For context, I am an incoming SHS private school ALT who does not have a pred and whose school has never worked with the JET Program before, although it seems that they have worked with non-JET ALTs previously based on what I read on the school‘s website.
How should you handle it if your school or JTE tries to pressure you to work overtime?
Overtime being expected/seem as a given was an issue at my previous retail job and it really wore me down physically and mentally. I understand that this is something that can happen to some ALTs. If anyone has experienced this situation, especially if you are a private school JET, how did you handle it?
12 comments
You can say no since you’re not contracted to work beyond your contracted time (usually 4 or 4:30). You’re in no obligation to work past that time. I’ve got teachers on similar type of contracts who leave right when that clock hits their finish time.
I wouldn’t worry about this until you get your placement. You can try contacting your school so they understand that you won’t work past your contracted time.
I doubt that you’ll be asked to work overtime very often, but sometimes it’s better to just do it if there’s a specific task that they want you to do. It’s better to maintain the harmony than to rock the boat over a technicality. However, if you felt like it was unreasonable or kept happening, you can ask supervisors for help. I ran into a situation like this and they put me at a different school.
as a fellow SHS ALT, i understand your worries, but i really don’t think you need to be concerned about this before you get here, especially if they have not indicated to you that you will be expected to work overtime. *if* they ask you to work overtime for a specific reason (helping with speech contest, english club etc), make sure that you are being compensated for that. ALTs should receive an hour to use when they like for every hour that they work overtime; it’s called daikyuu.
I’m SHS and my school is very conscious of my working hours. Sometimes I’ll be chatting to a colleague after my official working hours or talking to students during their club activities and they have asked me why I’m still there and encouraged me to go home.
On rare occasions, I’ve helped out at speech contests or summer camps and they’ve always swiftly compensated me with daikyu (compensatory leave) which I’ve been able to take broadly when I like.
I hope this reassures you that it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
As others have said, I don’t think you necessarily need to be worried about overtime, especially since you haven’t arrived yet and have seen no indication of it being an issue. There’s been a push by the Japanese government recently to try and reduce the amount of overtime teachers are working. It hasn’t been as effective as it could be etc, but it has had the impact of raising awareness of the issue has led a lot of schools to encourage teachers to do as little overtime as possible and not do overtime just for apperences. The problem is that they have more responsibilities than can reasonably be done in a regular work day, but as a ALT that’s something that shouldn’t really effect you since you’re not given the admin duties of a regular teacher.
One thing I would recommend doing though is sitting down with your JTEs (either 1 on 1 or in a group) and talking about expectations. Tell them about your teaching experience (or lackthereof) as well as areas where you may need help. For example, if you can’t read the announcement board etc. Ask them how they like to run classes and what they view the ALTs role the classroom to be. How will you communicate about upcoming lessons? Weekly meetings? Monthly meetings? Email? If they want you to prepare something for class, how far in advance do they need to ask you? A lot of miscommunications occur from people not being on the same page about these things.
ESID Hiyyori
Why do you think they will treat a JET ALT differently than a non-JET ALT? They don’t really know the difference and most won’t even care. You are just an ALT in their eyes. Just leave when work hours are over.
The private organisation in charge of Tokyo’s private schools’ JETs is known for being strict when it comes to enforcing your contract. You can and should contact them (and your PA) when you’re faced with such situations.
Edit: my school has dispatch ALTs too and would rather ask them for out-of-regular hours work.
Any overtime I work (English club after regular school hours have passed; 4:30-6:30) I get compensated with daikyuu. I’m allowed to use that whenever and have already accumulated over 42hours of it. Most likely will use it over the summer break
*How should you handle it if your school or JTE tries to pressure you to work overtime?*
Talk to your PA about it and set boundaries.
I’ve done a lot of overtime with one of my school sand I had a JTE repeatedly pressure me to stay as late as 8-9pm on a number of occasions. It really affected my health and I felt pretty trapped, since I was really worried about maintaining a good relation with my JTE. Worse, I felt isolated since many other ALTs were getting off work at 4:00-4:15 and enjoying life, studying Japanese, doing fun stuff and the like while I was just trying to keep going.
Ulimately I had to point out to them that my contract was being violated and worked out a better compromise.
Don’t let people force you into unhealthy situations.
I’m a private school JET in Tokyo. For the most part my school has been great with keeping my contract hours. Had a meeting at the start of my time and they went through my contract with me in English and Japanese, and made it very clear that my work day ends at 4:30, and I’m free to leave then. I’ve only gone over those contract hours without being asked once during a school trip, and they apologized (very unnecessarily, I was more then happy to be there and it was only 30mins).
However I will also say my school is exceptionally good with ALTs, I’ve had no issues that often get brought up on this sub. So – as with 99% of things JET – ymmv.
Do not work overtime without compensation. We are contracted for set hours, and if you are scheduled to work outside those hours then you are owed daikyu. When I arrived to my SHS last year I was scheduled for classes beyond my contract hours as well as I was told to help with English club for an extra 2 hours twice a week. My predecessors dealt with that situation for years. I simply showed my school my contracta and said it’s not possible. My working hours changed to start at 10:00am instead of 8:00am and I’m no longer scheduled for classes beyond my contract hours. We are part time contract workers, not full time salaried employees with bonuses. If you are pressured into overtime just say no.