The International Schools Review Forum

We are looking at Tokyo/Yokohama for 2016 and based on recent reviews, some major IB schools have taken a serious beating. Apart from YIS, what are some better paying/treating IB schools?

It is a myth that Yokohama is a great school. The package is good yes, but it is a small school with cramped and limited facilities. A teacher who I recently met who works there was surprised when I suggested it is at the top of many teachers' lists of places they want to work.

Tokyo/Yokohama doesn't really have great schools. It has good schools. Some people say ASIJ is great but having visited there recently it is beginning to show its age. I think most teachers only look as far as the salary when deciding a school is top tier.

Thanks, pgrass. Am I looking at the wrong region? How about Nagoya and Osaka?

While it's true there are a lot of good schools in Tokyo/Yokohama, many of them are not IB.

The better schools (with everyone having their own opinion) in Tokyo/Yokohama is probably: ASIJ, St Marys, YIS, Nishimashi, St Maur's, BIST, TIS & Seisen.

From memory, only YIS & TIS is fully IB. TIS is only up to Grade 8.

Other strong IB schools in Japan include: Nagoya IS, Osaka Senri & Canadian Academy Kobe. Out of these three - Canadian Academy is probably the strongest and has the best facilities out of the IB schools in Japan.

While it is true YIS has cramped facilities, they tend to have good facilities for what the space allows. They also have a strong IT program compared to most schools as well. They also spend money on their facilities such as buying 3D printers, lab equipment , iPads, band equipment, lego robotics etc....

TIS is a good school but has the limits of stopping in Grade 8. I've spoken to some people who have worked there and they seem happy and people very rarely move.

This is probably true for most of the better schools in Japan. Because it's Japan, people don't really leave so when a position becomes available the schools can often cherry pick much more than most other schools. The deappreciation of the yen has however made a large dent in what used to be strong pay packets that were found in Japan. Just note that taxes are slowly increasing and often there is huge setup costs compared to other countries - but ironically it's not the expensive once you set up.

@sciteach
Thank you for the detailed response.

What ever criticisms you have of YIS or ASIJ they are the elite ISs in JP. Japan is a high desire region, even lower tier schools can be selective because everyone wants to work their and the ESOL market has lots of fully qualified teachers who want to transition to an IS, and they are local.
Most IB schools in JP are local domestic schools with an IB program or international academy within their organization.

The entire education and IE market in JP is very flat. Elite tier schools offer enviable packages. Below that the landscape of compensation packages is very similar. 1st tier ISs offer a relocation package and about 50K¥ more in salary than 2nd tier ISs. Second tier schools offer a salary in the 300K¥/month range and a flight. Third tier schools are no different in regards to package than Language schools, salary in the high 200K¥/month range, local transportation allowance and insurance contribution.

In Tokyo I think any of the IB schools (which someone listed out for you) are going to be decent places to work. Of course things like personality clashes etc mean a school might not be great for you but in terms of treating teachers ok, having liveable packages etc all of the major schools are pretty good. Unlike some regions of the world (places like China and ME spring to mind) there's nothing super dodgy going on in any of the schools.

I know there have been some upheavals lately and I know some people are less than happy so it doesn't surprise me that there are negative reviews (I'm not a member so I can't read them) but I'd still say any of those main schools can be pretty happy places to work if you've got the right attitude.

There are bottom third tier IB schools in Tokyo and elsewhere.