First off, although I have many different reasons to leave, the main reason is that I need to make my next career move. I’ve decided to go back to school and want to start as early as next spring. I’ve gotten all the experience I need and would rather move on than finish a 2 year contract (technically a year and 9 months from start to finish). This means that I would break at least 3-4 months of my remaining contract.
From what I know, early departure is to fill vacated spots. Ideally I would leave right as the next appointee arrives so my position is not empty (and therefore not leave a bitter impression to my employers.)
**My 1st question:** When does early departure usually arrive? (on the site it says anytime from April to July.) Would this soften the blow of breaking contract at all?
To me this plan makes sense and I don’t see a reason to bide my time if someone can fill my position immediately. Only problem is that 3-4 months is a relatively short period of time; I could arguably just tough it out, but for me this is a waste of time during a crucial period
**Second**, who should I notify? My vice principal and the school board were already alerted to my ambition to leave within the last month (he had mistakenly told me my contract would end in April, and when he later told me this was incorrect, I said I *had* been considering leaving early. The school board responded by coming to my school to conduct an evaluation.) So it seems better to notify my coordinator first as they have much more knowledge than my VP… but I’m not sure how much influence they have over the process. Consulting my VP on the other hand has only resulted in a telephone game and more red tape so far. He is also not keen on me leaving as this is extra work for him.
P.S. This probably has no bearing on my contractual expectations but the intent to reapply form was way too soon; I had to sign only a month into my first year. Originally I didn’t want to do 2 years but 9 months seemed too short. Again this is technically irrelevant and not the fault of JET but it nonetheless dampened my career ambitions when I had to reapply so early into my job, so it does affect my decision.
Sorry for the lengthy post but I want to be clear since there is a lot of room for blunders here and I would like this process to be as short and smooth as possible.
3 comments
First of all I have never broken my contract so i cant say this from experience, second of all no matter the situation there will never be a way in which everyone is happy. I think it is good you are trying to minimize the impact but at the end of the day the school/BOE does what is best for them, and you should also do what is best for you.
I imagine, ideally, you have already applied to schools? Have begun applying to schools? Not sure what the schedule is but i know that, in this my final year, I began telling my co JTE’s about my plans in February. I also was trying to feel them out on writing letters of recommendation and the like so my immediate coworkers knew about my plan to leave. My situation is different though as this year was a bit of an unexpected bonus 6th year. So i think everyone already expected me to leave.
I think the important part is to look at dates, when do you need to apply, when do you need recommendations in, who will you ask? Get those dates and information in order, then begin telling first people you work with, your supervisor, and then maybe finally your vice principal. Im guessing by the time you get to the vice principal they won’t feel blind-sided since the rumor mill will already be in motion.
I think contractually it says you should notify the school of your plans to break contract like 2 weeks in advance (check your own contract details!) but if you feel comfortable letting them know earlier and dont think there will be any reprecussions then feel free to share earlier. I think it is hard for anyone to gauge your situation better than you can. Be reasonable and think things through but feel confident in your decision because only you have all the information.
Just be up front and speak to your BOE/CO about this and they can advise you. If you want to leave then you’re going anyway, so you wouldn’t mind them not wanting to re contract you, I guess?
Plan your dates, get yourself organised, then discuss it with your employers clearly, so you both know what you want to do.
Just say you want to cause as little difficulty as possible and wanted to let them know early so that you can discuss it with them and so that they can begin negotiating with CLAIR for an early arrival…
I broke contract many years ago, as did a dozen of my acquaintances. This is very common for people who want to pursue jobs within Japan, because many of those jobs are April start.
If you have halfway decent coworkers and supervisors, they’ll be happy for you because everyone knows that your job is a temporary position, it’s not a fixed long-term career, so if you have somewhere good to go then you should go. In other words, you’re not disappointing anyone, but if some people are upset, they’re the kind of people whose opinions you shouldn’t care about.
If you want to make things as smooth as possible, give your supervisor as much notice as you reasonably can. Bear in mind that if you’re moving towns or countries after you resign, you’ll be very busy for the last month and especially for the last 2 weeks, so don’t think that you’ll be able to do much work at that time. In other words, make your last days with any real working duties fairly early, and use paid leave for your last 2 weeks if you can manage it. That way you don’t leave any paid leave behind, and you still have healthcare the entire time.