As an afterschool teacher: Anything from 10:00-14:00 to 17:00-21:30
My ALT job years ago required me to be at the school by 8am and stay until 4pm. While I had morning lessons most days, I rarely had anything after lunch. So rather than approaching the POS dispatch company or my BOE, where I knew I’d be rejected without consideration, I just went up the chain locally from my teacher in charge, deputy principal, and principal. I requested to be allowed to leave at 3pm, and they agreed. I guess it boiled down to the relationships I’d established at the school, and the fact I was doing a good job in the classroom. YMMV.
JET HS ALT – 0825 – 16:10. im part of the morning meetings, so thats why 825. I also have night classes on wednesdays, so on those days, its 11:25-19:10. nothing too crazy, but I do miss the last bus for my town on those days so I have to ride a bike or walk.
10:00AM to 7:00PM with a one hour break. An actual break where I can leave the school property and do whatever. Daycare/preschool/kinder classes in the morning/afternoon then elementary and up until closing.
Im an ALT and my schedule is from 8am – 3:40pm which is nice to be able to get home at 4pm. During holidays when working at the city hall I work from 8:45am to 4:30pm which isnt too bad either.
Direct-hire ALT here. My official working hours are 8:00 to 16:45, but honestly, it depends on the schools and the workload.
Elementary schools I’m more likely to finish on time or even a little early. Junior high school days tend to be longer on average (and when I have a lot of work left over, I might go there after finishing up at elementary school).
The longest day I’ve had this year was in the second semester, from 7:45 to 21:20, but days where I finish at or after 9 PM are fortunately rare. I regularly work until after 6/7 PM though, especially during the second semester. This is partially because I’ve been doing what’s effectively a two person job by myself, however. Most ALTs (including direct hire) won’t have such long hours.
Overtime is unpaid, but these days I get to catch up on unpaid overtime by leaving early on slow days and/or taking days off at other times. In practice, overtime piles up until the next vacation period, at which point I use the excess overtime, allowing me to save up my nenkyuu (paid vacation days) for when I need them. It also means that I can use my summer vacation as an actual vacation, rather than just sitting at a school and twiddling my thumbs for weeks at an end.
For reference, most dispatch ALTs seem to work from around 8:30 to 14:30/15:30. As for direct-hire ALTs, most of them work 8 hours and 45 minutes a day, of which one hour is officially a (lunch) break. I’m pretty sure many of us still do some work during said “break” though.
Eikaiwa:
weekdays 12:30-21:30 or 14:00-21:30 Saturday 10:30 to 19:30 or 11:30 to 20:30
JET HS Technical School, 8:30 – 5 are my working hours. 30 minute lunch at 12:30, 15 minute break at 3:45.
Oh and I work in Tokyo so public JETs get 16 work days a month.
Direct Hire ALT
-By contract 0830~1700
But in reality, if the kids are at school, I’m definitely expected to be at school. Half days, if my prep work is all done I can exercise on school grounds or go home to prep for coaching junior golf and ski. If it deals with education or local support, I am free to do it as long as it doesn’t interfere with teaching duties.
I’ve worked at multiple universities and different models are used. At the national universities I worked at, they had a strict 9:30-18:15 M-F, and every day I had to go to the office to hanko my timesheet. I only had 6-koma, but the weekly meetings were horrendous; I spent more time in conference rooms than in my actual classroom.
When I started out at a private uni, it was discretionary-based. We were expected to be there for our classes, meetings, research days, and office hours, but generally, we could come and go as we please. Great times and learned a whole bunch of the uni academia system, but I was also overworked teaching 12-koma including evening classes, and never taught the same courses the following year.
I’ve worked for different places as an ALT.
Dispatch ALT: First year – 8:15 – 4:15 Second year – 8:15 – 17:15
Private High School: 8:20 – 4:20
Private Elementary School: 8:15 – 17:15
My hours are supposed to be 8:40 to 15:30. I was late as hell one morning and showed up at 9:10, but no one noticed or cared. Now my hours are 9:10 to 15:30.
ALT. Interac. 8:30 – 3:30.
Usually you places like you to be at your desk 15 mins before your scheduled time. On my sheet it says 8:20 to 4:20 but I’ve been told by the school to call if I’ll be in after 8:10. I usually get in just before 8. Your work load depends on the school. If your in a super rural position, with 1 class per year that you visit daily, then you’ll probably have a lot more free time that an inner city school, with 8 classes per year, that sees you every other week. I work for RCS but I have worked at Borderlink before and it’s basically the same. Your times are dictated by the school and Boe so between dispatch companies they’re unlikely to change.
I’m lucky because I’ve been at my schools for a few years and have a solid reputation.
ES: 8:30 until my last class. So 3:10 if I have sixth period, or anywhere from 1:30-2:30 if I have some classes off in the afternoon. I usually chill at my desk for a bit before leaving tho (about 20 minutes). I can do this because I teach the English classes and the teachers at the school never need to discuss lesson stuff with me.
JHS 8:40-3:10. Even if I don’t have classes in the afternoon I just wait til the final bell because there are so many teachers I work with and they may randomly want to talk with me.
8:00 to whenever the last period lasts. I just walk out after I’m done.
Not supposed to but no one cares :p
Tenured teacher at a high school. 8:20 to 17:05. If I don’t have anything specific to do (like clubs) I leave at 17:05.
For me it was just 10 minutes before the first class started and right after the last class ended. 8:25ish to 15:30ish, could be sooner or later depending on which school I was going to for the day. Only thing is that my company also had work after school, so most days I wouldn’t actually be finished, finished.
Back when I was a JET, it was 8:15 – 3:45.
Direct hire ALT, it was 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
**JET**
8:30-4:15
**Dispatch**
Elem, 8:00-3:45
JHS 8:15-4:00
SHS 8:30-4:15
Start time is the sitting at desk time, depending on the train schedule I’m at the desk anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes before the start time.
An unexpected benefit of dispatch was that my work times and breaks are actually respected by the schools. When I was JET I didn’t get a real break. Not that it is worth the 80,000 yen difference in pay.
I’m going off memory here so I might be off like 15 minutes for some of these:
22 comments
As an ALT: 8:15-16:00
As a part time preschool teacher: 9:00 – 14:00
As a full time preschool teacher: 8:30 – 17:15
As an afterschool teacher: Anything from 10:00-14:00 to 17:00-21:30
My ALT job years ago required me to be at the school by 8am and stay until 4pm. While I had morning lessons most days, I rarely had anything after lunch. So rather than approaching the POS dispatch company or my BOE, where I knew I’d be rejected without consideration, I just went up the chain locally from my teacher in charge, deputy principal, and principal. I requested to be allowed to leave at 3pm, and they agreed. I guess it boiled down to the relationships I’d established at the school, and the fact I was doing a good job in the classroom. YMMV.
JET HS ALT – 0825 – 16:10. im part of the morning meetings, so thats why 825. I also have night classes on wednesdays, so on those days, its 11:25-19:10. nothing too crazy, but I do miss the last bus for my town on those days so I have to ride a bike or walk.
10:00AM to 7:00PM with a one hour break. An actual break where I can leave the school property and do whatever. Daycare/preschool/kinder classes in the morning/afternoon then elementary and up until closing.
Im an ALT and my schedule is from 8am – 3:40pm which is nice to be able to get home at 4pm. During holidays when working at the city hall I work from 8:45am to 4:30pm which isnt too bad either.
Direct-hire ALT here. My official working hours are 8:00 to 16:45, but honestly, it depends on the schools and the workload.
Elementary schools I’m more likely to finish on time or even a little early. Junior high school days tend to be longer on average (and when I have a lot of work left over, I might go there after finishing up at elementary school).
The longest day I’ve had this year was in the second semester, from 7:45 to 21:20, but days where I finish at or after 9 PM are fortunately rare. I regularly work until after 6/7 PM though, especially during the second semester. This is partially because I’ve been doing what’s effectively a two person job by myself, however. Most ALTs (including direct hire) won’t have such long hours.
Overtime is unpaid, but these days I get to catch up on unpaid overtime by leaving early on slow days and/or taking days off at other times. In practice, overtime piles up until the next vacation period, at which point I use the excess overtime, allowing me to save up my nenkyuu (paid vacation days) for when I need them. It also means that I can use my summer vacation as an actual vacation, rather than just sitting at a school and twiddling my thumbs for weeks at an end.
For reference, most dispatch ALTs seem to work from around 8:30 to 14:30/15:30. As for direct-hire ALTs, most of them work 8 hours and 45 minutes a day, of which one hour is officially a (lunch) break. I’m pretty sure many of us still do some work during said “break” though.
Eikaiwa:
weekdays 12:30-21:30 or 14:00-21:30
Saturday 10:30 to 19:30 or 11:30 to 20:30
JET HS Technical School, 8:30 – 5 are my working hours. 30 minute lunch at 12:30, 15 minute break at 3:45.
Oh and I work in Tokyo so public JETs get 16 work days a month.
Direct Hire ALT
-By contract 0830~1700
But in reality, if the kids are at school, I’m definitely expected to be at school. Half days, if my prep work is all done I can exercise on school grounds or go home to prep for coaching junior golf and ski. If it deals with education or local support, I am free to do it as long as it doesn’t interfere with teaching duties.
I’ve worked at multiple universities and different models are used. At the national universities I worked at, they had a strict 9:30-18:15 M-F, and every day I had to go to the office to hanko my timesheet. I only had 6-koma, but the weekly meetings were horrendous; I spent more time in conference rooms than in my actual classroom.
When I started out at a private uni, it was discretionary-based. We were expected to be there for our classes, meetings, research days, and office hours, but generally, we could come and go as we please. Great times and learned a whole bunch of the uni academia system, but I was also overworked teaching 12-koma including evening classes, and never taught the same courses the following year.
I’ve worked for different places as an ALT.
Dispatch ALT:
First year – 8:15 – 4:15
Second year – 8:15 – 17:15
Private High School:
8:20 – 4:20
Private Elementary School:
8:15 – 17:15
My hours are supposed to be 8:40 to 15:30. I was late as hell one morning and showed up at 9:10, but no one noticed or cared. Now my hours are 9:10 to 15:30.
ALT. Interac. 8:30 – 3:30.
Usually you places like you to be at your desk 15 mins before your scheduled time. On my sheet it says 8:20 to 4:20 but I’ve been told by the school to call if I’ll be in after 8:10. I usually get in just before 8. Your work load depends on the school. If your in a super rural position, with 1 class per year that you visit daily, then you’ll probably have a lot more free time that an inner city school, with 8 classes per year, that sees you every other week. I work for RCS but I have worked at Borderlink before and it’s basically the same. Your times are dictated by the school and Boe so between dispatch companies they’re unlikely to change.
I’m lucky because I’ve been at my schools for a few years and have a solid reputation.
ES: 8:30 until my last class. So 3:10 if I have sixth period, or anywhere from 1:30-2:30 if I have some classes off in the afternoon. I usually chill at my desk for a bit before leaving tho (about 20 minutes). I can do this because I teach the English classes and the teachers at the school never need to discuss lesson stuff with me.
JHS 8:40-3:10. Even if I don’t have classes in the afternoon I just wait til the final bell because there are so many teachers I work with and they may randomly want to talk with me.
8:00 to whenever the last period lasts. I just walk out after I’m done.
Not supposed to but no one cares :p
Tenured teacher at a high school.
8:20 to 17:05. If I don’t have anything specific to do (like clubs) I leave at 17:05.
For me it was just 10 minutes before the first class started and right after the last class ended. 8:25ish to 15:30ish, could be sooner or later depending on which school I was going to for the day. Only thing is that my company also had work after school, so most days I wouldn’t actually be finished, finished.
Back when I was a JET, it was 8:15 – 3:45.
Direct hire ALT, it was 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
**JET**
8:30-4:15
**Dispatch**
Elem, 8:00-3:45
JHS 8:15-4:00
SHS 8:30-4:15
Start time is the sitting at desk time, depending on the train schedule I’m at the desk anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes before the start time.
An unexpected benefit of dispatch was that my work times and breaks are actually respected by the schools. When I was JET I didn’t get a real break. Not that it is worth the 80,000 yen difference in pay.
I’m going off memory here so I might be off like 15 minutes for some of these:
​
BOE desk warming: 9AM – 3PM
Kindergarten ALT: 9AM – 11AM (mornings only)
Elementary school ALT: 9AM – 11AM (morning shift)/ 12:30PM – 3:30PM (afternoon shift)
Middle school ALT: 9AM – 3:30PM (all-day shift) / 12:30PM – 3:30PM (afternoon shift)
Eikaiwa TUES-FRI : noon – 10:00PM
Eikaiwa SAT: 10AM – 6PM
Kindergarten 1 staff: 9AM – 5PM
Kindergarten 2 staff (different job): 10AM – 7PM
​
Edit: Eikaiwa shifts are hell, I felt my lifespan’s thread get cut every Saturday at that sudden shift change.
Monday: 11:00-20:00 (hour break)
Tues, Weds, Thurs: 14:00-20:00
Friday: 10:00-16:00 (hour break)