1. You are a qualified teacher with a postgraduate degree and/or license in your subject area.
2. You teach less than 20 hours of classes a week.
3. You work full-time, 5 days a week, are not asked to work overtime, and only very rarely get asked to attend special events like graduation, sports days, etc.
4. Your at-work time that isn’t spent teaching is free for prep, marking, research, giving feedback to students, and counseling students. You don’t get asked to attend general meetings, join in homeroom events, clubs, eikaiwa circles, or spend time on anything not directly related to making your classes the best they can possibly be.
5. You are free to be passionate about teaching your subject and pursue student achievement according to the latest research in your field, without being second-guessed by a supervisor who questions if, as a foreigner, you know how to do your job.
6. You get paid a wage reasonable for someone with the qualifications in #1.
7. You don’t have to fret every February about if you will still have a job in April.
Has anyone ever heard of a school teaching job like this in Japan recently? We all know they’re rare. We all know traditional Japanese schools are not structured this way. I just want to know if anyone knows of even a single position like this in Japan.
**NEXT DAY EDIT:** Thank you to everyone who answered in the spirit of the question! Your answers were very interesting. I had no idea that uni lecturer positions had the potential for such independence. I had always imagined you had to give up big chunks of your time building up points by helping out department heads with their research interests so you could get re-contracted.
As for the small number of people who replied insisting the job I described didn’t exist (despite the majority of commenters saying it does) and that I was a bad person for asking if it did, your comments were also interesting. Just in a different way.
33 comments
Whatever the Japanese version of Narnia is, it exists there.
This sounds like my job, except I have to leave after my 5 year contract is up :/
Regarding #6, what would you consider reasonable ?
Also, as nice as this all sounds consider this… a place like this might not have health care, pension, paid leave etc.
If you teach 20 hours, they might only consider those 20 hours to be “work” and any in between time isn’t counted since it’s not teaching. Sounds crazy but I used to work at an Eikaiwa that thought like this, therefore we weren’t eligible for any kind of company benefits since we weren’t “full time.” (On paper we were full time instructors yes, but not really) -Just something to consider!
I do sincerely hope you can find the kind of job you’re looking for though. Best of luck 🙂
All that but I work half a Saturday every weekend.
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This job, exactly as written – does it exist anywhere?
I’m a licensed teacher in the US, with postgraduate degree. When I taught high school in the US, I still had a few departmental and general meetings. I was still asked to assist in extra-curriculars. As a part of the school, I went to and assisted Open House, School Carnival, school events.
It seems like you are looking for a “swoop in” job, where you come teach and go with no actual connection to your coworkers, departments outisde your own, or the school environment and atmosphere.
> Four. You don’t get asked to attend general meetings, join in homeroom events, clubs, eikaiwa circles, or spend time on anything not directly related to making your classes the best they can possibly be.
> Five. You are free to be passionate about teaching your subject and pursue student achievement according to the latest research in your field, without being second-guessed by a supervisor who questions if, as a foreigner, you know how to do your job.
Well, your attitude seems to be showing thru pretty clearly…
Not too far off from what it’s like to teach at a university.
Sounds like my job minus #1. I make about 3 lesson plans per week, using my free time to study Japanese or surf the net.
Yes, but 22 hours of classes, and I have other office tasks like proofreading coworkers English and things like that. It does take a little time out of planning and stuff but it never feels like too much work.
I do on average 1h of overtime a month probably (not counting exam season; exam season is around 8h of OT)
University teaching.
That sounds a lot like my job. Been there for 12 years. Still enjoy it. Could stand to be paid a bit more, but a good job.
I’ve taught in both the US and Japan. I have not experienced this personally.
I have a master’s degree in education (K-6) plus certs in Japanese K-12, and Science/math 7-9. My BA is in Japanese.
I taught 2.5 years in the US after completing my MAT.
The first year, I taught Japanese to grades 6 to 9 for 5 hours per day, M to F, with 1 hour break and 1 hour prep daily. However, my actual prep and required communication with parents usually had me at school 730 am to 6pm M to F, and I also worked 10 hours Sunday from home (obviously unpaid). In addition, I graded papers every night from 8 to 10pm.
The second year, I taught grades 9 to 12 Japanese from 715am to 12pm, drove across town (20 min) and taught grades 3 to 5 Japanese from 130pm to 330pm. I had the same Sunday and evening stuff going on.
The last half year, I taught grades 9 to 12 Japanese from 715am to 230pm, 5 1 hour classes per day, with a mandatory meeting from 630 am to 7am every morning. Same evening and Sunday stuff.
I got paid $40,000 USD for that, with mid June to mid August off for summer break, and 5 vacation days a year.
I came to Japan, and got a job teaching grades 1-3 (it eventually grew to grades k to 6 with increasing management responsibilities, and now I run the school). When I first came, I taught 830am to 4pm, with 1.5 hours of that being nonteaching hours (still taking care of kids, though). 4pm to 5pm was my break, but Ioften did prepping then. 8 to 830am I was watching kids, but not teaching. However, my weekends and evenings were relatively untouched until I got into management. I did still need to participate in graduation (on a weekday, so no big deal), sports day and festival (paid Saturday half days). My non management days I made 3million yen (30,000 USD). The paycut was worth the lessened stress.
In Japan, I get off 1 week at new years, one at obon, national holidays, plus 10 days vacation.
I don’t think you can expect to be in education without expecting to work hours outside working hours, though.
If you own that school, you will have that dream job.
University
Part time university teaching.
Work between three universities. Cascade your schedule so you’re never shit out of luck with the 5 year rule.
Was making 5.5 mill as a part timer. Loaded up on classes, worked hard for 8 months on my own terms. 4 months of vacation.
Edit: good thing I don’t teach math
I know a guy working full time at Doshisha teaching EFL making around 7 million yen a year. He only works three days a week (8 koma) and has an occasional meeting to attend only once in a while. The only catch is that it’s a 5 year contract with no possibility to renew. There are several tenured positions that pay higher and have even lighter class loads, but committee obligations and entrance exam work is onerous. Still, many tenured teachers have so much free time they teach part time at other unis and make even more money. It really is an unfair system with wildly different responsibilities from one school to the next. Generally, though, the younger the age the more work and lower pay. On the other hand, if your’re teaching grad students at a prestigious uni in Japan, your life is probably pretty good.
No. Grow up.
University is a no-go without connections. The only thing like this is direct hire private Junior and senior high school.
This sounds like my job. Special events are build into the schedule a year in advance. Slightly more than 20 hours but this. Happy.
This just sounds like JET
At a university yes
I’m a freelance teacher. I don’t get shakai hoken.
I work 20 hours a week .4 days. 4 months holiday. Of course no pay for those months. I work for one company only. I teach business English. I don’t want to teach in person anymore. I just want to teach online. I realized I work best alone, and practically autonomously except for some emails here and there. This is probably an unpopular opinion considering we live in Japan, but I cannot work in a Japanese work environment where there’s so much emphasis on relationship building and maintaining the wa instead of just getting the work done. It’s been terrible for my mental health.
I used to hustle all around but I also have my own small business that needs my attention. Now I hustle for myself. I still hustle on the side if time permits (like 3 day camps) ,or go on long vacation. I used to teach uni.
To be completely honest , I probably won’t stay afloat without my business. I am a single mom of one . September I got paid 256,000 due to all the holidays in August. My credit card bill was 451,000 for two cards plus rent,insurance and all the other bills.:/
So yeah if you choose to work on your own terms it does exist but —
1) you don’t get shakai hoken and stability but you have more freedom
2) you might not get paid a lot *
3) you can make a lot but you gotta work a lot (your own business; I am literally at work all the time!!!)
I have something like this except with meetings and now some committee work, alas.
Yes, it exists. The caveat is that these jobs are exceedingly rare and require good connections to get. A reasonable wage is also debatable. Full time qualified Japanese teachers start with fairly low wages (3-3.5 million) and slowly work their way up the ladder. They also have way more responsibilities than what you seem willing to do.
If you are looking for a fair, “teaching dream job” in Japan, you will be hard pressed and need to know people in universities. Most places are slave labor and career wise, a waste.
The job you’re describing is non term-limited full-time lecturer. They’re rare because most lecturer jobs are limited to 5 years.
I actually almost had that job. My first teaching gig had unlimited contract renewals but halfway through my 2nd year, the university announced they were restructuring and splintering certain departments, mine included, and after that restructuring, all lecturer positions would become term-limited. I left before that happened so I don’t know what happened.
Sounds almost like my workplace except for the second half of #4. Short meetings every day and longer ones once a week plus homeroom and club activities are pretty much expected for full-time staff.
Although contracts are yearly to start off with they’re renewed without a fuss unless something egregious has happened (and you’ll be given fair warning that the contract won’t be renewed). Plenty of teachers, including me, have been with the school a long time (there’s no limit to how many times the contract can be renewed). However, people do still move on – mainly because they want to try a different city or even country. It’s a good place to work (although not without its problems) but there isn’t much ‘progression/promotion because of the school’s small size.
A few of the points on with each other. If all you do is focus on teaching and not developing the institution or relationships with other teachers, you’re definitely replaceable and probably are going to work one year or two year contracts.
Another issue is that you’re asking for a full-time job but only half-time work. From a practical standpoint if you’re spending 20 hours a week preparing and 20 hours a week teaching, probably you need to use your prep time more efficiently.
Finally, you should probably think about your medium-term goals. If you’re disconnected from the rest of the institution, how long do you want to be there anyway? If you’re trying to find a job for 5 years or 10 years before changing your career path, that kind of information is something you might want to add to your original post.
Private high school.
Non-Japanese coworkers range from unqualified skirt chasers, licensed subject teachers (but most not LA or ELL specialists), veteran TESOL instructors. So that’s something you have to contend with when discussing curricula. In other words, most of the time fooosh! discussions of TESOL pedagogy go over their heads.
Between 15-18 hrs teaching from M-F and done by 5 p.m. The English club is the highlight of my week. I emphatically told the students that English club is not “eikaiwa” and that they have to be proactive and decide their projects. They settled on a newspaper and online discussions.
Morning meetings, program meetings keep us in the loop but don’t eat up too much time.
You’re only as good as your performance and your student outcomes. If you suck, you’re pet gaijin and marginalized. Teach a program that results in gains and tangible products that show gains and you’ll win allies and get respect.
Salary? It depends on your age, experience, qualifications, and performance. At private high schools, it could range from 300,000/mo to 400,000+/mo depending on your profile.
Longevity is another issue. Depends on the institution and your performance.
No
In answer to each of your questions for my situation at a university:
1. I’m not a qualified teacher if that means has a teaching license in some country on this planet. I do have a post-graduate degree. (I guess I have 3 but the highest is a PhD).
2. I teach < 10 hours / week.
3. very rarely asked to do anything like that. Before COVID-19 hit, we had a yearly open campus, had to talk for a couple minutes in front of high schoolers then, also before 2018 or so, we had to go to high schools 進路指導教員 and talk about the program.
4. I have about one 1-hour meeting / month? Maybe 2 meetings of 1.5 hours each in a heavy month? I advise students when needed but probably less than two hours outside of class each week. (Part of this is that the students are too busy; part of it is that if they come to me for advice I give them homework).
5. I am not passionate about what I teach. I am passionate about what I do my research on.
6. I make more than most of the numbers people have posted here.
7. I was able to convert to permanent because of the 5-year rule (agree with everyone on that being really screwed up in implementation — but I was fortunate in my timing).
Hello, I’m not sure about Japanese schools but your descriptions are not too far off from positions at mid to high level accredited international schools in Japan. You might be interested in going this route.
1) You should have a valid teaching license with at least 2-5 years of full time teaching experience in a school setting in your home country.
2) At my school, the average is 24 teaching periods. This is less than 20 teaching hours a week.
3) No overtime. People usually leave when it is the end of work hours (4:30).
I work 2 Saturdays a year.
4) Yes, this is what you are expected to do. It’s an IB continuum school and it’s all inquiry-based learning. Teachers need time to prepare and give proper feedback. However, you will occasionally have to do administrative tasks… like helping out with CIS or IB accreditation tasks and visits…
5) The only one I really have to answer to is my PYP coordinator. This person also has over 25 years of experience as a coordinator and principal so I’m fine with them telling me what to do…
6) Yes, I feel wages are fair for mid to high level international schools in Japan. Depending on your experience and qualifications, you’re most likely between 350,000 to 600,000 a month. I would venture most teachers are between 400,000 to 500,000.
7) International schools typically renew contracts in November or December for the following school year in August.
Good luck in your job search!