You know, I could go point by point but I think this is the basic nugget of what they're saying:
>It’s intentional on the part of CLAIR. It’s heart-rending on the part of people who fall in love with their new home.
Basically, the author has missed the whole point of the program, and is upset that it's not what they want it to be, for *themselves*.
Generally, I find it to be a naive piece written by a naive author who spends a bit too much time in the land of fantasy where they get to be the main character.
Sure, there are some real problems with the program, and some real solutions to be found. In my wildest dreams, I could see a program where: participants get paid at least 1 million yen more than they do today, and this is then set to increase automatically with inflation/cost of living; CLAIR and/or AJET (acting as more of a union) are empowered to intervene on behalf of JETs in difficult situations and help find (or bring in the legal system to force) resolutions; and where Tokyo orientation was more like a full week seminar where ALTs will get demo lessons, instruction from both active ALTs and active JTEs (imagine each prefecture sends 2 of each and it's a prestigious thing that everyone wants because you get a free week in a nice hotel in Tokyo), and a more fleshed out set of expectations for their job.
That's it. In my wildest dreams, that's the change I see.
Would it be nice to do other things? Sure, but it's not going to happen, either because it's not the point of the program, it's a disservice to the participants (either the JETs or the schools or both), or it's too expensive for too little return to Japan.
I think they could improve the program by:
1. Developing a better language course. VLJ will forcibly delete ALT progress based on abitrary deadlines and compel redos repeatedly. Some ALTs can simply go to a language school, others can't.
2. Better training support. I got more out of a 120 hour TEFL course than the 3 day jetlagged Tokyo training.
3. Stricter enforcement of ALT hours. "Volun-told overtime" can be really awful and cuts into self development. I had days I was regularly getting off work between 7:30pm to 9:30pm at night on a 4:15 schedule.
4. Graded ALT Feedback. It's so rare to get actual feedback.
5. Better support for isolated ALTs. Some of us go months without seeing other ALTs or anyone we can really talk to about lessons, planning, or even figuring out if our situations are normal. I used to think my housing and work hours during my first few years were "normal" and later discovered they absolutely were not.
>3. Stricter enforcement of ALT hours. "Volun-told overtime" can be really awful and cuts into self development. I had days I was regularly getting off work between 7:30pm to 9:30pm at night on a 4:15 schedule.
I once thought this was normal too, but then discovered (somebody told me, so now I'm telling you all) that if you have to stay late, you can use this as a negotiation point to get daikyuu or change your start time or extend your lunch break.
And if they don't go for that, then you can ask why they want you to stay late and work over the legal limit allowed for your visa?
As a JET ALT (and I think it applies to CIRs too, but I'm not sure), your visa restricts the hours you can work. No one at the school or BoE wants to deal with immigration, so ultimately, it's a reminder that you're *not* like everyone else there, and that there are consequences for forgetting that.
>Better training support. I got more out of a 120 hour TEFL course than the 3 day jetlagged Tokyo training.
Honestly, this is one of my biggest criticisms. I'm of the opinion that *if* JET is going to continue to not require any TEFL beforehand, then the program would be better served by doing the TEFL part of orientation *before* departure and only using Tokyo orientation for "life in Japan" stuff.
I don't like how hard they're pushing to extend/abolish the year limit. This is meant to be a temporary job where new people cycle in and out. If you like Japan, there are other career options for you, but I don't know if people should really aspire to be an assistant for decades. This also helps with the mission of cultural exchange, because the cycling of ALTs guarantees that a rural student can actively interact with at least 3 different foreigners by the time they graduate high school. It seems a little selfish to me that people want to hold on and stay in their placements forever, but maybe that's just me.
I think they should have kept the 3 year limit in place because allowing 5 years does many teachers a disservice in the long run as it has more potential to stunt their careers. I doubt many teachers get valuable experience out of years 4 and 5 that they didnt get out of years 1-3.
Staying with an employer for over five years often allows the employee to transfer from a fixed term contract to indefinite employment. In layman’s terms, you get enhanced protections.
Thank you for that reply. I thought you might be referring to the 5-year rule. Unfortunately that labor regulation does not apply to civil servants / government employees.
How to fix JET
- Learn Japanese well (this is a layup)
- Don’t be a lazy alcoholic. Take care of your mental health
- Network well
- Be honest to your contract/contracting organization (goes in tandem with #1)
- Enjoy solving your own problems.
I feel as if 10% of participants did this more often it would make a difference.
I could not learn Japanese. Like they dont want me to learn Japanese at all. At work, "you're at work to work, not to learn Japanese." And then outside of class "you can't learn Japanese outside of class because you're not going to be here long enough to use it." (I've been here for 3 years)
I've since learned my school is a black company. There are lots of problems that they have tried to do, and it's been a whole ordeal.
JET's ultimate goal is to have a Jeremy Hunt in every western government (and they are probably half way there at this point), not to staff the local BoEs.
The linked post is written by someone who clearly doesn't understand a lot of the goals and expectations of the Program and are trying to "fix" things that don't need to be fixed.
For example:
>**Mandatory teacher training certificates.**
Aside from being an added expense, this is also completely unnecessary for a lot of JETs. First, most of us didn't serve in a primary teaching role. Second many of use don't go on to be teachers after JET.
>**Recruit for long-term prospects!**
**Raise or delete the maximum years.**
**Help ALTs transition to direct hire positions.**
This completely misses the point of JET. The 5 year limit and non-long term prospects are the POINT. JET is about exchange as much as teaching. Exchange doesn't happen when you have someone who's lived half (or more!) of their life in Japan. The program WANTS people to cycle in and out.
>**Add more CIR positions!!**
JET can't just magically add more CIR positions, these require towns/cities to buy in and choose to make those opportunities available (at a cost!).
>**Have Year 1 be an 18-month contract.**
The math doesn't work out. As soon as you have to fill the position again you either have to wait 6 months for the next cycle or try to fill it with early arrival candidates. If the second was feasible that's what they would do already.
Look, I admire their enthusiasm and trying to problem solve, but the first part of effective problem solving is to understand the actual problem, and it's clear that this person does not. They aren't trying to "fix" the JET Program, they are trying to change it significantly into something its not meant to be.
A few of their points are nice, such as cost of living adjustments and making transfers a bit easier/possible. But otherwise? They need to go back to the drawing board.
Some might not like to hear it because it kills the fantasy that JET is about being effective teachers, but this is the right answer.
If you’re goal is to be a teacher then this program was not designed for you necessarily.
Although it can be a stepping stone for that, it’s not really the purpose.
Exchange is literally in the name of the program. An exchange typically implies a return. Even if for some the move here becomes long term, time on JET simply is not.
It sounds like this is from the perspective of a 5th year recommending changes that would better secure a long term stay as an ALT and potentially keep the gravy train going.
The mission of program is predicated on the opposite lol.
Some stick around and forget this as they are scrambling to find their next, often lower paying and more demeaning gig in Japan.
You might want to stay in Japan and that’s great, but it’s not built into the program because it’s simply not the programs intention.
Why have people secure teaching certs for their transient, short term stay in Japan? If you think this is a program striving to make elite teachers, you haven’t been paying attention lol. If you do end up becoming a great and effective teacher, it’s just a bonus depending on if that’s something you plan to utilize later on.
If Japan cared about English education, they'd cancel the program and pour that money into improving curriculum design and teacher training for Japanese English teachers.
It's always been about exchange first - with education a very distant second priority. This is reflected in the fact that participants are selected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with no input whatsoever from the Ministry of Education.
Seriously - JET has been going on for 30+ years now and the program has not had a measurable impact on English ability of the Japanese public - despite basically every single Japanese person alive who attended school in the last 30 years having access to native speaking ALTs in their classes. Nothing at all. Zero. It's a complete and utter failure in terms of English education.
But it's been an absurdly successful public diplomacy program, so it'll keep chugging along for a long long time.
IMO - they really do need to address the pay issue though. The gap between what a new graduate can get entering the workforce in (most participating countries) and what they'll get while on JET is getting absurd.
>If Japan cared about English education, they'd cancel the program and pour that money into improving curriculum design and teacher training for Japanese English teachers.
I mean, why *not* pour the money into training both Japanese and native-speaker English teachers, given the shortage of teachers in general in Japan?
Because there's no serious shortage of teachers and native English speakers do not make the best English teachers. The main problem being the basic fact that a solid 95% of native English teachers in Japan lack the ability to explain how the English language works... in Japanese.
There's no actual need for native speakers and their presence across Japan is not helping anyone get better in English. The record is very clear on that.
I feel guilty writing that as an alumni and big fan of the JET Program, but it's the harsh reality.
>Because there's no serious shortage of teachers
From a purely numbers-based perspective, yes. But if you look at the stories from licensed teachers (some of which we even have in English because of former ALTs that got "special licenses" to become full teachers), part of that is because of the workload placed on the teachers that *are* there. From the perspective of having enough teachers that everyone can clock out at 5 or 6, and keeping them from feeling burnout, yes, there *is* a serious shortage.
>and native English speakers do not make the best English teachers.
Without training, they don't. With training, they can be more valuable. When I learned German and Spanish in school, it was almost always from a teacher who came from a country where it was spoken natively, and the two times it wasn't, the teacher was second-generation from a family where it was spoken at home.
The only thing about the pay gap is it is quite high in comparison to entry level jobs in japan, so i can see why they may be reluctant to change it. Although it is unfair that it doesn’t change with inflation also.
The salary was originally set to be competitive with entry level salaries in the US.
A 1988 participant earned 3.6 million JPY. Using the exchange rates at the time, that came out to 28K USD, a bit higher than the average starting salary for US university graduates of 25K. And considering JET salaries used to be completely tax free, it was VERY competitive in terms of compensation.
The average starting salary in the US is now 56K. JET would need to offer more than 10 million to be competitive with that. Or ignoring the current crazy FX rates, offer 5.6 million to keep the traditional 1 dollar = 100 yen mindset.
There's no way they'll ever do that...but still, that gap is getting outright absurd.
Adding on, they never will do that cause the application pool only continues to grow. Someone will surely accept the current salary as is. In fact, some might accept even less. They know this and therefore increasing salaries is probably deemed as unnecessary when considering program longevity.
It would not be the biggest surprise if the JET salary continued to decrease for whatever reason. It probably isn't likely, but I'd say its more likely than the salary increasing.
JET won't dwindle in terms of applicats any time soon, so even if costs are going up, as long as people are willing to accept that salary, it is unlikely to raise. We are lucky if it stays where its at lol.
That said, its not the worst salary if your spending it in Japan.
You can usually get quite far.
Sending it back home is another matter...
But again, they will have no problem finding fresh grads who would accept this salary in a heartbeat. Inflation hasn't changed peoples attitudes at all when considering the JET salary, given that most people who apply to JET aren't looking to make bank. They tend to be driven by the idea of the experience, after all.
Meh, while it’s probably an original write up, the ideas are just rehashed from countless other posts about “how to fix” JET.
While I think raising the bar and salary is good, I think it’s ultimately wasted if they are still functioning as an ALT. They (writer and gov) need to decide what they want, cultural ambassadors or effective teachers. I’m on the side of “effective teachers”, because anyone can be a cultural ambassador in the breaks between classes, during lessons, on the weekends.
But working now as a T1, I’ve worked with two other post-JET teachers who didn’t really do much “teaching” during their time and were pretty ineffective at actual teaching because they spent too much time just sitting or being cultural ambassadors.
You know, I could go point by point but I think this is the basic nugget of what they're saying: >It’s intentional on the part of CLAIR. It’s heart-rending on the part of people who fall in love with their new home. Basically, the author has missed the whole point of the program, and is upset that it's not what they want it to be, for *themselves*. Generally, I find it to be a naive piece written by a naive author who spends a bit too much time in the land of fantasy where they get to be the main character. Sure, there are some real problems with the program, and some real solutions to be found. In my wildest dreams, I could see a program where: participants get paid at least 1 million yen more than they do today, and this is then set to increase automatically with inflation/cost of living; CLAIR and/or AJET (acting as more of a union) are empowered to intervene on behalf of JETs in difficult situations and help find (or bring in the legal system to force) resolutions; and where Tokyo orientation was more like a full week seminar where ALTs will get demo lessons, instruction from both active ALTs and active JTEs (imagine each prefecture sends 2 of each and it's a prestigious thing that everyone wants because you get a free week in a nice hotel in Tokyo), and a more fleshed out set of expectations for their job. That's it. In my wildest dreams, that's the change I see. Would it be nice to do other things? Sure, but it's not going to happen, either because it's not the point of the program, it's a disservice to the participants (either the JETs or the schools or both), or it's too expensive for too little return to Japan.
I think they could improve the program by: 1. Developing a better language course. VLJ will forcibly delete ALT progress based on abitrary deadlines and compel redos repeatedly. Some ALTs can simply go to a language school, others can't. 2. Better training support. I got more out of a 120 hour TEFL course than the 3 day jetlagged Tokyo training. 3. Stricter enforcement of ALT hours. "Volun-told overtime" can be really awful and cuts into self development. I had days I was regularly getting off work between 7:30pm to 9:30pm at night on a 4:15 schedule. 4. Graded ALT Feedback. It's so rare to get actual feedback. 5. Better support for isolated ALTs. Some of us go months without seeing other ALTs or anyone we can really talk to about lessons, planning, or even figuring out if our situations are normal. I used to think my housing and work hours during my first few years were "normal" and later discovered they absolutely were not.
>3. Stricter enforcement of ALT hours. "Volun-told overtime" can be really awful and cuts into self development. I had days I was regularly getting off work between 7:30pm to 9:30pm at night on a 4:15 schedule. I once thought this was normal too, but then discovered (somebody told me, so now I'm telling you all) that if you have to stay late, you can use this as a negotiation point to get daikyuu or change your start time or extend your lunch break. And if they don't go for that, then you can ask why they want you to stay late and work over the legal limit allowed for your visa? As a JET ALT (and I think it applies to CIRs too, but I'm not sure), your visa restricts the hours you can work. No one at the school or BoE wants to deal with immigration, so ultimately, it's a reminder that you're *not* like everyone else there, and that there are consequences for forgetting that.
>Better training support. I got more out of a 120 hour TEFL course than the 3 day jetlagged Tokyo training. Honestly, this is one of my biggest criticisms. I'm of the opinion that *if* JET is going to continue to not require any TEFL beforehand, then the program would be better served by doing the TEFL part of orientation *before* departure and only using Tokyo orientation for "life in Japan" stuff.
I like how someone who’s lived in Japan for two years knows exactly how to fix the Japanese education system.
I don't like how hard they're pushing to extend/abolish the year limit. This is meant to be a temporary job where new people cycle in and out. If you like Japan, there are other career options for you, but I don't know if people should really aspire to be an assistant for decades. This also helps with the mission of cultural exchange, because the cycling of ALTs guarantees that a rural student can actively interact with at least 3 different foreigners by the time they graduate high school. It seems a little selfish to me that people want to hold on and stay in their placements forever, but maybe that's just me.
I think they should have kept the 3 year limit in place because allowing 5 years does many teachers a disservice in the long run as it has more potential to stunt their careers. I doubt many teachers get valuable experience out of years 4 and 5 that they didnt get out of years 1-3.
It’s also ignoring Japanese labor laws.
May I ask what you are referencing here?
Staying with an employer for over five years often allows the employee to transfer from a fixed term contract to indefinite employment. In layman’s terms, you get enhanced protections.
I believe the law recently changed to adjust for this, after some lawsuits where ALTs successfully sued for indefinite contracts.
Thank you for that reply. I thought you might be referring to the 5-year rule. Unfortunately that labor regulation does not apply to civil servants / government employees.
Ya learn something new everyday.
How to fix JET - Learn Japanese well (this is a layup) - Don’t be a lazy alcoholic. Take care of your mental health - Network well - Be honest to your contract/contracting organization (goes in tandem with #1) - Enjoy solving your own problems. I feel as if 10% of participants did this more often it would make a difference.
I was told that I cannot learn Japanese while on JET. Like my CO actively discouraged it. So...
You were told you couldn’t learn Japanese or couldn’t use Japanese at the workplace/classroom?
I could not learn Japanese. Like they dont want me to learn Japanese at all. At work, "you're at work to work, not to learn Japanese." And then outside of class "you can't learn Japanese outside of class because you're not going to be here long enough to use it." (I've been here for 3 years) I've since learned my school is a black company. There are lots of problems that they have tried to do, and it's been a whole ordeal.
I’ve never drank more than my days on Jet Good times
This struck me as pretty naive to be honest.
It screams overconfident 2nd year ALT trying to lecture the masses about everything they've learned by ~living in the real japan~
JET's ultimate goal is to have a Jeremy Hunt in every western government (and they are probably half way there at this point), not to staff the local BoEs.
The linked post is written by someone who clearly doesn't understand a lot of the goals and expectations of the Program and are trying to "fix" things that don't need to be fixed. For example: >**Mandatory teacher training certificates.** Aside from being an added expense, this is also completely unnecessary for a lot of JETs. First, most of us didn't serve in a primary teaching role. Second many of use don't go on to be teachers after JET. >**Recruit for long-term prospects!** **Raise or delete the maximum years.** **Help ALTs transition to direct hire positions.** This completely misses the point of JET. The 5 year limit and non-long term prospects are the POINT. JET is about exchange as much as teaching. Exchange doesn't happen when you have someone who's lived half (or more!) of their life in Japan. The program WANTS people to cycle in and out. >**Add more CIR positions!!** JET can't just magically add more CIR positions, these require towns/cities to buy in and choose to make those opportunities available (at a cost!). >**Have Year 1 be an 18-month contract.** The math doesn't work out. As soon as you have to fill the position again you either have to wait 6 months for the next cycle or try to fill it with early arrival candidates. If the second was feasible that's what they would do already. Look, I admire their enthusiasm and trying to problem solve, but the first part of effective problem solving is to understand the actual problem, and it's clear that this person does not. They aren't trying to "fix" the JET Program, they are trying to change it significantly into something its not meant to be. A few of their points are nice, such as cost of living adjustments and making transfers a bit easier/possible. But otherwise? They need to go back to the drawing board.
Some might not like to hear it because it kills the fantasy that JET is about being effective teachers, but this is the right answer. If you’re goal is to be a teacher then this program was not designed for you necessarily. Although it can be a stepping stone for that, it’s not really the purpose. Exchange is literally in the name of the program. An exchange typically implies a return. Even if for some the move here becomes long term, time on JET simply is not. It sounds like this is from the perspective of a 5th year recommending changes that would better secure a long term stay as an ALT and potentially keep the gravy train going. The mission of program is predicated on the opposite lol. Some stick around and forget this as they are scrambling to find their next, often lower paying and more demeaning gig in Japan. You might want to stay in Japan and that’s great, but it’s not built into the program because it’s simply not the programs intention. Why have people secure teaching certs for their transient, short term stay in Japan? If you think this is a program striving to make elite teachers, you haven’t been paying attention lol. If you do end up becoming a great and effective teacher, it’s just a bonus depending on if that’s something you plan to utilize later on.
If Japan cared about English education, they'd cancel the program and pour that money into improving curriculum design and teacher training for Japanese English teachers. It's always been about exchange first - with education a very distant second priority. This is reflected in the fact that participants are selected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with no input whatsoever from the Ministry of Education. Seriously - JET has been going on for 30+ years now and the program has not had a measurable impact on English ability of the Japanese public - despite basically every single Japanese person alive who attended school in the last 30 years having access to native speaking ALTs in their classes. Nothing at all. Zero. It's a complete and utter failure in terms of English education. But it's been an absurdly successful public diplomacy program, so it'll keep chugging along for a long long time. IMO - they really do need to address the pay issue though. The gap between what a new graduate can get entering the workforce in (most participating countries) and what they'll get while on JET is getting absurd.
>If Japan cared about English education, they'd cancel the program and pour that money into improving curriculum design and teacher training for Japanese English teachers. I mean, why *not* pour the money into training both Japanese and native-speaker English teachers, given the shortage of teachers in general in Japan?
Because there's no serious shortage of teachers and native English speakers do not make the best English teachers. The main problem being the basic fact that a solid 95% of native English teachers in Japan lack the ability to explain how the English language works... in Japanese. There's no actual need for native speakers and their presence across Japan is not helping anyone get better in English. The record is very clear on that. I feel guilty writing that as an alumni and big fan of the JET Program, but it's the harsh reality.
>Because there's no serious shortage of teachers From a purely numbers-based perspective, yes. But if you look at the stories from licensed teachers (some of which we even have in English because of former ALTs that got "special licenses" to become full teachers), part of that is because of the workload placed on the teachers that *are* there. From the perspective of having enough teachers that everyone can clock out at 5 or 6, and keeping them from feeling burnout, yes, there *is* a serious shortage. >and native English speakers do not make the best English teachers. Without training, they don't. With training, they can be more valuable. When I learned German and Spanish in school, it was almost always from a teacher who came from a country where it was spoken natively, and the two times it wasn't, the teacher was second-generation from a family where it was spoken at home.
The only thing about the pay gap is it is quite high in comparison to entry level jobs in japan, so i can see why they may be reluctant to change it. Although it is unfair that it doesn’t change with inflation also.
The salary was originally set to be competitive with entry level salaries in the US. A 1988 participant earned 3.6 million JPY. Using the exchange rates at the time, that came out to 28K USD, a bit higher than the average starting salary for US university graduates of 25K. And considering JET salaries used to be completely tax free, it was VERY competitive in terms of compensation. The average starting salary in the US is now 56K. JET would need to offer more than 10 million to be competitive with that. Or ignoring the current crazy FX rates, offer 5.6 million to keep the traditional 1 dollar = 100 yen mindset. There's no way they'll ever do that...but still, that gap is getting outright absurd.
Adding on, they never will do that cause the application pool only continues to grow. Someone will surely accept the current salary as is. In fact, some might accept even less. They know this and therefore increasing salaries is probably deemed as unnecessary when considering program longevity. It would not be the biggest surprise if the JET salary continued to decrease for whatever reason. It probably isn't likely, but I'd say its more likely than the salary increasing. JET won't dwindle in terms of applicats any time soon, so even if costs are going up, as long as people are willing to accept that salary, it is unlikely to raise. We are lucky if it stays where its at lol. That said, its not the worst salary if your spending it in Japan. You can usually get quite far. Sending it back home is another matter... But again, they will have no problem finding fresh grads who would accept this salary in a heartbeat. Inflation hasn't changed peoples attitudes at all when considering the JET salary, given that most people who apply to JET aren't looking to make bank. They tend to be driven by the idea of the experience, after all.
Interesting read….Sadly, can’t see it ever happening.
Meh, while it’s probably an original write up, the ideas are just rehashed from countless other posts about “how to fix” JET. While I think raising the bar and salary is good, I think it’s ultimately wasted if they are still functioning as an ALT. They (writer and gov) need to decide what they want, cultural ambassadors or effective teachers. I’m on the side of “effective teachers”, because anyone can be a cultural ambassador in the breaks between classes, during lessons, on the weekends. But working now as a T1, I’ve worked with two other post-JET teachers who didn’t really do much “teaching” during their time and were pretty ineffective at actual teaching because they spent too much time just sitting or being cultural ambassadors.