EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT STATUS
Why JALT should take interest in the issues


By Arudou Debito/Dave Aldwinckle (debito@debito.org)
Presented at JALT Hokkaido Annual Language Conference
Sunday, May 20, 2001 10:30 AM

JALT has generally taken a hands-off approach towards employment issues. As seen at the January 2001 EBM, some members strongly believe JALT should take no stance whatsoever on the subject of contract employment or untoward dismissals, as it is either "unrelated to language teaching or pedagogy" or "too political for JALT's new NPO status". However, I will argue in this talk that there is a very real problem out there, and by not doing more, JALT is disservicing its members and missing opportunities.

WHAT PROBLEM?

Employment in Japan for non-Japanese academics and educators has been problematic for over a century. Japan has a long history (cf. Natsume Souseki excluding Lafcadio Hearn from Tokyo U, 1903) of bringing in "foreign instructors" (gaikokujin kyoushi) as temporary imparters of overseas information. While Japanese enjoyed tenure from day one of their hiring, their foreign counterparts specifically received one-year contracts (under a system called ninkisei). It wasn't until 1982 when a second category, "foreign staff" (gaikokujin kyouin), was created with three years between contract renewals. This bifurcated system has created a job market where Japanese academics enjoy lifetime employment, while foreigners can be dismissed--through contract non-renewal--for any reason (such as age, gender, ideological activism, disagreement with supervisor, or simply as a cost-cutting measure). Clearly the potential for employment abuse exists, but over the past decade, as schools saw the need to downsize with the decreasing student population, The Ministry of Education (MoE) played a part. Under administrative guidance in 1992-94, MoE advised all National Universities (kokuritsu daigaku) to dismiss their more senior foreign faculty (i.e. over the age of 35), resulting in 80% of said employees receiving pink slips. In 1997, with the passage of the Sentaku Ninkisei Law, contract employment became an option for Japanese citizens as well, although protest from faculty has prevented most universities from implementing it. The fact still stands that to this day, almost all full-time Japanese academics are in tenured positions, while most full-time foreigners are in contracted, non-tenure track positions, even though all universities were enabled to offer tenure to foreigners as well in 1997. Case in point: A show of hands at just about any JALT gathering will demonstrate most non-Japanese educators are in contract positions, or know someone who is, and a sizable proportion of those will know someone who felt they were unduly dismissed from their position. (Most notably, one reason Thom Simmons is president of JALT is because the president-elect, Dr Jill Robbins, was summarily dismissed from Kansei U in Oct 1999.)

Essentially, what is wrong with contract employment, when visiting professorships are gaining ground in overseas universities? At least ten things:


In sum, there is a very real problem here, one which educators should know about before and after they enter Japan's job market. If JALT is indeed an academic institution concerned for the well-being of its members and the science, can it continue to avoid taking a stance despite the problems mentioned above? This brings us to our next section.

WHY SHOULD JALT GET INVOLVED?

JALT is, at last notice, the largest group of language teachers in Japan, and thus has a vested interest in serving its members and promoting educational quality within Japan. Its explicit educational mission is "to promote excellence and professionalism in language teaching". As I have argued above, ninkisei has been highly detrimental not only to the individual but to the industry, and people should be fully advised about the pitfalls in this hostile job market. Many people come over here believing that foreigners cannot fill tenured posts, simply because their employer insists that there are legal problems with granting them ("civil servants", "visa restrictions", etc.). These are now falsehoods and JALT should advise interested people of this--not only so they can choose the better jobs, but also to encourage the universities to change their ways by making the fairer universities receive more job applicants.

The point is that despite what some may say, employment status is in fact a matter of pedagogy. Without stable positions, where educators can research and educate to their fullest potential, pedagogy suffers. Even under JALT's new NPO status, the alleged aversion to "involvement in political activity" is moot, because a) NPOs do this sort of thing all the time--that is their job by design as groups of concerned activist citizens, and b) other organizations, such as TESOL, are quite comfortable in their public role as being a voice of concern and a publicizer of problems. JALT would do nothing inordinate by helping out.

WHAT CAN JALT DO TO HELP?

Critics decry, "JALT is not a labor union, so leave it out." I feel few of those people know much about labor unions. I am not proposing here that JALT call for general strikes, engage in collective bargaining with employer and employee, or even lobby the MoE. However, JALT presidents past and present have written letters of disapproval on specific cases, and the fact they have felt compelled to either by conscience or mandate shows how compelling the problems are. At this juncture, what JALT can do:

1) Create a "minimum employment standards" list for public display.
2) Create a job center which lists universities which do or do not meet these standards.
3) Entrust the SCOEP Committee with maintaining this list.
4) Formally enpower the JALT President with the mandate to make public statements (ostensibly, it already exists, but it is unnecessarily controversial) on specific cases.
5) Lay the debate to rest at last: Formally state that employment issues also fall under the perview of JALT's mission, and JALT will assist members in finding better employment.

IN CONCLUSION

JALT's membership is falling year upon year: 2500 and still slowly dropping. With my position as an activist within JALT, I get numerous messages saying, "JALT's do-nothingness really turned me off. Glad you are doing something about it." Demand exists, so acting as an information source may in fact increase JALT's appeal. Japan's job market is hardly improving for educators. JALT should help us help it along.



SHORT LIST OF REFERENCES:

  1. _________, Blacklist and Greenlist of Japanese Universities, at www.debito.org/blacklist.html
  2. _________, "NPOs vent their criticisms, offer advice." Japan Times, December 12, 2000, pg. 3, at www.debito.org/japantimes120700.jpg
  3. Aldwinckle, David, "10+ Questions for your Next University Employer", The Language Teacher, July 1999, pp.14-16, at www.debito.org/univquestions.html
  4. Aldwinckle, David, various resources on the Gallagher, Korst, Kumamoto Kendai, and van Dresser Cases at www.debito.org/essays.html#ninkisei
  5. Fox, Michael H., "Employment Discrimination, Foreign Women, and SCOEP", The Language Teacher, May, 2001, pp 14-15
  6. Fox, Shiozawa, and Aldwinckle, "A New System of University Tenure, Remedy or Disease?" The Language Teacher, August, 1999, pp 13-15,18.
  7. Hall, Ivan, Cartels of the Mind. Norton, New York. 1998
  8. JALT Official Stance on Discriminatory Employment Practices: www.debito.org/JALTonsabetsu.html
  9. JALT Standing Committee on Employment Practices (SCOEP), Recommendation 2001, submitted at JALT EBM January 27, 2001. See www.debito.org/SCOEPrecommendation2001.html
  10. Various authors, JALT PALE/HELP SIG Journals 1997-2001, at www.debito.org/PALEJournals.html

ENDS