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The Dirty Undertaking of Dispatch Companies
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.
Update: A subtitled version of the report can be found at Japan Probe.
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。
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Comments
You pay peanuts...
You pay peanuts you get monkeys.
Simple.
Exactly
The whole language scene in Japan is a joke. If I had my way, I would have the owners of all those dispatch companies rounded up, have them decapitated, and I would shit down their oesophagi.
THORN
Fired from ALT dispatch company due to death of daughter
It's too bad the article didn't cite the story of the ALT that was fired from Interac (ALT dispatch company) because he had to take time off due to his daughter's death.
Make no mistake, ALT dispatch companies are scumbags. BOEs willing to support their scumbag business models and low ethical standards by giving them the business (contracts) are really no better.
Plain Lazy
Even at 310,000 yen a month a BOE could directly hire for 250,000 yen, what interac claim to pay a month if you actually get enough classes. That leaves like 720,000yen to fly the ALT to Japan and back at the end of the contract, cover the wear and tear and depreciation on a small car if neeeded and the rest could be used for recruitment or extra expenses. It seems to me that the BOE's using dispatch companies are just plain lazy. They could easily do it themsleves for the same price and as a result everyone would be better off except of course those bloodsucking dispatch companies.
Direct Hire
I told my Head Japanese English teacher that I would sign a 3 year contract with the city for 20,000 yen less than the BOE was paying a certain Dispatch company if they would direct hire me. He wrote down a bunch of stuff and it went knowhere. Now the city has 8 ALTs and they`re all Filipinos. Not a native speaker in the bunch. The students I knew complained to me bitterly about this. I think the City BOE`s need to wake up and smell the coffee. I also think the local PTA`s need to get involved.
A Real Eye Opener
Wow!!! What a revelation!!! Nobody cares about ALT and other English teachers in Japan???
Once your reduced to only pulling in ¥112,000 a month, it’s really time assess your situation and so called “career”. If you have any ambition, don’t settle in Japan as a ALT. You can be replaced by any westerner with a pulse. Your wage will continue to fall and you have no skill set that will transfer to any other profession.
Stop going to the gaijin bar every over night, save your money and buy a ticket home. Get out while you can.
Luke
After Thought
What kind of sorry, pathetic excuse for a man goes on T.V. to complain the raw deal he’s got as an ALT? Your job description entails singing and chanting 3 word phrases. The jig is up. You’re the English Ronald McDonald and can be replaced tomorrow by any other clown.
Think about your plight. Did you emigrate out of your country to escape a genocide famine, plague? Are you a political refugee, who’s only sanctuary is the isolated Japanese islands? No. You’re a college educated westerner, who found and very easy, while mind numbingly repetitive and boring, simple job that used to pay so-so and allowed you the chance the live in abroad and chase some easy arse, as my U.K. hommies like to say. Not a bad opportunity for some, but it was too good to last forever. Deal with it. Don’t attempt to create a political movement around this. Your are only going to come out looking like a very sorry loser. Quite hiding in Japan and face life like a man.
Luke
They are all scumbags!
There are NO goodguys in this story. They are all scumbags from top to bottom. Everyone involved says it's a shame, too bad, but no one is responsible and no one is doing anything about it. And if the media doesn't keep hounding them then nothing WILL ever be done. Who wins? No one. The BOEs might save a few pesos here and there for their end-of-year parties but that's all. Who loses? The teachers, but anyone stupid enough to accept this arrangement deserves what they get. Oh, and then there are the children. I guess they lose too with a subpar education and bad experiences all around.
A pessimist might even be forgiven for thinking it is some right-wing, nationalistic, isolationist effort to indoctrinate children that foreigners are really jerks. See? They only come for a couple of months and then they are gone. They can't be relied upon or trusted. And so on.
Until there is some sort of oversight, accreditation or monitoring of the eikaiwa industry we will continue reading these horror stories and watching them on TV. Everyone who thought that Nova's collapse would change anything were wrong. Nothing has changed. Maybe the PTA could mobilize all the parents to sue the Education Ministry and the local BOE's for better conditions for the children! That would be a sight to see!
Luke, are you a manager at
Luke, are you a manager at Interac?
But inherent in your
But inherent in your criticism here Luke, is an acceptance that it is perfectly alright for educationalists to assign a bogus role like that to employees. Apart from being not very good for the poor foriegner, it's not much good for anyone else either; not for the kids, the Japanese teacher, the development of the English curriculum as a whole. in short, it's a collosal waste of money. Other people, besides the gaijin in the middle should be complaining about that.
Eikwaiwa/ALT Dispatch Management
HA! The only thing worse than an Eikaiwa teacher with delusions about the importance of their existence and professions, is an Eikwaiwa/ALT dispatch manager. Please do not mistake my remarks for some form of defense for English school companies, or their hopelessly pathetic management staff. They are in every way as despicable as describe throughout this forum. However, those of you working in the industry enable the system. It’s a crappy job, at a crappy company, with crappy required qualifications, so expect to be treated like crap and make crappy money. If it’s worth putting up with the crap, for a given time, to experience Japan, awesome. If not, go home. Do not fool yourself into believing that it’s a sustainable career or that it’s significant enough to develop a political cause that the Japanese public will pay attention to, let alone care about.
I agree the system is
I agree the system is incredibly wasteful and needs a complete overhaul. But 99% of ALTs and the companies they work for do not know anything about systemically transforming a national education curriculum, let alone the dichotomy of teaching second languages.
You would think that people would be concerned about the government spending put into English education and the shockingly low output on performance. But the army of unskilled “tearchers” in Japan really can’t do much about that. In fact if there was a real change, most existing teachers would probably be disqualified, due to lack of skills and experience.
My persoal belief is that the
My persoal belief is that the current malaise is based on problems caused by over-centralisation in the education system. This operates on the belief that it is inherently dangerous and chaos-risking to enpower teachers at the grassroots level to develop and deliver curriculums that suit their circumstances and those of their students at the local level. Therefore the maximum is done to ensure disempowerment, lack of skills, impediments to a focus on teaching and so on. This includes a centrally madated curriculum, with centrally madated methods and delivery timetabling, making sure teachers are heavily preoccupied with administrative matters, frequent surpirse transfers etc. etc.
What have often been outlined as core failings in the eikaiwa industry are in fact faults persistent in the state system as well. However, because this system is taxpayer supported it can't go broke, althoug it can get pretty close to it. It is a mistake, I think, to blame teachers for conditions that are imposed in such a manner as to virtually ensure that most of them have the weaknesses that they do. You might as well say: nobody in their right mind should enter the teaching profession period.
The previous commenter has it
The previous commenter has it right. A mandatory, national curriculum is not helping the students learn English.
The commenter before him is also right. As an AET in Nagoya (one of the lowest paying of all places to have this job), I can tell you that most of my coworkers have no teaching qualifications at all, nor experience. Still, the demands of the work shouldn`t require a four year degree in English, linguistics or education. Part of the problem is that the dispatch companies, which are legally obligated to train the ALTs, have no business incentive to spend money on any but the most perfunctory training. So when the dispatch companies send out fresh college grads with no training and no formal English education, then small wonder the public schools get poor results.
The dispatch companies simply should not exist at all. They are a drain on society and amount to little but a squandering of the People`s taxes.
(when i said `no formal
(when i said `no formal English education` i meant to say `no qualifications in English education`.
"What kind of sorry, pathetic
"What kind of sorry, pathetic excuse for a man goes on T.V. to complain the raw deal he’s got as an ALT? Your job description entails singing and chanting 3 word phrases. The jig is up. You’re the English Ronald McDonald and can be replaced tomorrow by any other clown."
Speak for yourself Luke. I worked 40 plus hours a week, creating my own lesson plans, sometimes teaching classes on my own if the teacher was called away in an emergency just like any other teacher. If that is the way you teach, maybe you just aren't trying hard enough.
"Think about your plight. Did you emigrate out of your country to escape a genocide famine, plague? Are you a political refugee, who’s only sanctuary is the isolated Japanese islands? No."
None of this is relevant to the fact that Japanese companies (and sometimes the BoEs) are breaking Japanese laws and the only reasons they change is because they are forced to do so.
"You’re a college educated westerner, who found and very easy, while mind numbingly repetitive and boring, simple job that used to pay so-so and allowed you the chance the live in abroad and chase some easy arse, as my U.K. hommies like to say. Not a bad opportunity for some, but it was too good to last forever."
Again, I think you are projecting here. My job was never boring, but then again, neither am I... If your job was easy, then it might be that you just aren't all that creative...
Deal with it.
Good advice, I did deal with it. I joined the Interac Union and forced the BoE to hire their ALTs directly by taking the exposing the illegal contracts to the labor standards office. Matsubara, one of the cities in the video, is now Interac free and the ALTs are all doing much better than they were under Interac. This only happened because I "dealt" with it...
Don’t attempt to create a political movement around this. Your are only going to come out looking like a very sorry loser. Quite hiding in Japan and face life like a man.
Labor unions are not the same as political movements, and the positive impact I have had on the education system is documented in that I have helped to liberate several school boards and win a settlement for someone who was fired illegally. What have you done to improve the situation here in Japan? It sounds like you haven't done anything but take up space here. Good luck with that...
A "sorry, pathetic excuse for a man" that went on TV to try to make a difference,
Erich
http://interacunion.org/
Problems about ALTs in Chiba
Our dispatch company were hiring ALTs under disguised contracts for 3 years, now the dispatch company lost the bids and are laying off 20 teachers.
1.Until the new school year starts, we will demand direct contract
Heart corporation who won the bid will make their temp ALTs work under bad conditions, hourly wages(no salary during Summer vacation),no employment insurance, and also without social insurance.
We willl speak to our city again by pointing out 1.disguised contract worker is considered as "illegal dispatch(temp) staff"therefore, our city cannot use temp staffs anymore as it's been 3years already since they started to use illegal dispatch(temp)staff.(Temp staff can be used maximum of 3years under Japanese labor law)
2.We will demand to the city to provide direct contract for those who have been working for Kashiwa city as ALT.
Also we will demand our city to cancel the contract with Heart Corporation in case they violate Labor Standard Law(they seem like they are violating the law as they are not providing Social insurance or any related insuranc es to their ALTs)
We will also demand to Heart Corporation to cancel the contract.
For this action, we will invite numbers of groups including citizens' groups.
2.Even the school year starts, we still demand direct contract
Demanding direct contract is a legitimate demand as we are losing our job because our city was using illegal dispatch(temp)staffs. We will demand Chiba labor bureau, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Education in order to realize our demand.
Our dispatch company were
Our dispatch company were hiring ALTs under disguised contracts for 3 years, now the dispatch company lost the bids and are laying off 20 teachers...
..We will demand to the city to provide direct contract for those who have been working for Kashiwa city as ALT.
best of luck to you!
Good Luck!
I wish you the best of luck. This can be a long fight, do not get discouraged if you do not get immediate results. In the Matsubara case they actually stalled for a year, refusing to hire ALTs in hopes that the union would just go away.
Let us know if we can help!
Solidarity
http://interacunion.org/
Help? You mean like the Nova
Help? You mean like the Nova union 'helped'? Yeah, right.
On ya Erich, sounds like Luke
On ya Erich, sounds like Luke is hating on himself a bit there. Perhaps he thought we all came over for only the same reasons he did. Some of us actually find the teaching part satisfying too.
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