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The Yomiuri Shimbun, via Yahoo!, has a story about the dark underbelly of ALT dispatch companies as English will become a compulsory subject in the fifth and sixth grades in 2011.

For example, schools have to deal with the constant turnover of ALTs. One BOE member in Saitama related that he is on his 4th ALT quit since April. This revolving door of teachers is not conducive to learning.

A contributing factor to the revolving door are the dispatch companies themselves. The low salaries ALTs receive guarantees they won't be around for very long. A principle in Saitama noted that the dispatch company that won the contract for his school placed a bid that was ¥310,000 per ALT lower than the bids last year.

Figures from the education ministry show that 25% schools use the JETs while the remainder rely on dispatch companies. The principal in Saitama adds that his city has a contract with a dispatch company to provide approximately 20 ALTs to more than 40 elementary, junior, and senior high schools, and knows that the company has cut the salaries, bonuses, or in some cases both, of ALTs who missed half a day due to illness. He says that he will no longer be able to provide quality education if the number of unscrupulous dispatch companies increases.

The increase in dispatch companies took a noticeable leap in 2006 when it was announced that English would be a compulsory subject in elementary schools. But this was when ALTs in the JET Programme were directly hired. An increasing number of school boards now don't want to be bothered with having to hire, house, or find replacement ALTs, which is why they find dispatch companies so appealing.

The problems described in the Yomiuri article are further illustrated in a news special on ALTs. Like their Japanese counterparts, contract teachers have zero job security. Part 1 starts with Lara, who came to Japan to study pottery. She's teaching twice a week, and lucky for her, she is directly employed by her BOE. She is one of the lucky ALTs. She loves her job and the kids like her lessons. Then there are the less fortunate ALTs like Robert, who was summarily fired from his job 5 months before his contract expired. His lunch consists of bean sprouts and a small cut of salmon. He has to pinch his pennies because he hasn't found another job. When he tried to get an answer from his dispatch company as to why he was dismissed, they told him that the BOE wanted a change in ALTs. To illustrate how bad the conditions are, the news program asked a room of parents and students if their ALT had ever changed during a year. They answered, "Yes," with one boy saying he had 7 or 8 different teachers.

In part 2, we're treated to more problems. Eric has no savings and made only ¥112,000 in December and ¥150,000 in January. Although he's been working for 3 years, he's been on 6-month renewal contracts. He hasn't been paying into shakai hoken because his dispatch company told him that since he teaches fewer than 6 hours a day, they can't enroll him. His contract, however, shows that he works 8 hours a day.

His contract with the dispatch company is illegal. The problem is that while the schools are supposed to go through the dispatch company when giving orders or instructions to an ALT, this doesn't happen simply because the ALT is in the school and its easier to give instructions directly. Under the law, the schools should be directly employing ALTs.

A survey done by the news program shows that of the 62 cities they surveyed, 51 BOEs had contracts with dispatch companies. If the education ministry understands that these kinds of contract arrangements are illegal, why are ALTs working under them? The answer comes down to money. The BOEs don't have any, so they look for the cheapest dispatch company. The education ministry, however, appears to have no idea as to how many ALTs are working under this conditions, but plans to investigate.

Comment: The school boards want English to be cheap, fast, and, good but don't realize that they can only pick two of these options in real life. If BOE's want continuity and good lessons, they're going to have to pay for it, but they don't appear to have the budget for this.

The article and the news report illustrate how utterly broken English education is in public schools. Fixing this problem should be straightforward but the BOEs have no money and the education ministry is dragging its feet even though it's aware ALTs are working under illegal contracts.

With NOVA gone, I think it's fair to say that ALT dispatch companies can lay claim to being the worst in the business. They are truly bottom of the barrel.

(video via the General Union)

Update: A subtitled version of the report can be found at Japan Probe.

Yomiuri article

小学英語、外国人の指導助手巡る問題山積

7月28日14時54分配信 読売新聞

２０１１年度から必修化される小学５、６年生の英語の授業について、文部科学省が全国の公立小学校約２万１０００校などを対象に調査を実施したところ、昨年度に小学校で実施された英語授業のうち７割近くで外国語指導助手（ＡＬＴ）が活用されていたことがわかった。

　生の英語を学ぶ機会が定着してきたことが浮き彫りになった形だが、一方では、簡単に授業を投げ出してしまうＡＬＴもいるなど、“質”の問題が浮かび上がっている。

「また辞めるのか」。７月中旬、埼玉県内の市教育委員会の担当者は、業者から米国人ＡＬＴが交代するとの電話連絡を受け、頭を抱えた。４月以降、辞めるのは３人目。１人目は「通勤時間が長い」と小学校に現れず、２人目と３人目は「一身上の都合」などを理由に、１学期の授業だけで、学校から消えた。２学期からは４人目が来る。担当者は「継続性が大事なのにこんなに交代するなんて。児童たちにも説明ができない」と困惑する。

　「人件費を切りつめるから辞めてしまうんだろう」と、埼玉県内のある学校長はうち明ける。この学校のＡＬＴ派遣を請け負った業者は、入札で、昨年の業者に比べてＡＬＴ１人あたり３１万円も安く落札した。

文部科学省によると、ＡＬＴを活用した小学校の授業のうち、国が仲介する「ＪＥＴプログラム」によるものが２５％で、残りは民間業者への委託など。

この市の場合、４０余りの小中学校にＡＬＴ約２０人を派遣する民間業者と契約を結んだが、校長は「風邪で半日休み、給与とボーナスを両方カットされたＡＬＴもいた。なりふり構わぬ業者が増えれば、教育の質は保てなくなる」と危機感を募らせた。

関係者によると、業者の新規参入が目立つようになったのは、小学校英語の必修化が打ち出された０６年ごろから。かつてはＪＥＴプログラムで採用したＡＬＴを自治体が直接雇用するのが主流だった。

しかし、自治体側はＡＬＴが住むアパートを契約したり、交代要員を確保したりしなければならない。民間業者に委託すれば、こうした手続きは不要になるため、業者を活用する自治体が徐々に増えてきた。

The Chunichi Shimbun writes about how Nagoya and Gifu Prefecture are favoring ALTs from private dispatch companies over the goverment-funded JET Programme when it comes to teaching English.