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JET Programme

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This article is about the Japanese government initiative. For the Joint European Torus, see Joint European Torus.

The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (外国語青年招致事業, Gaikokugo Seinen Shōchi Jigyō) or JET Programme (JETプログラム, Jetto Puroguramu) is a Japanese government initiative that brings college (university) graduates—mostly native speakers of English—to Japan as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) and Sports Education Advisors (SEAs) in real Japanese elementary, junior high and high schools, or as Coordinators for International Relations (CIRs) in local governments and boards of education. JET Programme participants are collectively called JETs.

Participants currently come from a total of 36 countries. As of July 1, 2009, 4,436 participants[1] (in CIR, ALT, and SEA positions) were employed on the programme, making it the world's largest exchange teaching programme. Of that number, about half are from the United States (2,537), with Canada (481), Britain (390), Australia (272), New Zealand (194), South Africa (102) and Ireland (96) for ALTS as well as China (74) and Korea (58) mostly CIRs, making up most of the remainder[2]. Holders of Japanese passports may participate in the programme, but must renounce their Japanese citizenship to do so. In principle, participants should be under 40 years of age when hired. The focus of the program is on English language learning and teaching, so about 90% of the participants on the programme are ALTs; the remaining 10% are divided between CIRs and SEAs. The number of alumni totals over 53,000 from 54 different countries.

History and aims of the programme

The English Teaching Recruitment Programme was started in 1978 and initially was exclusively for British university graduates. This programme became known as the "British English Teachers Scheme." American teaching assistants were later added under the "Mombusho English Fellows Program." As more countries were included, the programmes were folded into a single entity, the JET Programme, in 1987. Its aims were revised to "increase mutual understanding between the people of Japan and the people of other nations, to promote internationalisation in Japan's local communities by helping to improve foreign language education, and to develop international exchange at the community level." In 2004, the JET programme welcomed 6,103 participants from 41 countries. As of November 3, 2009, there are 4,436 participants (366 CIRs, 4,063 ALTs, and 7 SEAs). The total number of JET participants has decreased by an average of 333 people per year since 2004. [3]

Administrative details

The programme is run by three ministries: the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in conjunction with local authorities. The programme is administered by CLAIR (the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations), and has an annual budget of over 45 billion yen (US$400 million).

Application process

  1. One must:
    • hold a Bachelor's degree (in any subject);
    • be a citizen of the country where the recruitment and selection procedures take place;
    • have excellent skills in the designated language (both written and spoken). (English or for non-English speaking countries English or the principal language);
    • have a keen interest in the country and culture of Japan;
    • in principle, be under 40 years of age;
    • not have lived in Japan for 6 or more years after 2000, nor be a former participant in the programme after 2007.[4]
  2. Prospective participants must submit a detailed application including a statement of purpose and self-reported medical form, usually in November or December of the year before their departure.
  3. Those who pass stage one of the process are invited to interviews which are conducted in major cities, usually in February. Although applications are accepted from people living in Japan, there are no interviews offered in-country. Applicants must interview in their home country. Interviews are conducted in English or in the language of applicant's country and, in some cases, in Japanese, by JET alumni, embassy or consulate representatives and people from the business community. Interviewees are then offered a position, rejected, or become "Alternates" (who may participate if positions become available).
  4. Once offered a position, applicants must formally submit their acceptance or rejection of the offer. In addition, they must provide the results of a recent physical examination, performed by a physician within the last three months. Finally, they must submit detailed contact information so that the programme can send them materials and information as the departure date draws nearer.
  5. Participants usually learn of their placement details during May through July just before their departure date of very late July (Group A) or very early August (Group B). Alternates may receive very short notice, sometimes only a few weeks, if a placement becomes available. A small group of alternates usually arrives together in late August (Group C) and other individual alternates arrive at other times throughout the fall. It should be noted that applicants who withdraw from the program after receiving placement notification are ineligible to reapply the following year. Applicants are required to depart in a group from the city in which they were interviewed, although rare exceptions are made. This is usually the Japanese embassy or consulate that serves the applicant's home town, though it could theoretically be any site in the same country that the applicant submits on his or her application. Airfare is arranged by the programme.

Participants are also required to attend pre-departure and post-arrival orientations as well as conferences, including mid-year conferences and returnee conferences, during their tenure.

Participants are placed with a local authority in Japan (the Contracting Organization) which is the employer. There are 47 prefectural governments and 12 city governments, as well as numerous individual city, town and village governments and some private schools designated as Contracting Organisations. While applicants can specify up to three preferred locations, and can request urban, semi-rural or rural placements, they may be placed anywhere in Japan, and placements may not match requests.

Participants sign a one-year contract, which can be renewed up to four times, for a maximum of five years. Some contracting organizations offer the option of contracting for a total of five years, although some contracting organizations strictly prohibit contracting beyond three years. Often the application for a fourth year is a rigorous process, including an essay and interview in Japanese detailing why the participant feels they should be allowed to continue in their position. Before 2006, participants could only contract for up to three years, with the exception of a few positions.

Participants receive 3,600,000 yen per year.[5] In addition to this, participants may receive housing subsidies or other benefits including paid airfare to and from Japan, and city taxes paid by the Japanese government. Participants are generally forbidden to take paid work outside of their Programme duties.

Participation

Number of participants by Country and Year - as of July 1, 2009[6]
Year United States United Kingdom Australia New Zealand Canada Republic of Ireland others Total
1987 592 150 83 23 0 0 0 848
1988 871 248 143 34 127 20 0 1443
1989 1090 370 146 43 290 36 12 1336
1990 1249 396 145 71 366 121 16 2284
1991 1545 488 142 130 488 45 36 2874
1992 1710 596 182 165 586 44 42 3325
1993 1898 686 219 198 656 59 69 3785
1994 2180 729 242 200 685 60 89 4185
1995 2411 819 274 201 723 69 132 4629
1996 2599 920 299 213 761 72 169 5033
1997 2583 1033 338 225 854 88 226 5347
1998 2613 1128 355 255 873 93 360 5677
1999 2560 1183 407 306 900 95 374 5825
1999 2873 916 420 320 778 121 425 5853
2000 2514 1320 417 370 998 99 360 6078
2001 2477 1405 417 371 1057 95 368 6190
2002 2669 1287 447 397 991 99 383 6273
2003 2729 1215 438 375 981 109 379 6226
2004 2841 1060 431 345 894 132 400 6103
2005 2873 916 420 320 778 121 425 5853
2006 2879 717 387 284 685 114 442 5508
2007 2808 577 316 242 618 95 483 5119
2008 2681 440 287 208 529 78 459 4682
2009 2537 390 272 194 481 96 466 4436

This table shows the number of participants per year, per country. The number includes both new participants and participants who are continuing for another year (recontracting participants).

Recontracting

Many JETs have elected to stay for the maximum number of contracts - a sum of four recontracting cycles (from 2007–2008) for a total of 5 years maximum ALT/CIR experience. Many stay even beyond this time because JETs are then sometimes privately hired by their contracting organizations when their tenure is finished, or take on other positions elsewhere.

Developments

Some JETs in recent years have been placed in elementary schools, reflecting MEXT's plan to raise the English ability of Japanese students. Some contracting organizations go further and have ALTs periodically work with kindergarten students teaching basic English vocabulary through games and activities. This also brings them exposure to non-Japanese people. JETs occasionally also teach in special schools.

Several prefectures have opted out of the JET Programme in recent years. Some hire individuals directly through advertising or word of recommendation while others use an intermediary dispatch company - usually one of the big English schools such as Heart, Interac or Altia.[7] While direct-hired employees may obtain working conditions similar to the JET Programme; those employed by dispatch companies often have very different working contracts—unpaid holidays or pay-by-the-day contracts are not uncommon. Some dispatch methods used by certain Boards of Education have even been declared illegal by Japanese labor standards authorities (see Assistant Language Teacher).

From 2007, the possible stay for some JETs has been extended from three years to five years, subject to certain stipulations. A JET participants in their third year is able to re-contract two more times if their work performance, accomplishments and abilities are deemed outstanding by their Contracting Organization.[8] However, as in most JET matters, the application process is decided upon by the individual contracting organization.

From 2009, it is possible to apply for an April start[9]. This option does not exclude the applicant from being considered from the traditional August start. Successful applicants starting in April are notified in early March (this notice includes their placement). The April start is in line with the start of the Japanese School year.

Since 1998, the Hong Kong government has operated a similar program, known as the NET (Native English Teacher) Scheme.[10] Korea has also implemented a similar program. [11]

Notable former JET participants

  • Bruce Feiler, American writer and TV host, author of Learning to Bow
  • Will Ferguson, Canadian writer, author of Hitching Rides with Buddha (a.k.a. Hokkaido Highway Blues)
  • Yuri Lowenthal, American actor
  • Paul Lynch, British diplomat
  • Ggreg Snyder, American actor and pop culturist
  • Chuck Thompson, American travel writer and author of Smile When You're Lying
  • Brad Warner, Soto Zen Buddhist monk, musician, and author of Hardcore Zen
  • Aaron Woolfolk, American film director, screenwriter and producer.

See also

References

  1. ^ Participants Publications: As of July 1 2009
  2. ^ Participants Publications: As of July 1 2009
  3. ^ [1] Participant Numbers as of July 1, 2009
  4. ^ Official Homepage of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme
  5. ^ Official Homepage of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme
  6. ^ Participants Publications: (as of July 1 of 1987) and (as of July 1, 2009)
  7. ^ JET-Programme.com
  8. ^ http://www.jetprogramme.org/e/current/pubs/gih.html CLAIR General Information Handbook
  9. ^ 2010 Application instruction pack
  10. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_English-speaking_Teacher_scheme
  11. ^ http://www.epik.go.kr/

Further reading

  • Nicholas Klar, My Mother is a Tractor: A Life in Rural Japan (2005)
  • Eric Sparling Japan Diary: A year on JET (2005)
  • David Kootnikoff & David Chandler, Getting Both Feet Wet: Experiences Inside The JET Program (2002)
  • Richard Kramer, When the Butterfly Stings (2002)
  • David L. McConnell, Importing Diversity: Inside Japan's JET Program (2000)
  • Bruce Feiler, Learning to Bow: An American Teacher in a Japanese School (1991), later published as Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan

Official Sites

Other Sites

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