JET Programme

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 added under the "Mombusho English Fellows Program" beginning in 1977. As more countries were included, the programmes were folded into a single entity, the JET Programme, in 1987. It offers university graduates positions for full-time jobs as either an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in elementary and secondary schools, a Sports Exchange Advisor (SEA) whose role is to assist with sports training and the planning of sports related projects, or a Coordinator for International Relations (CIR) in selected local government offices in Japan. 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". The total number of JET participants steadily decreased from a high of 6,273 in 2002 down to 4,330 in 2011 before stabilizing. The number has stayed at somewhat over 4000 since then.

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).

There is an organization called The Association of Japan Exchange and Teaching (AJET) that provides support for the Programme participants and facilitates communication with the JET Programme sponsors. AJET organises events and has a number of publications to assist with teaching in Japan. Some notable publications include Planet Eigo (replacement for Team Taught Pizza) and Foxy Phonics. It should be noted that AJET is not an official JET organization, and it has no official ties with CLAIR.

Application process

1. Applicants must:
2. hold a Bachelor's degree (in any subject);
3. be a citizen of the country where the recruitment and selection procedures take place;
4. have excellent skills in the designated language (both written and spoken). (English or for non-English speaking countries English or the principal language);
5. have a keen interest in the country and culture of Japan;
6. not have lived in Japan for 6 or more years after 2000, nor be a former participant in the programme after 2007.
7. 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.
8. 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, but part of the interview will be conducted in Japanese if the applicant indicated Japanese ability on their application, or if they are a CIR applicant. The interview is normally conducted by a panel of three people, consisting of former JETs and members of Japanese government, embassy, and consulate organizations. The interviews last approximately 20 minutes. Interviewees are then offered a position, rejected, or become "Alternates" (who may participate if positions become available).
9. 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.
10. 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. Air fares are arranged by the programme.

Participants are also required to attend pre-departure and post-arrival orientations as well as annual mid-year conferences, and may attend a returnee conference 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 prohibit contracting beyond three years. Before 2006, participants could only contract for up to three years, with the exception of a few positions.

Participants who began their tenure on the program in 2011 or earlier received a salary of ¥3,600,000 per year after tax. Participants beginning in 2012 or later are paid on a new salary scale: "3.36 million yen for the first appointment, 3.6 million yen for the second appointment, 3.9 million yen for the third appointment, and for those appointed for a fourth and fifth year, 3.96 million yen for each year". Additionally, this salary is pre-tax (as opposed to post-tax prior to 2011), so participants who are liable for income or residential taxes in Japan must pay taxes.

Participants receive paid airfare to and from Japan paid by the Japanese government, and may receive other benefits such as housing subsidies. Participants are generally forbidden to take paid work outside of their Programme duties.

Assistant Language Teacher responsibilities

Participation

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).

Appointment renewal

Some JETs elect to stay for the maximum number of consecutive appointments—a sum of four renewal cycles (from 2007 to 2008) for a total of five years maximum ALT/CIR experience.

Developments

Some JET participants 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. Participants 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. 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 JET participants was extended from three years to five years, subject to certain stipulations. JET participants in their third year are able to re-contract two more times if their work performance, accomplishments and abilities are deemed outstanding by their contracting organization. However, as in most JET matters, the application process is decided upon by the individual contracting organization.

From 2009, it became possible to apply for an April start. 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 Native English-speaking Teacher scheme, which employs about 800 teachers. Korea has also implemented a similar program called EPIK (English Program in Korea).

In May 2010, the JET programme came up for review by the Government Revitalization Unit, the jigyōshiwake budget review panel, due to the need to cut costs given the state of the economy of Japan. However, the subsequent LDP administration of Shinzo Abe in fact announced its likely expansion.

In February 2012, The Japan Times alleged that one contracting Board of Education had fraudulently deducted payments from JET participants and harassed whistle-blowers of the practice.

Notable former participants