What’s good about
the NET job?
There is so much good about our jobs. With little power comes little responsibility. We get paid more than many of us made in our home countries. We have great holidays. We are not required to give tests or do grading. We don’t need to go on field trips or school trips or attend meetings. Plus, we get twenty days of paid annual vacation! I’ll see you at Murphy’s or The Balabushka for Happy Hour!
What’s bad about
the NET job?
NET teachers wishing to
stay in Osaka, raise a family, and teach English, will need to look for another
job. During a NET meeting, look
around you, most (60%) of those teachers will not be there in three years. If it were not for OFSET union, the
working conditions would be bad too.
What’s the reality
of the NET job?
The reality is harsh. The Osaka Fu Board of Education currently offers no incentives to make a career teaching English in Osaka public schools.
The limitations and frustrations start to sink in after two or three years. The questions with no easy answers start to pile up:
1. Why is it that 20% of
the NETs leave every year for the past six years?
2. Why are JETs, who are
typically young unmarried recent college graduates, with less experience, less knowledge of Japanese, and less dedication (in terms of living permanently in
Japan), paid more than we are?
3. Why do NETs, with up to
15 years of experience, make less than half of their Japanese counterparts?
4. Why have NETs had no salary increase in more than ten years?
5. Why are contracts still
only for one year?
6. Why is there no
permanent budget for NETs after 16 years?
7. Why do NETs not get a salary bonus but Japanese teachers do?
8. Why can’t NET teachers
have more responsibility for more pay?
9. Write your own: Why ___________________________________________?
What can I do about it?
All NET teachers, join OFSET and negotiate for two things.
1. Make sure the NET program does not get worse; we could all lose our jobs if the budget is cut.
2. Negotiate for incentives to help good teachers stay longer with more responsibility.