The International Schools Review Forum

The American School in Japan posts their starting salary on their webpage, but this appears to have gone down by about $20,000 over the past couple of years. Any idea what has happened? Are faculty on two different scales (newer hires versus those who were hired before the decrease)?

Yep, I have heard there are 3 scales. Plus, teachers now pay part of their kids tuition. Not the gold mine of the past.

Possibly:
1) Falling enrolment due to economy, fewer expats being sent to Japan.
2) 2011 earthquake - a lot of students left and maybe numbers are still down.

when i was interviewing there this year, i was told 'every new hire starts at the same salary'. i was shocked. someone with a master's an 15 year's experience gets the same salary as another person with a bachelor's and 3 year's experience. that doesn't seem right.

I haven't been to their site in a while, but I think it's because they are actually paid on a yen scale, but the site summarizes the pay/benefits in USD. And the yen was 80 to the $ a couple years back. The last time I looked it was a bit over 100. 25% decrease.