per month, but if I had no afternoon classes I would split at 12:30. They started asking us to work Saturdays but I didn’t show up. After a year of not showing up they didn’t renew my contract. I went back to eikaiwa for ¥270,000 a month.
Is it direct hire ALT or actual teacher? And is it private or public school? Wage will vary wildly. I’ve seen direct ALT jobs as low as 180, and direct hire private as high as 750/month. It depends what experience and qualifications you have. A lot of people on here say English teaching is dead in Japan but it’s really not. You just need to work at it and put yourself above the 90% of ‘teachers’ with no real credentials.