Is NIS the Right Fit?

Choosing your next (first?) overseas assignment can be daunting. With practically every country in the world to choose from, and with a myriad different types of schools advertising positions in those countries, your choice of school is always a blend of the professional and personal. You will be seeking a school that will help you grow as an educator, but in a culture and context that is right for you and your family. The purpose of this page is to help you answer some of the questions you may have about whether or not NIS is the right school for you.

The positives of our community are many, and that is why several staff members have made Nagoya their home. Hopefully from the rest of our website you have got a sense of the professional rewards of working here – a wonderful student body, a school with a vision for being the best it can be in the name of the students it serves, and the opportunity to be a part of building the journey towards that vision. Viewing what recent incoming teachers say about NIS HERE will give you a good sense of what it is like to join our community, and viewing the standards for teachers and leaders HERE will help you understand the kind of educator we believe will be best suited to helping us get there.

You also are advised to read the Japan ‘Tips for Teachers’ document (downloadable HERE). Although this was developed by our staff several years ago, most of it is still highly relevant and helps you get a solid sense of what life may be like living here.

Although there is much more information available in the above mentioned documents, before considering whether or not NIS is right for you, please be aware of the following:

• Teaching positions require a minimum of a bachelor degree, a valid teaching certification and two years’ experience (as a qualified full time teacher) in a school system/curriculum similar to NIS. We regret we cannot consider teacher applications that fall short of this minimum expectation.
• Internship positions require a minimum of a BA. A teaching certification is preferred but not required
• NIS has a clear vision as to where we seek to be and is building towards this. Some educators work best as ‘builders’, others prefer to come in when the system is built and work as ‘smooth operators’. At this point in the school’s journey, the ‘builders’ will probably be the happier at NIS!
• NIS is a smoke-free campus.
• NIS is most easily accessed by car. Taxis are costly & not easy to find on the street, and the local area is not conducive to public transport. The good news is that driving in Japan is easy and safe so a posting here is suited to staff with a driving license (car/scooter) and/or a passion for cycling up hills in hot/cold weather!
• Childcare is very difficult for non-Japanese speakers in Nagoya. This will not be a good fit if you have children below school age.
• The NIS package will allow teaching couples and single teachers to live comfortably. However, Japan is a first world country with a relatively high cost of living and so this is not a good posting for single wage earners with several dependents. In particular, dependent children will create an additional tax burden for you since, even though the tuition fee is waived for staff, this is classed as taxable income by the Japanese tax authorities.
• NIS is a community school based in a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Nagoya. This is great if you enjoy living a suburban life (i.e. near a big city but in a quieter neighborhood and with easy access to the countryside/mountains on weekends). However, if you are looking to live in a buzzing metropolis and are most at home in downtown New York, Shanghai, Paris or Rio, this is probably not a good fit! Some staff do live in the downtown area and bus/drive in – but you will need to be comfortable with a long commute!

If, having digested all this, NIS still feels right to you - and we hope it does - please keep checking for job openings and send in your application to headofschool@nis.ac.jp. Applications should initially be in the form of a simple letter and CV. Should NIS feel that this is a potential fit, you will be invited to apply using our formal application form.

Thank you for considering NIS!