Hi! Aspiring JET ALT here. I know that every year, once the application for JET Programme opens, the competition is really competitive. Personally, I’am just a teacher with one year of classroom teaching experience, and also nearly two years of online ESL teaching. I’m currently preparing for my licensure exam this March, and hopefully pass. My worry is that, I have no master degree yet and I’m only teaching in Senior High School. If I will push through my application this year, do you think I can stand a chance with all those who have masters degree, and are teaching in college or universities?
3 comments
What does ALT stand for?
Assistant Language Teacher. You don’t need any teaching certification or experience whatsoever to do JET.
Hello po. I have read a qualitative research regarding how the screening committee in the Philippines’ choose who
will represent PH for the JET programme.
I must say that it really is competitive and the usual age range is from 27-35, with almost everyone having an education degree, teaching experience and graduate degree holders.
I understand that people from other countries would tell that we don’t need any, but reality in the Philippines is that, the screening committee hires the cream of the crop most of the time, in order to best represent the Philippines in Japan and maybe establish a good reputation there.
So i think, you may apply, but work twice harder starting from now to level up your game.
You will be up against a lot of very experienced Filipino teachers. A LOT. If your accent and fluency is noticeably better than everyone else’s, you might have a better chance than most. Still, the odds are against you.
Last year there were only about 50 people chosen amongst 3000 applications. People I’ve met here in Japan who have worked with BOEs have stated that JET is getting tighter with their budget and will reduce the quantity of ALTs. A lot of schools and BOEs are also looking at dispatch companies now because it is just so much harder for them to meet the demands of the government/JET. This means that there will probably be fewer candidates moving forward, and even stiffer competition with Jet Pinas.
Take all that into consideration before exerting time and money on applying for the program. Honestly, the only people I would encourage to apply are those who meet these criteria: have excellent English, have teaching experience, have meaningful exposure to multicultural/international exchanges, and have at the very least 50k php to spend for the following year.