ELTs: no fraternization

[thomas]

Nova, the largest English conversation school in Japan, banned dating between foreign teachers and students. Now teachers strike back, supported by the Osaka Bar Association.

NOVA teachers fight ban on associating with students

=> http://www12.mainichi.co.jp/news/mdn.../nova-0-1.html

Nova's ban on dating violates rights: teachers

A teacher and former teacher of Nova Corp. filed a complaint Friday with the Osaka Bar Association claiming their human rights have been violated by the company's policy of banning dating between foreign teachers and students.
The complaint was filed by American Robert Bisom, 59, and a 46-year-old Australian who used to work at a Nova school. The English-language school operator has a clause in its labor contract that says foreign teachers "should not have a relationship with customers outside the workplace," according to the complaint. In the past, there have been two cases in which teachers were fired because they got engaged to their students. The complainants are calling for the clause to be scrapped, arguing it is racial discrimination because it only applies to foreigners. Bisom also filed a complaint with the Osaka Prefecture Regional Labor Relations Commission saying Nova did not grant him a pay raise because he was active in the union.

=> http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/...20030301b8.htm

[jeisan]

i do think that nova policy is bogus, i mean generally the people that you are teaching are adults between 18 and 80, though 80 is very high end most range between 20 and 30. so i see no real reason they wouldnt let teachers fraternize with students, but it is in their hiring contract and says so pretty blatantly. i beleive all of the "big 4"(geos, nova, aeon, and one more i cant remember right now) have the same policy in one way or another. also they dont let the teachers give private lessons, which in most cases, thats where the real money comes from seeing as how all of these schools only pay minimum wage or slightly above. but as the saying goes what they dont know wont hurt them, or in this situation, the teacher. the better idea would be to get a job at a smaller school where they tend to let teachers hang out with students, get sidejobs, and usually have more influence on how they teach a class.