Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lastat06513]

You know, there are many people in Korea who are complaining about the caliber of professionalism that ETs/FTs show either in the classroom, staffroom or within society as a whole.
There are alot of people who claim that much of it has to do with the somewhat "lax" reglations governing the distribution of teaching visas to foreigners wanting to teach English (be it ESL or EFL) in Korea.
But I think that the burden of proof that the people being hired are qualified, experienced or meet the requirements for visas should lie on the shoulders of the schools themselves.
True, Korea has a minor shortage of "qualified" ETs/FTs, but that doesn't mean the school can or should hire any tom, john or harry who comes off the street and claims to be teachers. The school themselves should be the ones who should contact the candidates university to verify their attendance,who should review the credentials presented for the job, and who should be held accountable for the person's conduct (in school as well as outside of school).
I say this because Japan and China have very relaxed regulations governing the issuance of visas for teachers because they put the responsibility of selecting the appropriate teacher not on the immigration officers screening the documents, but the school that wishes to hire them and put alot of trust on the schools to find the most qualified person to hold the visa.
True, these places have their share of problems, but not as bad or as vocal as the problems faced in Korea.


My question is why?

[jmbran11]

This is ridiculous. If you put the "burden" on schools, they simply wouldn't do it. It's much easier to just lie about a teacher's qualifications to parents than it is to actually find an extremely qualified teacher from and impressive school who is willing to teach at at hogwan.

[some waygug-in]

The question then becomes, "Why would anyone with decent qualifications teach at a hagwan, when there are far better jobs open to them.?"

Hagwans can't get good teachers because they aren't willing to pay for them. It's as simple as that.
And on top of that, from what I've seen in my 5 years + in Korea, hagwans don't want good teachers, they want yes men/women and brown-nosers who will bend to every whim the idiot Wanjong an nimnida
comes up with.

I can't say public schools are much better, but at least I get paid regularly and get all the benifits I was promised. I've yet to find a hagwan that lives up to its promises.

[lastat06513]

Gentlemen....
Where in my post did I mention the type of institute or school?
When I used the word "school", I meant both public and private. In China and Japan, they have departments within the school (in china, it is the foreign affairs officer [FAO] who is tasked with investigating the qualifications) or people who specialize in investigating the qualifications and credentials of the potential teaching candidate, than after the verification process, they would send all the paperwork to the immigration office for the appropriate visa.
Korea is following in the way of Taiwan right now; they had a tremendous problem with people with fake qualifications that they just take people with teaching lisenses from their native countries, which leaves a huge shortage of teachers on the island.
With the way many people complain about Korea, I feel the place will have a tremendous shortage of teachers in the long run. True, Korea can find teachers to teach for the short term, but with the conditions and salaries being paid now, if they keep them "standard", Korea will find it hard to find people for the long term.
Which is something both China and Japan don't have a problem with....go figure

[some waygug-in]

Korea will never run out of newbies, fresh out of university with a big loan to pay off and with a kind of notion that Korea is a good place to make that happen.

And it would seem that there will never be a shortage of places who will hire people with little or no experience because they are the most easily taken advantage of.

I don't know about Taiwan, but regarding China.... I think people go there for more of a cultural experience. They already know that the money is not good there. But in Korea, most people come here for the money as the cultural side of things does seem a bit of a disappointment to many.