Have you ever heard of Kspace International School in Japan?

7 comments

1. Not just with English teaching, but any job with a very wide salary range usually is a red flag to me. Although 30K to 50K isn’t an extremely abnormal range, but some IT postings I have seen advertise 4M – 10M. In any case, the compensation in the offer letter will have a 99% chance of being less than 1.1 times the lower end of the salary range.

2. The body of the ad on gaijinpot says they require so-and-so certifications, experience etc.

   It doesn’t say working hours in the ad. I interviewed with a similar sort of school and only towards the end of the process did they reveal the six (sometimes seven) day work week and summer/winter break camps. The lady doing the interview said she didn’t think I was a good fit since I was American and Americans don’t like working that much. ‘Cause other nationalities just love working everyday, right?

   Anyway, something to ask about.

3. The reviews I saw for this place is that the owner/principal is a woman, she seems biased against female teachers. The principal is constantly changes her mind all the time, so the teachers can’t plan properly. You have to take a lot of photos and upload a daily newsletter, which takes up a lot of time. A lot of unpaid overtime.

   I worked a lot of kindergartens and bosses change the schedule all the time. You just have to adapt working at a kindergarten.

4. Never worked there but have friends whose kids are students. It’s a ‘real’ international school geared towards expats hence the higher tuition and resulting pay for teachers. Many of the students will go onto to ASIJ, Nishimachi, British School, French School, St. Mary’s/Sacred Heart, etc. For instance, their website is only in English with no Japanese option so that tells you the sorts of families they are trying to attract. You won’t be an English teacher in that the kids will probably come from English-speaking homes already. Hope this helps. Good luck!

5. Can’t speak for the conditions for teachers but the school is high quality. Due to the area (shirokane) and school approach it attracts a lot of foreign and wealthy Japanese. Owner is British and great. Teachers competent and engaged. Warm and welcoming atmosphere created by the school manager. Great focus on arts, dance, music but not exclusively so.

6. I interviewed there about 2 years ago.

   If you don’t mind this, then go for it, but I walked out about 20 minutes in.

   It’s all under 5’s, they give you a colorful goofy shirt to put on, and they gave me 1 flash card to teach about 20 kids for “15 minutes” and it felt like an endurance test, like could I do this without cracking.

   The kids just got up and walked around, the 2 or 3 staff inside the class offered no assistance, kids started crying, I had to manage all of them, it was just a mess.

   After the 15 minutes was up they all swooped in and started taking care of the kids and explained (as others have said) all the outside class duties, lunch is eaten inside class with the kids (AKA no lunch), and at this point I just said this isn’t for me and left.

7. If you have that kind credentials or whatever you do not want to work at a place like K Space.

   Working at private ps here is a living hell. Nonstop babysitting, chaos and frequent change of staff.

   Im also assuming that you’re not in Japan yet because of you mentioning the residing in Japan part.

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   My advice is, apply for any Eikawas you can find, regardless of salary, get the visa and then change when you’re here. Because I can promise you, whatever job you will get in teaching as your first job, you will change within a year… two years maybe.

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   If you’re lucky, you might be able to snag a job at a public school when you’re in the country. Or at a “real” private school with higher pay. But the private ps thats in Tokyo or any other major city for that matter… It’s not a fun job.