Assistant Language Teacher
Encyclopedia
Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) is a term that was created by the Japanese Ministry of Education
at the time of the creation of the JET Programme
as a translation of the term 外国語指導助手 (gaikokugo shidō joshu) or literally "foreign language instruction assistant." The terms AET (Assistant English Teacher), ELT (English Language Teacher) and NESA (Native English Speaking Assistant) are also in use. The term is used by the Ministry of Education, local Boards of Education (BOEs) and schools in Japan primarily to refer to English language
speakers who assist with teaching of English
in elementary
, junior high and high school
s. However, some ALTs help teach languages other than English.
ALTs are required to be college graduates, but they are usually not certified teachers like their Japanese colleagues. Very few ALTs have taken advantage of policy changes made in 2001 that allow highly-qualified ALTs to obtain Japanese teaching licenses.
, health, nationality) and the characteristics that can be considered to be sought by the Japanese government, boards of education (BOEs), and schools.
In the case of ALTs from private language teaching companies, further requirements may include items such as TEFL certification
, Japanese language
ability (at least spoken) at a communicative level, teaching experience (both within Japan and in other countries) and other specialized skills (foreign languages other than English, IT, etc.) However, as a basic rule, the standards that are expected of JET Programme are still considered as norms among private language teaching companies that provide ALTs to BOEs, although agreements between BOEs and private companies often allow for a relaxing on some of these rules.
ALTs hired on the JET Programme typically enter either in July or August, but most private ALTs are usually on a contract which runs from April until at least the end of the third school term in March. Some AETs dispatched to City of Nagoya public schools have contracts that begin in mid-May and end in mid-February. Some ALTs also have set, paid holidays during the spring, summer and winter school vacations, in addition to all Japanese public holidays, but some ALTs are not paid between semesters or for national holidays, and do not receive paid vacation leave. By combining the 23 national holidays with the time off during school holidays, the actual number of working days per year is somewhere near 200 through private companies, which is one of the major attractions of the ALT position, however many schools require you to undertake other tasks when not teaching, so the actual hours worked are similar to other jobs in Japan. Most JET Programme ALTs are required to work through the school holidays, receiving the 23 national holidays plus annual leave as holiday time.
teacher and far less than a teacher from the JET Programme
(¥3,600,000/year as of 2008 as part of the JET programme), with some of the lowest salaries around the ¥180,000 per month level. Benefits and workload also vary. Some companies pay their ALTs between semesters and some do not. Some provide benefits, such as access to employer subsidized health insurance, paid holidays, paid vacation/sick leave and unemployment insurance, and some do not.
ALTs usually take part in 3 to 5 classes per day. The classes are usually 45–50 minutes in length. An ALT participates in about 17 to 20 classes per week. Sometimes ALTs are asked to help teach special education classes, which may include students who can barely speak. They may also be asked to take part in after/before school club activities ("bukatsudou," where the "bu" signifies the Japanese character for "grouping" or "club," and where "katsudou" indicates "activity." This is usually shortened to "bukatsu"), such as sports, calligraphy, music or ikebana, to learn more about the culture alongside their students and to foster international exchange. But some ALTs choose not to participate, or go from group to group just to visit. The English level of the students varies from school to school, and at some schools the students and teachers are not able to communicate in English in any meaningful way, making communication in English difficult.
ALTs, even if U.S. citizens, may be required to read tragic stories about the atomic bombings
to their classes which omit any mention of World War II
or the Japanese government's conduct during the war
.
ALTs may also be expected to perform tasks normally done by Japanese students, such as cleaning the school, cleaning drainage gutters, and removing snow from parking areas. They are sometimes asked to perform clerical tasks, such as correcting student writing assignments, by the Japanese teachers.
ALTs at some schools are expected to eat lunch with the students. They are usually not allowed to leave the school for lunch or to run personal errands during their break.
ALTs may be instructed to use non-standard English in front of students. ALTs from the U.S. may be instructed to say they are from "America".
The business of private language teaching companies providing ALTs is increasing and some with hundreds of ALTs are covering all parts of the country. There is the impression that the private sector in general continues to grow as The JET Programme loses share in the market. Private dispatch companies vary from large corporations to local firms.
The above list is by no means comprehensive, and some other categories that vary from situation to situation may include: the ability to transfer (both locationally and between positions), evaluation, reward systems, and professional development opportunities.
But some shady private language teaching companies offer up their financial and employee records to outside certification services (as with ISO 9000 certification) in an attempt to hide their illegal activities.
The licensed Japanese teacher is normally in charge of junior high school and high school classes regardless of where the ALT originates; however in the case of elementary school classes, the ALT is normally responsible for the entire class, with the Japanese teacher either providing limited input or in some cases not being present in the classroom, and for that reason the continuity of school management is sometimes maintained with the school principal in compliance with any legal requirements, as the product being contracted itself is an abstract, education, and the contract basis for private language teaching corporations is to provide education and educational services.
, Borderlink and WING which stipulates ALT working hours as being 29.5 hours per week. In actuality, working hours usually range from 30 to 40 hours due to the fact that transition times between classes and other brief periods of time throughout the working day are scheduled as breaktimes. Employers often have employees sign such contracts in an effort to avoid paying into the employer based Social Insurance program, or Shakai hoken
. While Social Insurance law states that all regular employees should be enrolled by their employer in Shakai Hoken, companies consistently tell their employees that they are ineligible. Their reasoning is that the 29.5 hours a week working time written into the contracts fall below an erroneous minimum of 3/4 full time necessary for eligibility. The Social Insurance Agency uses the 3/4 of the hours of a similar full-time as a guideline. However, the Japanese government has recent stated that there is, in fact, no minimum legal work time requirement for enrollment in Shakai Hoken. Furthermore, no company would ever be prohibited from enrolling their employees in the Social Insurance program. Some AETs dispatched to the City of Nagoya have a 35 hour work week and are not enrolled in Shakai Hoken, receive no paid sick leave, no paid holidays, no paid vacation leave, and are not enrolled in unemployment insurance. They are only paid for days worked and receive no pay between semesters except for a few training sessions.
who were previously hired directly as part-time workers rejected the privatization of their jobs to Interac
, a nationwide language services dispatch company, and took the Kanagawa Prefecture Board of Education to the Labour Relations Board where the case is still on-going.
As in many cases, the likely cause of the dissolution of the direct-hire situation draws back to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
who took a hard-line stance on privatization (e.g. Japan Post) and the idea of allowing local governments more flexibility in deciding how to spend their budgets.
) and the Fukaya Board of Education (in Saitama Prefecture
). In the case versus the Tokyo Board of Education, the General Workers Union won a decision stating that the directly hired ALTs were indeed legally classified as "workers" (rodosha) and not simply contractors. Further victories were achieved through the private companies that had contracts with the Koga and Fukaya boards of education.
Pro Union Links:
Contra Union Links:
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan)
The , also known as MEXT or Monkashō, is one of the ministries of the Japanese government.The Meiji government created the first Ministry of Education in 1871....
at the time of the creation of the JET Programme
JET Programme
or is a Japanese government initiative that brings college graduates—mostly native speakers of English—to Japan as Assistant Language Teachers and Sports Education Advisors in Japanese kindergartens, elementary, junior high and high schools, or as Coordinators for International Relations in...
as a translation of the term 外国語指導助手 (gaikokugo shidō joshu) or literally "foreign language instruction assistant." The terms AET (Assistant English Teacher), ELT (English Language Teacher) and NESA (Native English Speaking Assistant) are also in use. The term is used by the Ministry of Education, local Boards of Education (BOEs) and schools in Japan primarily to refer to English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
speakers who assist with teaching of English
English language learning and teaching
English as a second language , English for speakers of other languages and English as a foreign language all refer to the use or study of English by speakers with different native languages. The precise usage, including the different use of the terms ESL and ESOL in different countries, is...
in elementary
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
, junior high and high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
s. However, some ALTs help teach languages other than English.
ALTs are required to be college graduates, but they are usually not certified teachers like their Japanese colleagues. Very few ALTs have taken advantage of policy changes made in 2001 that allow highly-qualified ALTs to obtain Japanese teaching licenses.
Requirements
Basically, the JET Programme set the general prerequisites imposed by Japanese immigration (bachelor's degreeBachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
, health, nationality) and the characteristics that can be considered to be sought by the Japanese government, boards of education (BOEs), and schools.
In the case of ALTs from private language teaching companies, further requirements may include items such as TEFL certification
Certification
Certification refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person, or organization. This confirmation is often, but not always, provided by some form of external review, education, assessment, or audit...
, Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
ability (at least spoken) at a communicative level, teaching experience (both within Japan and in other countries) and other specialized skills (foreign languages other than English, IT, etc.) However, as a basic rule, the standards that are expected of JET Programme are still considered as norms among private language teaching companies that provide ALTs to BOEs, although agreements between BOEs and private companies often allow for a relaxing on some of these rules.
Recruitment
At one time, the majority of ALTs were recruited through the JET Programme, but now most are hired by private language teaching companies, also known as "dispatch companies", either within Japan or abroad. Once hired ALTs are sent to work in junior and senior high-schools and, increasingly, in elementary schools throughout Japan. ALTs are either assigned to one main school, or can work at a number of different schools in their area. ALTs entering on the JET programme are not required to have any prior teaching experience or ESL training. Many ALTs hired privately have prior experience and/or training.ALTs hired on the JET Programme typically enter either in July or August, but most private ALTs are usually on a contract which runs from April until at least the end of the third school term in March. Some AETs dispatched to City of Nagoya public schools have contracts that begin in mid-May and end in mid-February. Some ALTs also have set, paid holidays during the spring, summer and winter school vacations, in addition to all Japanese public holidays, but some ALTs are not paid between semesters or for national holidays, and do not receive paid vacation leave. By combining the 23 national holidays with the time off during school holidays, the actual number of working days per year is somewhere near 200 through private companies, which is one of the major attractions of the ALT position, however many schools require you to undertake other tasks when not teaching, so the actual hours worked are similar to other jobs in Japan. Most JET Programme ALTs are required to work through the school holidays, receiving the 23 national holidays plus annual leave as holiday time.
Payment
The pay for a private ALT is usually less than a full-time EikaiwaEikaiwa
or often shortened to , are English conversation schools, usually privately operated, in Japan. It is a combination of the word and.Although the Japanese public education system mandates that English be taught as part of the curriculum from fifth grade, the focus is generally on English grammar...
teacher and far less than a teacher from the JET Programme
JET Programme
or is a Japanese government initiative that brings college graduates—mostly native speakers of English—to Japan as Assistant Language Teachers and Sports Education Advisors in Japanese kindergartens, elementary, junior high and high schools, or as Coordinators for International Relations in...
(¥3,600,000/year as of 2008 as part of the JET programme), with some of the lowest salaries around the ¥180,000 per month level. Benefits and workload also vary. Some companies pay their ALTs between semesters and some do not. Some provide benefits, such as access to employer subsidized health insurance, paid holidays, paid vacation/sick leave and unemployment insurance, and some do not.
Job duties
ALTs are supposed to assist Japanese teachers of English to deliver lessons in the classroom, and may be involved in lesson planning and other language teaching tasks. However, the degree to which the Japanese teacher of English actually uses the ALT is usually decided at the discretion of the Japanese teacher. Some allow ALTs to plan and lead language activities in class, even for the entire class period, while others make minimal use of their ALT, such as limiting them to reading new vocabulary words for the students to repeat and having the ALT walk between the rows of students while the students do writing assignments.ALTs usually take part in 3 to 5 classes per day. The classes are usually 45–50 minutes in length. An ALT participates in about 17 to 20 classes per week. Sometimes ALTs are asked to help teach special education classes, which may include students who can barely speak. They may also be asked to take part in after/before school club activities ("bukatsudou," where the "bu" signifies the Japanese character for "grouping" or "club," and where "katsudou" indicates "activity." This is usually shortened to "bukatsu"), such as sports, calligraphy, music or ikebana, to learn more about the culture alongside their students and to foster international exchange. But some ALTs choose not to participate, or go from group to group just to visit. The English level of the students varies from school to school, and at some schools the students and teachers are not able to communicate in English in any meaningful way, making communication in English difficult.
ALTs, even if U.S. citizens, may be required to read tragic stories about the atomic bombings
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
to their classes which omit any mention of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
or the Japanese government's conduct during the war
Japanese war crimes
Japanese war crimes occurred during the period of Japanese imperialism, primarily during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. Some of the incidents have also been described as an Asian Holocaust and Japanese war atrocities...
.
ALTs may also be expected to perform tasks normally done by Japanese students, such as cleaning the school, cleaning drainage gutters, and removing snow from parking areas. They are sometimes asked to perform clerical tasks, such as correcting student writing assignments, by the Japanese teachers.
ALTs at some schools are expected to eat lunch with the students. They are usually not allowed to leave the school for lunch or to run personal errands during their break.
ALTs may be instructed to use non-standard English in front of students. ALTs from the U.S. may be instructed to say they are from "America".
Overview of the Private ALT System in Japan
In 1999, Dispatch Law (労働者派遣) was deregulated to allow dispatch companies to enter into other fields of work aside from the traditional industry of manufacturing. Education was one of these fields. Since then more and more local boards of education have turned to private language companies to provide ALTs rather than using the JET Programme.The business of private language teaching companies providing ALTs is increasing and some with hundreds of ALTs are covering all parts of the country. There is the impression that the private sector in general continues to grow as The JET Programme loses share in the market. Private dispatch companies vary from large corporations to local firms.
Differences between JET Programme ALTs and private company ALTs
- Application: The JET Programme may be very competitive based on the hiring nation (the U.S.A., UK, Canada, Australia being examples) or very lax depending on the needs of the Programme for any fiscal year. Private ALT application processes vary, but tend to be highly competitive for smaller companies and very open with larger companies.
- Compensation: The JET Programme currently compensats ALTs "approximately ¥3.6 million for participating for one year on the JET Programme" (The JET Programme General Information Handbook 2007). JET Programme participants will on average receive a higher initial monthly salary than ALTs from most private companies. However, some private companies require ALTs with TEFL certification who may be compensated at a higher level. This is rare though with some dispatched ALTs earning as little as ¥2.2 million per annum.
- Support: The JET Programme has a nationwide support system for ALTs that tends to vary in utility based on the nature of each case. Private language companies that provide ALTs to BOEs vary in their approaches to supporting ALTs, ranging from a very hands-off approach to an experience more professionally invigorating than the JET Programme. Private ALTs tend to be more experienced and better trained to start, many being ex-JETs. Teacher support and professional development vary with company.
- Workload: The JET Programme typically follows the request of the BOE regarding the workload of each ALT. A frequent issue with JET Programme ALTs is being required to report to a town office or education center when school is not in session. In general, ALTs provided by private language teaching companies do not require ALTs to report to the local BOE on days when school is not in session, although they may be required to attend training or asked to take other work during working time. Typically workload and salary are related, in that lower pay is accompanied by fewer required working days or hours.
- External Work: JET Programme ALTs are generally prohibited from working outside the school. Private companies have differing policies that may or may not allow legal work on the side, however, most tend to either provide supplementary work at their own clients, or allow ALTs to seek extra work if they so choose.
- Contractual Term Limits: JET Programme ALTs have a limited number of years to be contracted, while private companies have no such restriction in most cases. BOEs tend to set the terms of the contract and usually limit it to one year. Larger private companies can guarantee employment indefinitely no matter what the BOE chooses to do regarding individual contracts.
The above list is by no means comprehensive, and some other categories that vary from situation to situation may include: the ability to transfer (both locationally and between positions), evaluation, reward systems, and professional development opportunities.
Alleged Legal Violations by Private Language Teaching Companies as Claimed by the General Workers Union in Japan
In 2005, the Ministry of Education reported at union meetings (shunto) that there are approximately 1500 ALTs from private dispatching companies teaching in Japan. It is difficult to know on the surface whether a company is engaging in illegal contracts with individual schools, because the basis of all contractual law in Japan is the freedom to enter into and dissolve contracts privately.But some shady private language teaching companies offer up their financial and employee records to outside certification services (as with ISO 9000 certification) in an attempt to hide their illegal activities.
Education Law
Some of the contracts that school boards have signed with private language teaching companies are illegal gyomu itaku (service contracts). According to the Japanese Ministry of Education, these contracts violate Japan's General Education Law since the principal must be in charge of all staff at his/her school. However with these contracts, the company is actually in charge - not the principal.The licensed Japanese teacher is normally in charge of junior high school and high school classes regardless of where the ALT originates; however in the case of elementary school classes, the ALT is normally responsible for the entire class, with the Japanese teacher either providing limited input or in some cases not being present in the classroom, and for that reason the continuity of school management is sometimes maintained with the school principal in compliance with any legal requirements, as the product being contracted itself is an abstract, education, and the contract basis for private language teaching corporations is to provide education and educational services.
29.5 Hours per Week
It is common for ALTs to be recruited with job contracts with private language companies such as W5, InteracInterac (Japan)
Interac is a Japanese comprehensive educational consultation company. The name is an acronym for International Education Research and Analysis Corporation...
, Borderlink and WING which stipulates ALT working hours as being 29.5 hours per week. In actuality, working hours usually range from 30 to 40 hours due to the fact that transition times between classes and other brief periods of time throughout the working day are scheduled as breaktimes. Employers often have employees sign such contracts in an effort to avoid paying into the employer based Social Insurance program, or Shakai hoken
Social welfare in Japan
Social welfare, assistance for the ill or otherwise disabled and for the old, has long been provided in Japan by both the government and private companies. Beginning in the 1920s, the government enacted a series of welfare programs, based mainly on European models, to provide medical care and...
. While Social Insurance law states that all regular employees should be enrolled by their employer in Shakai Hoken, companies consistently tell their employees that they are ineligible. Their reasoning is that the 29.5 hours a week working time written into the contracts fall below an erroneous minimum of 3/4 full time necessary for eligibility. The Social Insurance Agency uses the 3/4 of the hours of a similar full-time as a guideline. However, the Japanese government has recent stated that there is, in fact, no minimum legal work time requirement for enrollment in Shakai Hoken. Furthermore, no company would ever be prohibited from enrolling their employees in the Social Insurance program. Some AETs dispatched to the City of Nagoya have a 35 hour work week and are not enrolled in Shakai Hoken, receive no paid sick leave, no paid holidays, no paid vacation leave, and are not enrolled in unemployment insurance. They are only paid for days worked and receive no pay between semesters except for a few training sessions.
Kanagawa Board of Education
In 2006, ALTs in Kanagawa PrefectureKanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
who were previously hired directly as part-time workers rejected the privatization of their jobs to Interac
Interac (Japan)
Interac is a Japanese comprehensive educational consultation company. The name is an acronym for International Education Research and Analysis Corporation...
, a nationwide language services dispatch company, and took the Kanagawa Prefecture Board of Education to the Labour Relations Board where the case is still on-going.
As in many cases, the likely cause of the dissolution of the direct-hire situation draws back to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
Junichiro Koizumi
is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics when his term in parliament ended.Widely seen as a maverick leader of the Liberal Democratic Party , he became known as an economic reformer, focusing on Japan's government debt and the...
who took a hard-line stance on privatization (e.g. Japan Post) and the idea of allowing local governments more flexibility in deciding how to spend their budgets.
Other local Boards of Education
The General Workers Union has been involved with several boards of education in the Kanto area including the Tokyo Board of Education, the Koga Board of Education (in Ibaraki PrefectureIbaraki Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan, located in the Kantō region on the main island of Honshu. The capital is Mito.-History:Ibaraki Prefecture was previously known as Hitachi Province...
) and the Fukaya Board of Education (in Saitama Prefecture
Saitama Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Saitama.This prefecture is part of the Greater Tokyo Area, and most of Saitama's cities can be described as suburbs of Tokyo, to which a large amount of residents commute each day.- History...
). In the case versus the Tokyo Board of Education, the General Workers Union won a decision stating that the directly hired ALTs were indeed legally classified as "workers" (rodosha) and not simply contractors. Further victories were achieved through the private companies that had contracts with the Koga and Fukaya boards of education.
See also
- JET ProgrammeJET Programmeor is a Japanese government initiative that brings college graduates—mostly native speakers of English—to Japan as Assistant Language Teachers and Sports Education Advisors in Japanese kindergartens, elementary, junior high and high schools, or as Coordinators for International Relations in...
- Education in JapanEducation in JapanIn Japan, education is compulsory at the elementary and lower secondary levels. Approximately 98% of all students progress to the upper secondary level, which is voluntary . Most students attend public schools through the lower secondary level, but private education is popular at the upper...
- ExpatriateExpatriateAn expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
- Assistant teacher programme of the Educational Exchange ServiceAssistant teacher programme of the Educational Exchange ServiceA Foreign Language Assistant is an assistant teacher, usually a native speaker, assisting a teacher of modern foreign languages in another country in lessons about the native language of the assistant....
External links
- JET Programme
- Advice for ALTs
- ALT Directory: Mailing list advising English teachers of Boards of Education that hire ALTs directly
- Dispatch Company (in Japanese Wikipedia)
Pro Union Links:
- National Union of General Workers Tokyo South
- Kanagawa ALT protest against privatization
- General Union Interac Branch
Contra Union Links:
Further reading
- David L. McConnell, Importing Diversity: Inside Japan's JET Program (2000)
- Bruce FeilerBruce FeilerBruce Feiler is a popular American writer on faith, family, and finding meaning in everyday life. He is the best-selling author of nine books, including Walking the Bible, Abraham, and America's Prophet, and one of only a handful of writers to have four consecutive New York Times nonfiction...
, Learning to Bow: An American Teacher in a Japanese School (1991), later published as Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan - Eric Sparling Japan Diary: A year on JET (2005)
- Nicholas Klar, My Mother is a Tractor: A Life in Rural Japan (2005)
- David Kootnikoff & David Chandler, Getting Both Feet Wet: Experiences Inside The JET Program (2002)