Kurashiki AET Job

[diary]

I noticed that there is a posting on Gaijin Pot for an AET job with the Kurashiki City Board of Education.

Although I have never worked as an AET in Kurashiki, I know people who have. According to them, the job is pretty good: the schools are ok, the co-workers are cool, and the city isn't too bad a place to live.

However, they say that anyone interested in applying for a position there should be warned about the "so-called" AET Consultant that works for the Board of Education. Things aren't as rosy as he makes them seem on their employment web page. Despite what he says on the page, he is only interested in ingratiating himself with his superiors and pursuing his own personal agenda regardless of how it affects the AET's he is supposed to be helping. It's either his way or the highway and if you don't play ball with him he will find a reason to squeeze you out.

I could probably make a very long list of all the things I have heard he has pulled or tried to pull but there probably isn't enough room on this server.

All I can say is, make sure you do your homework before signing on the dotted line. Just because it's a position with a city as opposed to some funky private eikawa school, doesn't mean that everything is done on the up and up.

[von]

cheers

but maybe u could give us the juicest stuff, please?!

[onesandzeros]

Yeah, I lived in Okayama prefecture for a year, the few other foreigners I knew were all aware of the 'liason' or whatever he is. Their application process rivals that of the JET program, as well.

It's a shame about these two things, because otherwise Okayama/Kurashiki is pretty nice.

I seem to remember that this past year, they kept pushing back their application deadline. It was originally December 31, 2003, and then ads kept running until March of this year, I think. Not unusual for recruiting companies, I don't think, but since this is a direct-hire situation, I thought it was a bit close to the beginning of the school year. Maybe they should rethink that application process, heh. They've been running the ads for 2005 for a while now, I guess they decided to get an earlier start.

Chris

[diary]

Whether it is juicy or not, there are more than a few instances of "creative" policy decisions.

There's the typical unpaid overtime that is a pretty common problem in at almost any job in Japan. Despite what the contract says about working hours, you're "encouraged" work overtime because your Japanese cooworkers are there.

Numerous (sometimes multiple times in the same week) staff meetings that are ineffciently managed at best and a complete waste of time at worst. Meetings at the expense of time that could be spent a school or that run needlessly late into the evening. Also, there's the 1-month orientation period that I hear seems to be more sleep inducing than helpful.

Personal and work evaluations given by someone with little practical classroom teaching or management experience, no higher level certification for teachinjg English as a foreign langauge or even teaching at all and that tend to be more subjective and personal than constructive and helpful. If you get on the Consultant's bad side, you better be concerned about contract renewal because it is rumored that he does make a list of who is naughty and who is nice.

All contact wih the Japanese staff must go through the Consultant. In principle, can be a good thing but also easy to abuse since any negative comments or complaints can be selectively and convenietly filtered out, watered down, or twisted so as to distort there original meaning and intent. The ability to control the flow of information creates immense power but also immense responsibility. I have heard that fairness and impartiality are not some of the Consultant's stronger points.

"Special consultations" for disgruntled employees along with "shape-or ship-out" letters alluding to possible contract renewal problems. Non-renewers being "asked" to sign letters of resignation for their own good.

Restrictions on driving (even driving in non-working hours) by making everyone( including those that already have valid International Driver's Licenses or Japanese Driver's Licences) take a Rules of the Road test written by the "consultant" if you want to drive.

Restrictions on contact between new teachers and the people they will be replacing. Probably meant to limit any possible negative feedback about the program (or a certain person) but in reality denying new employees at valuable source of information about their new jobs and places where they live. Even the JET Programme isn't that paranoid.

I guess the above could be considered sledging an individual, but it's really not meant to be that way at all. Just repeating what I heard. My friends have really good memories of working and living in Kurashiki and always talk positively about it, except when the subject of the relationship with the AET Consultant comes up. And, now it seems that kind of stuff is known by even those outside of the Kurashiki program.

Maybe that is why he has had a kind of a difficult time finding replacements for the 5-10 AETs that have either voluntarily or non-voluntarily moved on at the end of each contract year since he took the helm. IInterestingly,, things seemed to have worked out the best for most of them since despite being considered "undesirable" or "troublemakers", most of them quickly found new jobs in Japan(like my friends) and seem to be having no problems at all. Which might lead one to think that their leaving the Kurashiki program had more to do with more personal reasons that were unrelated to job performance as opposed to the official explaination.

[hamachi]

I looked at their website and it seems that they are still hiring. does any one have anymore information about them? Does any one know what kind of benefits and support they offer? Does it include national health, pension and unemployment insurance? They only have general information listed on their website.

[posam]

I interviewed with them last year. At that time, nothing was posted about the salary or benefits; I found out about them after the numerous interviews and teaching demonstrations. It is a very good deal: good pay, health, and living allowance. But I can't remember anything about the pension. As the rule in Japan, if a gaijin participates in the national health program, then he or she MUST pay into the natioal pension plan which is in NOT cheap.
I was bumped-out that I didn't get the position but in the long run. It was a blessing in disguise. At my current AET job, I leave school at 4pm or many times earlier if I have finished all my projects. I can plan any activities after that time. It is great.

[jpyconnection]

So what's the sallary or did they make you swear not to tell?

[posam]

Just apply then they will send you all the information if you pass their initial questionaire.

[von]

350K mth.................................

[monkeygirl]

330 000 a month
25 000 a month living allowance
all the other perks like JET (pension, health paid half)
they pay key money and phone line (but you pay monthly phone bill, of course)
21 days off a year

[von]

the interview was pretty long winded i thought!!!
plus u had to do an on the spot demo pretending the 4 interviewers were ele. students..

[posam]

When I applied last year, I had to go through 2 consecutive days of interviews. Actually, I had to pass first day to get to the second day. They were really, really long. I had to do 2 teaching demos. I had to stay overnight in Kurashiki at a cheap hotel. While I was staying there, I was informed that I made the cut. Luckily, I was booked for an early interview for the second day. It was a really laborious process.

[von]

yeah ur not wrong

i can see why they do it to cut out the dead-wood but some of the questions etc.... are pointless and seem to be asked for the sake of asking a question and making it an involved process

[Shinobi]

Isn't this the gig where you have to be in your early 30s or younger to apply? Illegal, shlemegal.

I'll be going now, once I remember where I put my bifocals...

[JimJam]

Everything which poster Diary has said about the programme is true!! The AET Consultant is an idiot and a total power/control freak = dangerous man!!
If you take a position on the programme do so for the money alone, which is pretty good. Although the salary is not as high as some posters have suggested. It was cut back from 33K to 28K a year ago - another one of the AET consultants power trips. Also the bonus they offer is performance based and yes, you guessed it.... the one man who will be assessing you performance is the AET consultant and not the teachers you work with, so it will not accurately reflect how well you teach, but just how much brown nosing you managed to do.
Any satifaction you may get from the teaching itself is sucked out of you by the stress and ill treatment you will receive at the hands of the AET Consultant. Be warned!! I know as I have first hand experience with this programme and learnt the hard way.
If you still want to interview here is a tip:
Come across as a total Yes-man at the interview. What they want on the Kurashiki programme are teachers who do what they are told and not teachers who think for themselves.

[von]

no the pay is still 355k per mth. well it was 1 mth ago anyway

[posam]

the pay is still 355k per mth. well it was 1 mth ago anyway[/QUOTE]

Remember, Kurashiki wants all of its JH AET's to teach all the classes by themselves. I think this salary is too low for such a responsibility: managing the class, creating the lesson, and most of all , translating a good portion of the lecture for the students.

[ticha]

yeah, well (btw: apologize for any typos and the like- not a complete illiterate idiot: just had a coupla bevs!! did actually try to post earlier when I was bored at work but had forgotten password, blablabla),
anyway, my friend applied for Kurashiki AET job last year, and I guess on app form, it had someyhing about allergies/dietry requirements. Said she doesn't eat pork. They (AET ((American)) coordinators) made a huge big deal about that- asked her what she would do if she had to eat school lunch, when sometimes meals have pork in them?? (I ate school lunch for 1 term and got MAJORLY constipated, so bollocks to that wjy should you have to if you don't want to anyway!!). She said "well maybe on the days that they have pork, I could bring my lunch in", but this wasn't good enough for them, they relly wanted to push the issue, went on about how this and that and lunch and bla bla. She didn't get it.
I think this whole having to eat school lunch lark is a pile of pants. It's all part of the control thing that thrives so much in Japan. That's why Japanese people have to put in all those (often unnecessary) hours, can't take long holidays and get transfered all over the country at the drop of a hat: so that "they" can keep controls on people. That's why you have to eat school lunch. That's why being vegetarian, or not wanting to drink milk EVERYDAY can be seen as deviant. I'm talking about for ADULTS here, not even the students.
And, by the way, is the Kurashiki coordinator ex-JET or something, cos in my experience, it's ex JETs or people who've been high up in NOVA of any of those conversation schools that seem to consider themselves all higher than mighty when it comes to hiring for these AET jobs that, really, any monkey could do. I've worked for a few different schools/systems/boards of ed. I've been in Japan a while, and every now and then I get fed up of what I'm doing, and look for something different. Unfortunately, I've found it limited to English teahing, which I don't completely hate or I wouldn't still be doing it for so long, but anyway, when I get these urges to try something different, I usually get as far a contacting a bunch of local boards of Ed. Not all of them have a "foreign liaison officer" or whatever, but out of the several that I've been in contact with, it's always these foreigners living in Japan who have managed to land themselves a "good job" that are the most uptight, elitist , impossible nobs. I haven't really found this dealing directly with the Japanese people at BOEs who tend to go more superficially on whether or not you have a nice smile, and woul appeal to a bunch of students or not.
Is it just me, or do we work against our own people more? Why?

[ripslyme]

Is it just me, or do we work against our own people more? Why?

I figure that some of it is because of job (in)security. Some of those up there are afraid of some new kid showing up and stealing their thunder. That and some feel sort of a need to mark their territory - "No, I AM the token foreigner around here, not you."

[ticha]

yeah, think you are right, as for the part about them wanting you to teach classes of about 40 on your own: don't actually think that's LEGAL in Japan, cos they basically do just hire gaijin monkeys who they expect to perform tricks and keep people entertained , not necesaarily people with teaching or class controlling quals.
In my city, there was a big thing a a couple of years ago where AET was alone in class and was attacked by student. Who knows exact details, but apparently, stu grabbed AET by the balls and twisted. AET (in tear-drawing pain) pushed stu off, lifted him by shoulders and dragged into principal's office. they were about to call in cops on AET when they realised that they were actually at fault for leaving ASSISTANT English teacher UNassisted. Since then, my local authority has made itr quite clear that we are supposed to be doing TEAM-TEACHING. Team teaching definately has its drawbacks, but in cases of dicsipline, and the likes when you can't communicate with stu's in case of emergency, etc, I guess it does have some good points!

[ToTheMoon]

Remember, Kurashiki wants all of its JH AET's to teach all the classes by themselves. I think this salary is too low for such a responsibility: managing the class, creating the lesson, and most of all , translating a good portion of the lecture for the students.

One comparison to consider: teaching full time in Boston, MA (USA) in a public high school, with a Masters degree, teachers start at around $41k/year, which is roughly 360k Yen/month (you would also get retirement benefits, healthcare, etc., but a lot of the cost would come out of your salary). Boston is not a cheap city to live in. And you would be teaching full time, as a full solo classroom teacher, with class sizes around 30 (sometimes more), and plenty of discipline issues. Not to mention expected to stay after school for meetings sometimes, or to give extra help and/or meet with students both before and after school, etc. Not to mention you would be doing all your own lesson plans and test making and grading and dealing with children with learning disabilities and L2 problems, etc. Not to mention that you would be doing a lot of your lesson preparation and grading "on your own time" outside of school hours at home (not all teachers do that, of course; there are always those teachers who return stuff weeks later).

However, you should become a teacher not because of the salary but because you enjoy teaching and working with kids, trying to make a difference in their lives and in the society/culture in which you live. If you just want a 9-5 job where your heart and soul don't need to be involved, then teaching is not the right profession for you.

Having said that, I'm not sure a direct comparison of AET/ALT positions and regular teacher positions back home is a fair one. While everything I've said so far suggests that AETs are being little babies when they whine about not being paid enough for the work they are expected to do (which is mostly the same as a regular teacher back home), it's necessary to point out a few important differences:
Regular teachers at home see their kids every day, usually in their own classroom. The total might be about 150 kids, split across 4 or 5 classes. And those classes would meet every day. Two of the classes might be English 1, two might be English 3, and the other might be Honors English 4. That's a total of 3 preps.
AETs in Japan see their kids once a week. The total might be well over 400 kids, split across 22 classes, with the AET teaching 4 to 6 classes a day. The classes might all be wildly different levels and the total preps might be as high as 10. And there is a language barrier that impedes classroom management and communication with the students. And the possibility that you have to go to a variety of schools, and that even if you stay within a single school you don't have your own classroom.

Anyway, I'm painting with broad strokes here, but just trying to give some points of reference.

For someone with a MA, I think 360k yen should be the starting point. If someone without a MA is making that much as an AET, that's awesome and you should be psyched, regardless of the differences in the class scheduling I listed above.

[Monty Cristo]

I figure that some of it is because of job (in)security. Some of those up there are afraid of some new kid showing up and stealing their thunder. That and some feel sort of a need to mark their territory - "No, I AM the token foreigner around here, not you."

You'd be surprised to see this mindset at work in academia as well. One of the main (foreign) professors in a MA program I went through a ways back seems to think he has a monopoly on knowledge of the Japanese Language and literature and has no qualms about telling everyone this much. He even got into a heated arguement in front of both staff and students and looked to be on the verge of a full-blown temper-tantrum when he was called out on this behaviour.
Another funny instance was when he was rattling on and on about how "only he can understand the Tale of Genji," but still couldn't order a beer at the izakaya...

I don't have much Eikaiwa experience, but I have heard all about the Foreign Personnel Manager who has "gone native" and tries way too hard to be "super-Japanese," only to frustrate, annoy, and generally ____ off those who s/he is supposed to be helping.

[diary]

When I wrote my original posts, I assumed what was going on in Kurashiki wasn't all that wlll known. I didn't realize that so many other people out there had heard of this.

Just to clear up a few things.

First of all, I have heard that the AET Consultant is not an American. Comes from a neighboring country ( no offense to the rest of that countries citizens intended), so I do not know if that affects his thinking or not.

Secondly, I have heard that he also is not an ex-JET. Not positive but I have heard he is ex-Bxxxxtz. Again, this is only hersay, but I have heard that his reasons for leaving(being asked to leave ?)his prior place of employment were "interesting".

Regarding pay and stuff, friends have said that they underwent a major contract revision a while back so that the contract term was the same as the Japanese school year. Yearly contracts that are similiar to JET in that renewal needs to be mutually agreed upon. The yearly pay and bonus increases were scrapped when the contracts were changed at that time. So, whether you work one or 5 years and your monthly wages will stay the same (I think 330K/month). I also heard that that you can renew for up to 4 times so basically it can be a 5 years thing. Age limit is 35. 21 paid holidays sounds right, but guess who gets the final say as to if you get the time off or not. I hear he is responsible for all the paper work for days off and occasionally this paperwork has been misplaced or incorrectly completed for unknown reasons.

Majority of the JHS teachers will start teaching alone from April but only a few select few will be truly alone(probably those whose Japanese ability is fairly good). The others will have some other Japanese teacher in the room with them making sure that things don't fall apart. rumore has it that all JHS teacher will have to have some special kind of certification from April and that they have to cover the costs themselves (good question to ask at the interview?). ES teachers teach only the upper grades and volunteers (native and non-native) work with the younger kids. In both cases you will probably have multiple schools to go to.

You do get National Health and Pension, but I don't think you get unemployment insurance(even though it is required by law ). There is also the apartment, but word has it that you really do not have much choice in that matter, so you kind of have to live where they tell you. They pay for the key money but you have to cover a special cleaning cost or something like that out of your own pocket. I have also heard that since the changeover at the end of the school year contract happens rather quickly, some non-renewers have been encouraged to move (out a little bit early (regardless of the fact that they have already paid their rent)so that the next person could quickly move in and get set up. I have heard it has been explained as a sort of win-win thing: the non-renewer gets to leave early and the new person gets to come in early(without being under contract of course so no pay) so everyone wins.

Also, no ticket back home, no moving expenses, and you have to pay for your own way to and from the interview, so if you're coming a long way then you better be sure you get or at least have some other options. Bonuses are given at the end of the contract year which can be conveniently used to try and keep people in line; at least those who want to see some of there bonus. Finally, do to the "top secret nature" of the work that the AETs do, I have also heard something about a confidentiallity clause in the contract. It seems they do not want their "trade secrets" revealed.

I have never interviewed with them and the people I know came on board before the current AET Consultant did so what the other's wrote was probably true. I have heard that the consultant tries to look good at the interview and therefore instructs the other people to ask all of the difficult and annoying questions. Sort of like good cop -bad cop.

Anyway, all of the above is just some things that I have heard from friends and other people. And, as I said in my very first post, these people really had no problems with the city, their schools or the other people they met. Just with the consultant.