Private school teachers in Japan I have a Question

7 comments

1. If it is direct hire, full-time, you will not get 4 months off.

   You will get about 2 weeks for spring break, about 2 weeks winter break, and about 2 weeks summer break. These are times school holds no classes and you probably don’t need to go in. (I say “about” because they school might let you WFH for the 3 weeks the students have off in spring/winter, or the full 6-7 weeks students have off in summer, but they might not.)

   You also have 10 paid leave days and they will suggest you take them during the times you wouldn’t need to come in anyway – if you have them set aside. Of course, you can use them during the working terms as well like if you are ill, need to handle other things, etc. (No “sick days” seperate.)

2. At my school there were 2 days off for Obon (a Friday and a Saturday, making it a 4 day weekend), New Year break will be 4 days off (which straddle a Saturday and Sunday, making it 6 days off), and no days off in Spring. Of course, they don’t care when I take my days off. I had 10 days off in the first year, and 20 days off every year after that, with up to 20 days rolling over to the next year, so I usually end up starting the year with 40 days off. I usually take most of the days I do take off in summer and winter.

3. I used to get nearly 10 weeks (rough breakdown: 5 weeks summer, 3 winter, 2 spring). I say ‘used to’, as our school is now undergoing new ownership, and now we are only allotted the official 20 days paid leave plus national holidays (there used to be more of a grey zone during the weeks when students didn’t have classes/exams, but now we have to officially use our paid time off).

   4 months off? Was this at a university?

4. You should clarify this directly with the school, because it’s not anything delicate. Private schools have varying policies on how they treat their long vacations, and at some private schools you might not need to use a leave during the summer but you could still take the days off. At other private schools you might only need to use a half day of paid leave to get a day in the summer off. And the length of spring summer and winter vacation varies from school to school.

   At the same time you want to clarify if you’re going to have to work 6 days a week, or how often you’re going to have to work 6 days a week. Many private schools have class on Saturday, and while in principal you might only work 5 days a week, they might ask you to work that additional day from time to time.

   Depending on your role at the school, during the long vacations you might end up being far busier than you would expect. If you have to do a lot of paperwork or preparation for school related things that are not necessarily your class, that kind of work could come as a surprise and it could be lengthy.

   All of that may sound scary, and it should sound a little scary, because some schools are going to try to maximize your working hours and that might not be what you want. On the other hand other schools will have much more reasonable working hours, so ask the questions politely and clearly and see what they say.

5. Ummm…direct hire and ALT are not mutually exclusive at all.

   I’m guessing you are to be a direct hire ALT.

6. Direct hire, non ALT with special teaching license.
   At my school, we have 14 days paid vacation, plus 10 days special vacation that we can take during summer or winter break. And then of course, obon, GW, 年末年始, and national holidays are off.

7. I am a direct hire private school teacher.

   I get 20 days PTO that I can organise how I like. Any unused days up to 10 days rolls over I think

   For national holidays and school holidays. I get 1.5 weeks in summer and 2 weeks in winter plus all of the standard national holidays like GW.

   Should also be noted that during times where teachers can come to school but there are no students (like late July) we shift to a half day system for a few weeks.