Is it possible for foreigners to work as a public school teacher in Japan continuously even after the expiration of ALT program?

Unfortunately, there is no way you can “formally” become a teacher in a public school in Japan. This is the answer to the question of the title of this article.

There are roughly two employment patterns except for school janitor and school doctor, which are a temporary teacher and full-time (formal) teacher.

A temporary teacher is a teacher in a temporary position to be hired within a limited period under the condition that an applicant has a teacher’s certificate.

A full-time teacher is a teacher in a full-time position to be hired permanently after an applicant passes the examination for a public school’s teacher recruitment.

To be hired as a full-time teacher in public school, applicants need to pass two different examinations, an examination for teacher’s certification held by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and an examination for a public school’s teacher recruitment held by a municipality.

A temporary position is, so to speak, substitute position of teachers on sick leave or on maternity leave in many cases. It is mostly a position for a person who failed examination for a public school’s teacher recruitment to somehow survive until winning regular employment after passing the examination.

Let’s figure out if foreigners in Japan can work in a public school in Japan.

Is it possible for foreigners in Japan to be a teacher in a public school in Japan?

Is it possible for foreigners in Japan to be a teacher in a public school in Japan?

This answer to this question is “YES”. But you cannot become a full-time teacher in Japan. Let’s see recruitment ads for a public high school for foreigners in Japan.

This is one recruitment page of a public high school located in Hiroshima. The is recruitment information for a temporary position.

Teaching experience, professionalism towards the subject an applicant may teach students are generally required as collateral conditions which an applicant need to have.

But what I want you to focus on is a teacher’s certificate. Your country’s certificate is passable enough to be accepted as a temporary teacher in Japan.

Then, you naturally come up with a question of “if foreigner’s applicant can apply for a position of full-time teacher”. I will explain this in the next section.

Can a foreigner get a position of full-time teacher in a Japanese public school?

Currently, an applicant must pass an examination for a public school’s teacher recruitment held by an educational committee of the municipality as I told above.

The eligibility requirements for examination naturally requires applicants to have a prescribed teacher’s certificate regulated by the Education Personnel Certification Act and requires applicants not to correspond to teacher’s disqualification regulated by School Education Act, article 9.

By the way, not holding Japanese nationality is not mentioned as one teacher’s disqualification and refusal in the current education law. Therefore, the foreigners have the eligibility requirements for examination for a public school’s teacher recruitment legally.

However, from the standpoint of the Minister of Education, working in public school is equal to working as a Japanese public servant. An applicant who can assume the position of an official teacher of a public school in Japan needs to have Japanese nationality.

For official teachers, joining in the intention formation of school management operated by the principal is one of the important duties they must do. Public teacher’s behavior code is based on the doctrine of public servant legal standard. For that reason, the right to work as a public servant cannot be given to the person who doesn’t have the Japanese nationality.

What happens if a foreigner passes the examination for a public school’s teacher recruitment?

Even if you pass the exam, the prepared position by a public school you work for is still “a temporary teacher”.

Considering if all your effort to pass the exam pays off, it is way smarter for you to make the most of your country’s teaching certificate to be hired by a Japanese public school as a temporary teacher.

In the first place, I don’t have a teacher’s certificate even in my country. What should I do?

There are so many ALT teachers in public schools all over Japan nowadays. Qualifications of candidacy for an ALT screening don’t contain the condition that applicants shall get a teacher’s certificate in the native country.

For that reason, not a few ALT teachers working in public schools in Japan don’t have a teacher’s certificate.

The contract term of ALT is principally fixed as one year. However, if a municipality that accepts the ALT program agree to your contract renewal, you will be continuously given the position to work as an ALT teacher but the maximum term that you can take an active part in an ALT teacher including contract renewal term is 5 years.

If ALT teachers lose legal backing of the JET program to the present position guaranteed as an ALT teacher because of the program expiration, they need to pass the examination of teaching certificate if they want to continuously work for Japanese public schools and even if their desiring position is a temporary teacher.

Is it possible for foreigners to get a teaching certificate in Japan?

You need to go to a Japanese university

It is possible, but it is a really tough way to move on because the first step you need to take is going to a Japanese educational university that provides a teacher training course.

You might try to find another way to get a teaching certificate in Japan without going to a university but unfortunately, the eligibility for the teaching certification exam is only given to a person who earns necessary credits in a teacher training course provided by each university.

Admission requirements for foreigners in Japan

According to the Japan Student Services Organization,

The eligibility of admission of universities in Japan is given to a foreigner who already completed a 12-year curriculum in an educational institution including compulsory education from elementary school to high school

An applicant from the country whose total education curriculum term is less than 12 years, who graduated from a school equivalent to Japanese high school, shall complete the preparatory training course designated by the Minister of Education in order to go to a Japanese university and an applicant shall be 18 years old or older.

An applicant aged 18 with an international baccalaureate degree and Abitur degree has eligible to go to a Japanese university.

Link to the Japan Student Services Organization

The standard conditions that Japanese universities set generally for foreigner’s official admission is the followings.

Here is information about Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students

However, admission requirements are really different depending on the university. You just make sure the website of the university or make an inquiry directly to the university about the admission requirements.

As one example of admission requirements for foreigners, the followings are the admission information of Yokohama National University down below.

Admission eligibility of Yokohama National University (example)

Available departments that foreigners can apply for as of 2019

The following available department that foreign applicants can apply for

Department	Explanation
Cultural Creation	This major seeks those who aspire to create the cities we will live in now and in the future through cutting- edge contemporary art, contemporary media practices, and pop culture. Students are expected to have a multicultural outlook and rich artistic sensibility. In this major, they will study a variety of old and new media including literature, film, and sound.
Urban Social Management	This major seeks those who aspire to solve diverse urban issues related to economic activity, management, and multi-culturalism. Students are expected to have an appreciation of other cultures as well as an understanding of historical legacies. In this major, they will develop a systematic understanding of our global contemporary society.
Urban Creative Technologies	This major seeks those who aspire to tackle diverse urban problems through a comprehensive understanding of the natural and human forces exerting changes upon the urban environment as well as a comprehensive mastery of high level ICT and engineering skills. Students will engage in topics related to the basic sciences and engineering, topics associated with prospective elements of industry and daily life under the concept of livable and sustainable cities.

Application guidance of Yokohama National university for 2019

Here is a link to a pdf explaining the application requirements.

These departments seem to have nothing to do with teacher training…..?

Foreigner’s entering university as an official admission is not really in general in Japan in contrast to exchange students. As a matter of convenience, I quoted information on the website of Yokohama National University that has a proactive attitude towards accepting officially foreign students.

There might be a university of education that accepts foreigners as an official student. However, little information about foreign applicants’ official admission is provided by a university of education on the internet in Japanese. Most of the universities in Japan never assume that there will be foreign students to take the exam for a teaching certificate in Japan so even if they have the program, they don’t disclose the information publicly.

It is impossible to get a chance to take the exam of a teaching certificate in Japan if I belong to another department but a department of education in a Japanese university, isn’t it?

No, not at all. Even if you belong to a department that has nothing to do with “education”, you should only take a teacher training course additionally while you belong to the present department.

According to the list of the universities that has a teacher training course, provided by the MEXT in 2017, Yokohama National University is included in the list even though the university is not specialized in “Education”. Prior to getting a teaching certificate, you don’t necessarily need to choose “a university of education”. But you have to make sure if the university you choose has a teacher training course in advance.

Conclusion

The decision if you become a public school teacher in Japan originally need to be made before you enter a university or a college in your country. A teaching certificate that you can acquire through 4-year education in a university is, so to speak, a passport to get into the education industry in Japan. This is the essential qualification to make a career path as a public school teacher in Japan.

It is often the case that ALT teachers come to realize their desires to work as a public school teacher after they realized the enjoyment of teaching kids in Japan during their stay in Japan but also realize they don’t have a teaching qualification.

If you really want to work as a teacher in a public school and other educational institutions in Japan, as of being aware that you don’t have a teaching qualification, put yourself into action that you try to know how far it is from the current situation to become what you really want to be and how you can make a life plan to realize your dream.

If you make a family in Japan, you will be bound by various things to support your family’s living. You have to move as early as possible before you shoulder your burden of increasing inconvenience given by getting older.