I’ve recently passed my Bachelor of Primary Education and have an important question. I’ve been planning to apply for the JET programme for a long time now, however right at the end of my degree my mentor suggested I look at applying for international schools instead, since they pay much better and a Bachelor of Education may allow me to do so.
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I’ve spent a small amount of time looking and it seems that many international schools require a few years of teaching experience to apply, plus applying for an ALT may provide assistances with finding accommodation which sounds important because I’ve never moved to a foreign country before.
Should I apply to JET/Borderlink and become an ALT like I wanted? Or is it worth spending more time fishing for an international school job? What did those of you in my position do?
19 comments
Absolutely not worth
Those international school jobs, in the long-run, pay much more and offer long-term employment and stability. The years of teaching they require need to be licensed teaching in your home country. The years of ALT work won’t count as teaching experience.
It’s up to you to decide. Want to go to Japan to serve as a human tape recorder / playback machine and make cute game worksheets for 1-5 years with JET, getting paid acceptably, but not really getting experience that can transfer to an international school?
Or spend 3-5 years teaching, with licensure, in your home country, and then try to fight for the very limited and few positions at an international school in Japan?
Or just teach under license at a school in your home country, long-term, and then spend long holidays in Japan?
Depends on your goal. Alt/eikaiwa job market is over saturated because so many people are willing to work harder and make less because they want to experience living in Japan. That’s really the only way it makes sense.
If you want to just go to Japan straight away then go jet/borderlink. If you want a better career, then don’t and focus on the more formal teaching experiences.
If you are just coming for the experience, it is perfectly fine doing ALT work (preferrably JET, given the better pay, etc.).
That said you should take some time to read through other people’s experience in the job. One key thing to remember is that (while it depends where you are placed, but…) you will almost certainly not be “teaching” so much as following the directions of a Japanese supervisor who may have a very different pedalogical vision and goal than the one you do.
Any “support” ALT Companies/JET provide for moving/etc. is not worth the potentially much higher pay you could get being employed in an international school / other position.
You probably won’t be hired by a real international school without actual teaching experience.
If you just want to experience Japan for a few years do JET. If you don’t get accepted, do interac or whatever, but just be warned you will be living paycheck to paycheck. I worked for interac straight out of college and had an amazing time in the Sendai area.
Just know that ALT work is completely dead-end (no upward trajectory). You just do it to have a hopefully low-stress job that pays you just enough to live and have fun in Japan for a couple years
Same as above— and I’ll add that if you want to get home country experience first, working at IB schools is really helpful for the international school gigs. Private IB school? Even better. If you go this route, get your Japanese skills up as well to become more competitive.
Also, if you’re from the US, don’t forget about DOD teaching gigs on US military bases! There always seem to be a few of those open in Japan (they also require state K-12 licensure and experience). You can find those on usajobs.gov
It depends on what your goals are. Are you trying to launch yourself into teaching abroad generally? Maybe there are easier job markets to get started in.
If you’re not aiming to establish yourself in Japan and just want a year abroad, JET is the best bet for a year or two as the CO provides airfare and possibly subsidizes your accommodation, plus you’ll have a support network through the prefectural advisor, AJET, etc.
The big problem with these schools is they require you to have licensed experience in your home country.
The thing most don’t talk about is depending on your home country there is a good chance that the pay is lower in Japan so why would you bother?
In American the average is around $62,000 (8.4 million yen) for a school teacher with some experience. In Japan the average for a international school teacher is starting around 4.5 million ($32,000). You would lose half your pay to come to Japan?
If you want a relatively low stress low paying job in japan that has lots of safety and guarantees, JET is the best there is in terms of ALT type work. It will get you in the country and acclimated a bit. It will not get you certified to teach or the required work experience. It is a fun aside in between graduating and finding your career, but it is not a good start to a career. That being said, getting to Japan is often a roadblock for some people, so being in Japan may be advantageous. Having lived in Japan is probably a plus. If you got a couple years to spend on a side project type of life, it is a good way to spend those years.
This is all very helpful! Thanks to everyone who posted detailed replies, it means a lot that there is such a strong community of knowledgeable people here
Your qualifications will not be recognized by any board of education. So you’re looking at international schools. I would recommend getting a couple of years of experience back home, then apply for JET, study Japanese and the IB curriculum. Try to get qualified as a high school teacher at night if possible, there’s more jobs available in Japan at that level
The one narrow band of progression that you may end up with access to if you want to teach with legit qualifications in Japan would be direct hire at a high level private school. That path basically looks like getting a license + experience in your country, possibly a master’s (online, most any subject since you’ve got a BA in Ed.) then getting connections while doing ALT work.
You basically get experience here to learn how the educational system works here, work on your Japanese language ability, get a good reputation, and scout schools within your ALT company or even on your own. It’s rare, but you could end up with the chance to convert to a direct hire once you get enough connections and good will, and it’s even possible to get a few types of limited licenses to have your own core classes from there.
I can’t say it’s likely or common, but for people who have drive and know what they’re doing, it’s possible and can lead to some really nice positions that pay well relative to other gigs.
You’ve plenty of good responses already, but I’ll address some parts of your post based on what I know, as an international school teacher.
>plus applying for an ALT may provide assistances with finding accommodation which sounds important because I’ve never moved to a foreign country before
International schools are very likely to provide assistance in the form of a relocation agent, not to mention coming on an expat package will also usually include a housing stipend, paid flights (sometimes even yearly or more) to and from your home country, moving expenses, and usually admin who can help you get through the initial moving process (setting up phone, bank, notifying ward office, etc); most of which an ALT job probably won’t cover.
>my mentor suggested I look at applying for international schools instead, since they pay much better
ALT starting salary is roughly 2.4m yen pa, JET afaik is a little higher, capping at around 4m pa. International school starting salary is roughly 4m yen pa, capping around 10m pa for top schools.
>many international schools require a few years of teaching experience to apply
This is true. Of course it is evident by the ‘perks’ above. Jobs with little to no hiring requirements have no reason to provide competitive benefits or salaries. Most accredited international schools will not only require at least 2 years of teaching experience, but many in Japan also require a masters degree in a relevant field.
My opinion as somebody who came over as a qualified teacher (Australian registered with a master of education and later a master of TESOL) is that:
– I came for the ‘Japan experience’. Before coming I didn’t speak Japanese and wasn’t the sorta calibre of teacher that a $$$ private school would want teaching IB. I was newly qualified and had done a year of casual teaching in Australia (at some pretty shitty schools – basically crowd control).
– The TESOL was same-same. It was good for my personal development (and got me jobs back in Australia) but I’m not an academic. I looked into PhDs (planned to do one as lecturers encouraged me to after doing my masters) but my answer was always ‘I don’t wanna do a deep-dive into teaching theory… I wanna teach kids and get drunk on weekends!!!’
– My CV never under-sold me. It got me better jobs but again… I wasn’t a mid-career teacher in the hunt for senior teaching roles. I was a kid looking to grow-up a little.
You need a good few years of teaching experience, preferably in an international school and with the IB program, to get a job at a decent school. Don’t think that just having a teaching license is enough.
I’m not too familiar with the teacher route but I will say this, being an ALT has little to no effect towards your future other than back in the west people find it really interesting in interviews. In Japan it has little to no value other than other ALT positions. If you want something more long standing in Japan and KNOW you would stay for years then I’d 100% advise you to get experience and go as an actual teacher in Japan.
This way your future is brighter there and you don’t get locked into this awful wage system and have a stumped career in Japan many people experience.
ALT is just getting exploited
As an actual state licensed teacher, JET gives you some experience but not enough to actually manage a class and deal with all the other drama and bureaucracy that goes with being a teacher in today’s society.
Just don’t work for a dispatch company or Eikaiwa.