Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mrsquirrel]

Right old hands and experienced public school teachers

What are the pros and cons for GEPIK SMOE and any other programs

[Hyeon Een]

From the contracts GEPIC vs SMOE doesn't seem too much different. I know people who've worked for GEPIK but not for SMOE. One of my GEPIK buddies told me that people he knows were really restricted on vacations if they worked in elementary schools but some of the high school guys got like 1 month plus vacation for winter. Elementary got their 14 days or whatever it was and was really strict.

I heard Gangnam program people get lots of money and decent holidays. Lucky them. But it's hard to get in with the program.

I got offered GEPIK, SMOE, a private elementary school and a Uni which would give me free Korean classes.

GEPIK and SMOE were not as good as the other two offers. The private elementary school offered me min 9 weeks vacation but pretty standard deal apart from that. The uni offered me 5 months vacation with free Korean classes (the reason for me going to Seoul)

The pay was about the same in the schools, the Uni was substantially less (1.8 vs 2.3)

I went with the Uni.. with those vacation times I could make up the shortfall in pay with a 2 or 3 week camp a year and still be working less overall hours, with free Korean classes, and not having to be there outside of teaching hours unlike the schools which require you to be there 8 hours a day.

[mrsquirrel]

Good answer.

From what I have read and understood it would appear to come down to location with GIPIK and SMOE - city or the burbs.

Is one going to have a better lifestyle living an hour out of Seoul rather than slap bang in the middle.