I’ve been in Japan for five, going on six years. The entire time, I’ve been between ALT and eikaiwa, so technically not ACTUAL teaching, according to some very vocal folks. I enjoy it, especially teaching JHS kids and older… but I’m also getting older, and have my own life goals that staying on a typical ALT/eikaiwa salary just won’t cut. The obvious answer here, outside of getting lucky with networking, is to go the traditional route- go back to university, get the Master’s, get the teaching license, the solo classroom experience, and THEN come back and try to find a University gig, because those pay the best other than the route of International schools. Or, you can go with the alternative punchline: DON’T come back to Japan, because the teaching sector is becoming abyssmal and will only become worse, with Japan’s societal issues.
But, I enjoy Japan, and am crazy enough to try to go with this sinking ship (the folks who are probably more deeply involved with this know it’s true, courtesy of a meh economy and declining birthrate). I’ll be honest: I’ve had little desire for anything beyond a TEFL certificate, because those advanced degrees seem to be best for University teaching- a minimal of a Master’s and publishing is required, but apparently it’s now becoming a case of needing a PhD to REALLY get the good jobs. Sure, university is actually more money… but being in JHS/SHS as a direct hire is where my actual ambition is. Granted, that generally also requires networking, which I’m also bad at.
Yet more recently I am seeing some of these JHS/SHS positions on job boards… and they’re looking for the Master’s. Now, I enjoy learning, and gaining more education is always good… but it comes at a literal price. As a working adult, I want to MAKE money, not spend a very large amount for something that isn’t even a guarantee (such is what happened with my Bachelor’s). It’s also why I refuse to go back to America- it took all my savings to just get out of my hometown, and going back there means I probably wouldn’t be able to do it again. And this isn’t even considering how Japan prefers to recruit from in-country. I fully confess that I haven’t inquired as to how much the Master’s would actually cost, but I’m assuming that for purely online with some of the famous places, it’s going to be at least a few thousand USD- not only would that nearly kill most of my savings, but there’s still no guarantee that I’d get an actual decent-paying job. In addition, the latest kicker: several universities want a minimal of a 3.0 GPA, and when I graduated (almost 10 years ago) I was well below that.
So, considering that I really just want to be a direct hire at a JHS/SHS, have some experience with solo teaching and making lesson plans, have a TEFL/TESOL degree (120 hours, to be specific)… is going for the Master’s with no guarantee of ROI worth it, or should I just actually do more networking? I’ll also mention that I am actively studying Japanese, and am somewhere between N3 and N2.
by the_card_guy