In need of Guidance

Hello! I am a graduating college student from the Philippines.

I am taking up a Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English and graduating this July 2022. I have dreamt of teaching English in Japan even before college. After college, I don’t know what to do next. Should I apply for a teaching job in Japan right away? or should I teach first in our country for experience? I wanted to go to Japan ASAP, but now I don’t know what I should do. I have read some posts saying that experience is not required if I want to teach in Japan, but some suggest having teaching experience even for at least a year.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I appreciate any help you can provide.

5 comments
  1. Teach in your home country first. It will help when you eventually look for jobs in Japan.

  2. Experience may not be required if you’re looking to be an ALT or work in an eikaiwa. However if you’re aiming to get a direct hire position at a private school then experience beyond just being an ALT or eikaiwa teacher is essential. Direct hire English positions are by far the most competitive so I would definitely recommend teaching in your own country before coming here.

  3. The answer for your situation is going to depend on a few things.

    Firstly, if you want to be a legit teacher, and not a permanent assistant, the main two ways to do that are international school and college. For international school, you might be out of luck since you’re from the Philippines. Int’l schools typically require experience and a license from a country with a curriculum that is taught in Japan, this would require some more research on your part to see if you could qualify somehow.

    The second is teaching in college, which would require an MA and typically some experience/publications.

    What people are referring to as requiring no qualifications is being an assistant teacher in k-12 schools. If your career goal is being a professional teacher, I wouldn’t recommend this route unless you have the drive to make connections, get actual qualifications on your own, and get one of the special/provisional teaching licenses necessary to be an actual teacher in k-12 schools in Japan. Japan does not recognize any teaching licenses from any other countries in their schools, so you have to be licensed in Japan to teach your own classes/become a full teacher. Your background will help with that, but teaching/getting licensed in your country won’t qualify you to be a teacher in Japan.

    If you goal isn’t to be a professional teacher long term in Japan, then maybe ALT work will be good for you as a low pressure way to get in to Japan and experience life and schools here yourself so you can then make more informed decisions about what you personally want to do.

  4. Out of curiosity, what is “our country”?

    The answer to that will determine a lot.

  5. Visa’s the biggest barrier for most people in your situation I’d say. If you can get one then come on over.

    Most of these gigs are basically ‘gap year’ opportunities for people from the west as opposed to teaching gigs with promotion ladders to climb & professional development opportunities.

    I’d personally try to get on over and teach ASAP rather than gaining experience as it quite frankly won’t count for anything (I say this as an Australian qualified teacher who taught in Japan). This can be a good start as it’ll tell you whether you really like doing what you’ve dreamed of doing.

    PS – totally not saying this to shatter any dreams. Follow those dreams and go far!!! I came over based on a vague dream of teaching in Japan, enjoyed it, came home, re-trained as a lawyer and still appreciate the experience of ‘teaching in Japan’ very much. My only tip is not to invest too much into the idea of it turning into a teaching career. We grow… our dreams evolve… things change. See where this dream takes you and don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t lead to a long/term teaching career in Japan.

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