I’ve recently been thinking of quitting my current contract to work at Westgate. I really want to live and work in Tokyo, and a set-up like that is something that my current job isn’t able to offer….
I’ve given it a lot of thought, but I’m starting to have second thoughts about Westgate – I realized that it’s a challenge to find other’s who have worked for Westgate and their experiences, and the contract being so short also makes me wary.
if anyone has experience teaching with this program, would you mind sharing your experiences? Overall, would you recommend Westgate?
5 comments
It’s not made for people who want to live in Japan. They want you to leave Japan as soon as your contract finishes. It’s perfect if you live abroad and want to experience Japan for 3 months then go back home.
Aren’t they just an unnecessary middle-man? From what I can see from their adverts, they’re trying to suck up part-time opportunities so they can skim off the top. Apply directly instead. For employers it just looks like it might be beneficial hiring through them to avoid various legal responsibilities to the teachers – which suggests a bad employer. Whatever way it works, it definitely isn’t on behalf of the employee.
If you’re looking to adjunct or university based teaching set up an account with the British Council and possibly Berlitz.
Both of these have university work available at times (Berlitz are currently advertising for a position in Osaka, but may be very limited in terms of other positions). BC has what they call ‘hourly paid project-based work’. As dodgy as it sounds BC is not nefarious, just a little over complicated in their approach to contracts. They will, however, most likely supply a good hourly rate and plenty of hours with some flexibility (which is rare).
Westgate have an expectation you take their accommodation and don’t pay for the long uni holidays.
I think those are you’re only real options if you don’t have the credentials to apply directly to Universities yourself
Its an ALT gig for universities. Bad for teachers, bad for the students, bad for the industry as a whole.
Just get a non teaching job in Tokyo. There are many where you don’t need to know Japanese mate.