Hi all, very new to this.
In 2013 I went to China to teach English and really enjoyed it.
When I returned to the UK in 2014 I embarked on a PGCE (16+) as I really enjoyed teaching. Since then, I have gained the following:
TEFL certificate (120 hour)
7 years teaching experience in Business and Accounting.
2 of those years (2019 – 2021) I also worked as an Advanced Practitioner which meant delivering teaching and learning training to the teachers at the college and also conducting lesson observations of teachers.
In May 2021 I decided to join the police force, I guess I had an early life crisis, but I’ve not really enjoyed being in the police and now would like to leave and return to teaching.
I really like to teach abroad again, but this time at a decent school. I also want to teach English and not business and accounting.
I’m not too bothered about working at the best international school out there as my degree isn’t in English, I would imagine they wouldn’t consider my application.
Considering what I have listed above, what do you think my chances are at getting a job at a middle/elementary school or even international.
I’m thinking of Singapore, Korea, Japan, Taiwan or Vietnam.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
3 comments
Whether you can land an international school job depends on your license. Is it active, or can you renew it?
Others have mentioned job fairs and websites for PDP/PGCE/licensed teachers that connect you with international schools. Try searching.
Elementary/middle school teaching requires a Japanese teacher license and fluency in Japanese. You’ll see lots of talk about ALTs but the vast majority are unlicensed assistants through either dispatch companies or the JET Program.
Are you after a year abroad or do you want to dig in teaching English at domestic private schools? If longer, a possible route for you is JET Program as an ALT for a year, get your Japanese language skill up to JLPT N3 or higher, and then apply for domestic private schools directly or through placement companies.
If you have your PGCE and experience working as a primary school teacher you should be able to land a direct hire job in Japan assuming you pass the interview / hiring process. However as these positions are very competitive you may lose out if theres a huge time gap between when you last taught and the time you’re applying.
Another obstacle right now is the pandemic and border closures / restrictions. I recruit for my school and since about January 2021 our available positions have been restricted to people already living in Japan. I cant speak for other schools however from what I’ve seen online it seems to be the norm now that schools require direct hire candidates to already be living in Japan. It’s too big a gamble to hire someone thats outside the country as there’s no guarantee they’ll be here in time to start.
I would say your best bet is to find a dispatch company or English conversation chain that are willing to take on people outside of the country and then start job hunting once you get here. It’s definitely not ideal by any means however it’ll get you here and give you some experience of working in Japan.
It depends on where you go and what you are willing to compromise for. Like others have said dispatch companies and eikaiwas and pretty much hiring on the spot right now since they have an extreme shortage of teachers. In Sapporo where I am I recently learned that the BoEs here got tired of dealing with subpar direct hire applications and gave Interac a virtual monopoly on JHS and ES contracts in the city (and in the countryside), but they don’t have enough teachers to fulfill those contracts and are getting in hotter and hotter water. I imagine other mid-level cities are in similar situations so if you apply to dispatch companies you are virtually assured to get hired, but that comes with the caveat that you are working for a dispatch company.
I imagine in places like Tokyo or Osaka there are tons of BoEs still doing direct hiring, but if you aren’t currently in the country they will likely turn you down immediately. If you are looking to stay in Japan long-term (if you decide to come here) I would recommend starting with an eikaiwa since you get paid more, and then once you get comfortable move into a decent ALT job. A lot of schools have this weird idea that eikaiwa teachers are private sector professionals who are wizards at teaching, so that can help. If you don’t want to work in a corporate setting at all but want money go to South Korea, the ALT market there is much better than Japan’s (but I imagine it can be just as sleazy).