The Typical High School ALT

As CLAIR is fond of saying, "every ALTs' situation is different." The following is a breakdown of the life of a "typical" senior high ALT in Miyagi Japan. The statistics are based on 45 surveys taken in early February, 1998. While 45 people is not enough for a high degree of accuracy, it's good enough to get a general picture of what's going on. Let's take a look...

The "typical" ALT is scheduled to teach an average of 12 classes per week, actually teaches 11 classes per week and feels that ALTs ought to be teaching 13 classes per week. The highest response for number of scheduled classes per week was 19 and the lowest was 7. The highest response for the number of classes actually taught per week was 19 and the lowest was 3.8. Yes, there are some ALTs who end up teaching five times as much as others do. As stated above, the "typical" ALT ends up teaching 11 classes a week.

As far as the "typical" ALTs time actually spent in the classroom is concerned, 50 percent of it is spent with first-year classes, 35 percent is with second-year classes and 15 percent is with third-year classes.

On a scale of one to five with one being low and five being high, the "typical" ALT rates their school as a 2.8. The "typical" ALT is in a school that they feel is academically slightly below normal.

58 percent of ALTs report that the main teachers’ room at their school is smoke free. As for the remaining 42 percent of ALTs who are forced to work in smoking-permitted offices, slightly less than half aren’t bothered or are able to tolerate the smoke. Slightly more than half of the 42 percent who work in smoke-permitted offices are unhappy about their situations. When asked about how they felt about the smoke, their typical responses included phrases such as "I hate it,” and "There should be a special room." In one case, an ALT has reported having a severe allergic reaction to the low air quality of their work environment that has led to an overall deterioration of their health and impaired their ability to live comfortably even outside the office.

The "typical" ALT is expected to arrive at school at around 8:25 and arrives ten minutes early - at 8:15 or so. The "typical" ALT is expected to be at school until 4:30 and usually goes home at around 4:45.

The "typical" ALT commutes to school as follows: 42.8 percent of the time on foot, 37 percent of the time by bicycle, 12.3 percent by car, 3.2 percent by train, 3.2 percent by bus, and 1.5 percent by scooter. 80 percent of "typical" ALTs have a bicycle. 37 percent have a car. 8.5 percent have a scooter.

When asked if they thought that there ought to be an ALT at their school, 78 percent said yes, 11 percent said maybe and 11 percent said no.

by Andy Krals