Guide to Japan and Teaching in Japan

A lot of teachers come to Japan this way. The 'Big 3' are the chain schools G Education (Ex-NOVA), Aeon, and Geos. They are big in the sense that they have branches all over Japan. Their schools can be found in every major city and town (Aeon, for example, has over 350 schools in Japan), and each school may have from 50 to 5,000 students. They have a lot of students because their brand exposure is very high, and the Japanese tend to trust large companies.

There are smaller chain schools such as Shane, ECC, Berlitz, YMCA, and Britannica. Except Shane, they usually recruit their teachers within Japan (quite a number of their positions are usually filled by ex-Nova, ex-Aeon, or ex-Geos teachers!) For many teachers, the 'Big 3' is a start point from which they could move on to other possibilities once they have settled in Japan.

Further Reference
Schools that recruit outside Japan:

Shane Saxoncourt is a teacher placement agency based in England, and recruits British teachers for Shane English Schools in Japan.
Aeon Aeon has offices in the US (Chicago, New York, Los Angeles). It also has an office in Sydney, Australia.	Geos Geos has offices in Canada and England. Geos recruits only from overseas.

Some of the common characteristics of the schools with overseas offices are:

* They arrange the flight over to Japan. Teachers usually arrive in groups.

* They provide furnished accommodation and pay for any necessary house deposits.

* They provide teacher training but of the OJT type (on the job training). It is not unusual for a teacher to be given a full schedule after one week of training.

* They give at least 10-days paid vacation.

A five-day working week with 2 consecutive days off is the norm. It is unusual for teachers to have split days off.

The JET Program
According to the JET Program information page on a Japanese government Web site, the aim of the JET Program is: "&... to promote internationalization at the local level by inviting young overseas graduates to assist in international exchange and foreign language instruction in local governments, boards of education and junior and senior high schools throughout Japan. It aims to foster ties between Japanese citizens (mainly youth) and JET participants at the person to person level." The majority of JET participants are hired as ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers). The word ‘Assistant’ is very important because, in most cases, native speakers have to team-teach with Japanese teachers. The conditions of the program look very good on paper: an annual salary of 3.6 million yen a year (US$30,000+), a 35-hour work week, and having everything prepared from the flight to the place of work. Participants can only stay on the program for a maximum of three years, but they are free to look for other jobs should they decide to continue teaching in Japan. There are currently over 5,800 ALTs on the program.

(Editor's note: The education ministry announced in mid-2002 plans to increase the number of AET's to around 11,500 and start allowing in the region of 1,000 non-Japanese to work as full-time teachers, rather than assistants; these and other changes to be implemented over the following few years)

Further Reference
The JET Program - Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Web site

Council of Local Authorities for International relations (CLAIR) Web site

« Working at the Conversation Schools | Main | Fly to Japan and look for a job »

• JET (5)
• Living in Japan (12)
• Teaching in Japan (11)
• Terminology (4)
• Universities

• Handpicked Links
• Acronyms A-D
• Acronyms E-L
• Acronyms M-Z
• Japanese ELT-related Words
• A Guide to the JET Program - The Application Process
• A Guide to the JET Program - Metropolis or Rice Paddy?
• A Guide to the JET Program - Pre-departure: Gifts to give and things to leave behind
• A Guide to the JET Program - The First Class
• A Guide to the JET Program - Japanese Students: Maybe Not Quite What You Expected!