The Challenges of Achieving a Full-Time Position at a Japanese University
Before coming to Japan, I talked with several friends and acquaintances who had either taught English in Japan in the past or who are currently teaching English here. Many of them had not had experience teaching English at the university level, but most had generally been positive about their experiences in Japan with the one caveat that they hadn't been able to save much money (from what I understand, this is true unless you work for JET).
Since I was aiming to teach at the university level, I sought the advice of a specific acquaintance. This acquaintance has been teaching English at a university in Japan for several years. He warned me about several factors that might impede my successful pursuit of university-level employment. I optimistically did not think his assessment of the current job market would be true across the board (what did I know?!), but I believe he was correct on each point. I'll go through the list:
I taught at an IEP (Intensive English Program) at a large public university in the United States as a graduate student and briefly as a lecturer. On paper, the requirements for the lecturer position at this particular IEP were rather slim, and I suspect it's similar across the country. The most essential requirement was that one needed to have an MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics. Besides that, experience teaching and experience teaching abroad were also rather important for having a competitive edge in applying to teach at this IEP, and again, I imagine it's similar across the country.
On the other hand, universities in Japan have much stricter requirements. Not only is an MA required to teach as an English lecturer at most universities in Japan, but publications are also often required - and often three or more. From what I was told by one hiring chair, the requirement for publications can be bypassed if the candidate has other experience in lieu of publications, such as teacher training or curriculum development. Also, who you know seems to be INCREDIBLY important in the university-level job market in Japan.
Furthermore, many job postings ask that the applicant have conversational-level Japanese in order to handle administrative duties. Besides European languages like Spanish and German, Japanese is one of the most commonly learned languages in universities in the United States. Therefore, you'd expect that many foreign teachers already come to Japan with at least a basic grasp on Japanese. Since I did not, I seem to be at a disadvantage in the job market, which is certainly fair.
As a result of some rules regarding lengths of employment with contract work, there has been a proliferation of part-time employment. In fact, the majority of posts I see on specific job posting websites are part-time - usually teaching one day a week for several hours.
Part of this comes as a result of the declining student enrollment (which will be the next point), but more directly as a result of a law that was passed which stipulated that temporary workers would be required to be instated as permanent workers if their contracts had been renewed several times.
From the Japan Times:
In the past it was possible to employ someone on renewable temporary contracts for an indefinite period of time. In April 2013, a law was passed stating that when temporary contracts have been renewed several times and the total employment period exceeds five continuous years, workers can demand a change of their contract status from temporary to unlimited-term or permanent. In fact, in the eyes of the law, a temporary worker who makes such a request becomes a permanent employee the moment they apply for the change of status. Quite literally, it’s an offer the employer can’t refuse. The response of most universities to the new rule was to tell teachers on temporary contracts that they could not be renewed for more than five years, meaning they would not become eligible for permanent status.
Unhappy with this law, universities lobbied hard and won an exemption in April 2014 that allows universities to employ teachers and researchers continuously for 10 years rather than 5 before they can become permanent employees. This means no university teacher on a temporary contract will be able to win permanent status under this law until April 2024.
As you can see, the legislation had the opposite effect: rather than creating more job security for university teachers, it created more insecurity.
As I mentioned earlier, declining student enrollment is another issue that, while not as much of a current impediment to university-level employment as the two previous points mentioned, will become more of one in the near future.
A major implication of the declining birthrate for universities is reduced budgets. From what I've been told and read, many universities have already loosened their requirements for incoming freshmen. Students have much more power to choose universities now, whereas it was the other way around 20 years ago. Eventually, the continual decline in enrollment may mean that academic jobs, or potentially entire departments, will be in jeopardy.
Obviously, the effect will be that university-level teaching positions will be even more difficult to come by.
This one is more anecdotal. As a relatively young teacher who takes opportunities to attend conferences, talks, and seminars (and who just received his MA less than a year ago), I've often noticed something over and over again: I am often the youngest person in the room. The other teachers I have met have had much more experience, have been more involved in different organizations, have presented much more than I have, and have conducted research. It seems many of them have also lived in Japan for several years, and therefore they speak the language a lot better than I can (see point #1).
Just a quick glance at some LinkedIn profiles shows me that many teachers in my network have already lived in Japan for more than 10 years. Essentially, since Japan is such a desirable place to live and work, and since the doors to foreign English teachers have been open for so long, there is a surfeit of qualified English teachers to fulfill university-level positions.
This post is not intended to be discouraging, but it is meant to give an accurate picture of the current state of university-level employment in Japan. As I mentioned earlier, I have only been in Japan for five months, and I love living here. However, I have found it hard to break into working directly with a university. I think if young English teachers are thinking about going to Japan to work at the university level, then they may want to first consider building up their resume before making the move to Japan.
Since I was aiming to teach at the university level, I sought the advice of a specific acquaintance. This acquaintance has been teaching English at a university in Japan for several years. He warned me about several factors that might impede my successful pursuit of university-level employment. I optimistically did not think his assessment of the current job market would be true across the board (what did I know?!), but I believe he was correct on each point. I'll go through the list:
1. Stricter Requirements Compared to Similar Positions in Other Countries
I taught at an IEP (Intensive English Program) at a large public university in the United States as a graduate student and briefly as a lecturer. On paper, the requirements for the lecturer position at this particular IEP were rather slim, and I suspect it's similar across the country. The most essential requirement was that one needed to have an MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics. Besides that, experience teaching and experience teaching abroad were also rather important for having a competitive edge in applying to teach at this IEP, and again, I imagine it's similar across the country.
On the other hand, universities in Japan have much stricter requirements. Not only is an MA required to teach as an English lecturer at most universities in Japan, but publications are also often required - and often three or more. From what I was told by one hiring chair, the requirement for publications can be bypassed if the candidate has other experience in lieu of publications, such as teacher training or curriculum development. Also, who you know seems to be INCREDIBLY important in the university-level job market in Japan.
Furthermore, many job postings ask that the applicant have conversational-level Japanese in order to handle administrative duties. Besides European languages like Spanish and German, Japanese is one of the most commonly learned languages in universities in the United States. Therefore, you'd expect that many foreign teachers already come to Japan with at least a basic grasp on Japanese. Since I did not, I seem to be at a disadvantage in the job market, which is certainly fair.
2. Proliferation of Part-Time Employment
As a result of some rules regarding lengths of employment with contract work, there has been a proliferation of part-time employment. In fact, the majority of posts I see on specific job posting websites are part-time - usually teaching one day a week for several hours.
Part of this comes as a result of the declining student enrollment (which will be the next point), but more directly as a result of a law that was passed which stipulated that temporary workers would be required to be instated as permanent workers if their contracts had been renewed several times.
From the Japan Times:
In the past it was possible to employ someone on renewable temporary contracts for an indefinite period of time. In April 2013, a law was passed stating that when temporary contracts have been renewed several times and the total employment period exceeds five continuous years, workers can demand a change of their contract status from temporary to unlimited-term or permanent. In fact, in the eyes of the law, a temporary worker who makes such a request becomes a permanent employee the moment they apply for the change of status. Quite literally, it’s an offer the employer can’t refuse. The response of most universities to the new rule was to tell teachers on temporary contracts that they could not be renewed for more than five years, meaning they would not become eligible for permanent status.
Unhappy with this law, universities lobbied hard and won an exemption in April 2014 that allows universities to employ teachers and researchers continuously for 10 years rather than 5 before they can become permanent employees. This means no university teacher on a temporary contract will be able to win permanent status under this law until April 2024.
As you can see, the legislation had the opposite effect: rather than creating more job security for university teachers, it created more insecurity.
3. Declining Student Enrollment
As I mentioned earlier, declining student enrollment is another issue that, while not as much of a current impediment to university-level employment as the two previous points mentioned, will become more of one in the near future.
A major implication of the declining birthrate for universities is reduced budgets. From what I've been told and read, many universities have already loosened their requirements for incoming freshmen. Students have much more power to choose universities now, whereas it was the other way around 20 years ago. Eventually, the continual decline in enrollment may mean that academic jobs, or potentially entire departments, will be in jeopardy.
Obviously, the effect will be that university-level teaching positions will be even more difficult to come by.
4. Job Competition
This one is more anecdotal. As a relatively young teacher who takes opportunities to attend conferences, talks, and seminars (and who just received his MA less than a year ago), I've often noticed something over and over again: I am often the youngest person in the room. The other teachers I have met have had much more experience, have been more involved in different organizations, have presented much more than I have, and have conducted research. It seems many of them have also lived in Japan for several years, and therefore they speak the language a lot better than I can (see point #1).
Just a quick glance at some LinkedIn profiles shows me that many teachers in my network have already lived in Japan for more than 10 years. Essentially, since Japan is such a desirable place to live and work, and since the doors to foreign English teachers have been open for so long, there is a surfeit of qualified English teachers to fulfill university-level positions.
Conclusion
This post is not intended to be discouraging, but it is meant to give an accurate picture of the current state of university-level employment in Japan. As I mentioned earlier, I have only been in Japan for five months, and I love living here. However, I have found it hard to break into working directly with a university. I think if young English teachers are thinking about going to Japan to work at the university level, then they may want to first consider building up their resume before making the move to Japan.
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