Hello everyone,
I’ve done some searching here about private school positions and am considering this as a back up plan, in case university teaching or international schools don’t work out. International schools are incredibly competitive in Japan, and I don’t have an undergrad in what they would consider a teachable subject, so I would not likely be a strong candidate even with a license. That’s why I’m not feeling too good about that option. University jobs are super difficult to get as well, and require publications and a PhD, neither of which I have yet. I’m currently working at the Taiwanese equivalent of an eikaiwa and am incredibly burnt out. I work six days a week and don’t even get paid for most of the hours I work.
I have seen that some private school positions in Japan very much follow the rigid Japanese work culture of six days a week, 12 hour days, and basically no time off. Is this across the board, or are there people out there with reasonable schedules and good vacations? The posts I saw on this thread are a year or more old, so I thought I would ask for more recent experience. Furthermore, is a Western teaching license of any use or do you need the Japanese one? The only way to get this “special license” is if the school helps you when they’ve already hired you, correct? I currently have a BA in French, an MA in Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism from a German/Lithuanian university (I know it isn’t explicitly in TESOL, but would schools still be impressed with this?) and a CELTA. I was a JET for three years at JHS’s from 2014-2017 and will have a year of experience at my current job soon. Would these be good qualifications for landing a JHS or SHS “foot in the door” job? I am 30 years old, if that matters.
My current plan is to try to return to Japan via Westgate (I know, I know but it seems more dignified than an eikaiwa at least) and using the breaks to knock out a couple of publications/maybe make connections and get into a PhD program. If that doesn’t work, I like teaching junior and senior high school students, so I could try and find a job at a private school while on Westgate as I’ll actually be in the country.
Any advice or comments are greatly appreciated!
8 comments
[deleted]
so….I worked part time at a quite supposedly prestigious and well known private school, but elementary level. It follows all the Japanese style of schooling, except they mix English course with Japanese course (after many parents voiced their concerns that their normal curriculum isn’t advantageous in case they want to transfer to public schools). it has French as a third language, of which the French teachers also teach English despite the heavy French accent.
since I did, part time, I’m not sure of the pay, but the teachers work Monday to Saturday, except foreign teachers get to choose one other day off. Apparently the foreign teachers have a union to fight for these kinds of things. also, they have to come to work even on school holidays.
hope that helped!
I’d be surprised if you’d be working those hours at a private school. For one thing, they’d likely be investigated for allowing it. My school is looking at all sort of ways of limiting peoples’ hours so as to avoid getting in trouble or having to pay overtime.
I am full time at a private high school. I do four full days plus two half days a week. One of those half days is Saturday mornings. I’ve had a Saturdays as my rostered half day off three or four years out of the ten years I’ve worked there. I typically arrive at 7:40 (But I bike to work so need time to stretch, cool down, change, etc) and leave as close to 4:15 as I can. I have busier periods and lighter periods throughout the year based on school events and my non-teaching duties, but generally I can get out at that time once or twice a week and before 5 most other days. Lots of other teachers don’t, but many who stay long are just being martyrs. It’s them that management wants to get out the door earlier.
Get a masters unless you have one or want a PhD.
I had a private school job for three years, and it was fantastic. I was paid more than JET, worked reasonable hours (5 days per week), was paid year-round, taught my own classes using lessons/assessments I wrote, got all school breaks off (almost 3 months, combined). That school also provided an apartment and paid my plane fare to and from Japan.
I think that positions like mine are difficult to find, but if you find any posted, you sound like you’d be an attractive candidate.
I currently work at an extremely popular private jhs/hs in Tokyo with an international program in a normal Japanese school. Basically the way it works is there is a stream for students who plan to go to domestic universities and study 99% in Japanese, and one who plan to go to university abroad and study about 85% in English.
I’m in a really unique position because while I am an 8th grade homeroom teacher, I have a partner teacher who is Japanese and we share the burden. He and I are both able to leave on time 90% of the time, but I know other teachers in my school are not so lucky. The Japanese teachers in the domestic program are always staying until like 8 or 9 and I can’t even imagine it. Even crazier is that within my department there are teachers, both foreign and Japanese, who work insane hours just to keep afloat.
I guess this whole paragraph is to say that unfortunately your milage may vary no matter where you go and between different school years even within the same school. I am extremely lucky that I have been able to set pretty strict boundaries with my work life balance so far and have had the freedom to be vocal about refusing bullshit overtime. not everyone has the ability to do that. I think it helps that I’m very much a team player in every aspect aside from being unwilling to stay past my contracted hours.
good luck with finding something that works better for you than an eikawa!
edit: editing to add that I work 5 days a week but the day off isn’t consistent between the teachers, each teacher can choose what their day off is for the year for the most part, and then sunday is always off.
Been at a private school now for 11 years and have become part of the furniture now.
I work 5 days a week -8:15 to 5:00.
Teach 18 classes a week.
Some TT, some solo.
I gained the license to teach here after a few years at the school who applied for me.
Based in Tokyo – with a good salary and summer, winter and spring breaks off.
It does seem like it’s a bit ESID though there are some good schools out there.
I’ve been at a private high school for over 7 years. I generally work 5 days a week M – F (with perhaps 4 or 5 Saturdays a year). I work from 8:20 to 5:20, though there are periods throughout the year (mainly exam week) when we are allowed to go home early (there are also days where I might stay later helping students or whatever else).
In terms of how busy we are, sometimes it feels like a stretch to get everything done during the normal work hours, while other times the work day is fairly relaxed. We used to get around 10 weeks a year off as far as vacation is concerned, though recently our school has gone through new ownership, and it looks like we (more often than not) will have to used our official paid vacation day (20 days in total). It’s still kind of a grey area though, so we’ll see what the school actually does if we go over the 20 days.
You should be fine with your qualifications. I have an MA TESOL (with no undergraduate) and a TESOL certificate from way back. For the teaching license, I believe our school required a degree (any kind I believe) along with some type of a teaching qualification (a simple TESOL certificate would be fine).