Whistleblower
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
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 Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:34 pm Post subject: Foreign Teachers Launching Association |
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Interesting news just in. Hopefully us teachers will be able to form a powerful union now because of Tom Rainey-Smith. What do you think?
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/03/117_20528.html
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Foreign Teachers Launching Association
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
A group of foreign teachers has started a move to form an association for native English-speaking instructors to represent their interests and to play a bridging role between Korean and non-Korean English teachers.
Its tentative name is the Association for Teachers of English in Korea (ATEK: http://atek.or.kr/), and it seeks to become the first-ever national organization for contract foreign teachers.
Tom Rainey-Smith, 26, one of the ATEK founding members, said that the organization will take a leading role in building bridges between foreign teachers and parents, employers, government agencies and other stakeholders in English language education in Korea. He teaches at a private institute in Seoul. Among the founding members are teachers from public schools.
It will invite contract English language teachers including E (E-1 for professors and E-2 for foreign language instructors) and F (F-4 for ethnic Koreans from overseas) visa holders _ those who share many of the same challenges working at public schools, private learning institutes and universities.
According to the Korea Immigration Service, there are 1,230 foreigners with E-1 visas, 17,355 with E-2 visas and 35,309 with F-4 visas as of January.
``We don�t only want to be a voice for foreign teachers. We want to be the voice of foreign teachers. Our major goal is to improve relations between Korean teachers and contract foreign teachers working in Korea,�� said Rainey-Smith from New Zealand in an interview with The Korea Times.
``It was a job someone had to do. I feel that I can take on this responsibility because I am currently working under good conditions. I want to pass this role on to somebody else when this organization is stable.''
ATEK aims to solve difficulties and troubles that many foreign teachers now face. He enumerated the issues; unpaid salaries, pensions, taxes and health insurance, unsafe and inadequate housing arrangements, arbitrary changes to employment contracts and employers� refusal to provide letters of release as well as unfair banking practices.
Rainey-Smith, serving as a media relations officer for the association, said it will also encourage cultural diversity by campaigning against sexual, racial and other forms of discrimination such as advertisements of hagwon that say they only want ``white teachers.��
In the long run, ATEK will pursue ``visa flexibility.�� The Japanese government allows visa flexibility whereby teachers can enter the country and work for any employer unlike Korea where educators must remain with their sponsors and are not allowed to transfer to other workplaces.
ATEK has set up five acting positions for official launching the project; membership coordinator, media relations officer, employer and community relations officer, professional development coordinator and legal assistance coordinator.
``Once we have heard from all stakeholders and gain wider appeal and support from teachers, we'll hold a meeting to have democratic elections to populate the council members. Also, we want to emphasize that board members will work as volunteers,'' Rainey-Smith said.
The association will either seek government sponsorship or be self-funding. In case it needs to raise funds from its members, the subscription will be very low, he added.
ATEK will also take a role of cultural induction in order to buffer culture shock of newly arriving foreigners. ``We will provide access to legal resources and counseling to newcomers and act as a mediator. At the same time we will play the role of passing on important information to all foreign teachers,'' he said.
So far, ATEK founding members have spoken to labor organizations and the Education Ministry.
The organization has been working with legal experts regarding contract issues of migrant workers. ``We considered both the options of forming a union and an association. Having discussed these options with labor experts, we concluded that an association is the best form of organization to address those issues and that the government would be more responsive to our group.''
He was also confident that the association will improve professional development of its members and noted that membership would be easy.
It seeks to eventually form global networks. Another association founding member, Jason Thomas, will meet members of the Association for Japan Exchange and Teaching program (AJET), its counterpart in Japan this week.
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