Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Curiousity]

We�re coming up on summer vacation, and I�m about halfway through my current PS contract. I�m considering a number of options for next year (early, I know!). One of those options is re-signing with my school.

I work in Busan, and came over with EPIK. I can re-sign with EPIK, obviously. I have heard that they, or perhaps Busan Office of Education, are making people change schools. I like my school. They seem to like me. It�s a decent gig, and I�m well aware they aren�t all this good. I�d rather remove myself from the EPIK fold and re-sign directly with my school, with a few contract modifications. I�ve heard of this occurring, but usually from those in GEPIK or EPIG or something. Nothing Busan specific.

Has anyone, IN BUSAN, heard of this school change policy? Has anyone re-signed a contract negotiated directly with their school? I can, and will, ask them directly, but I�d rather find out whether it can/has been done before.

Thanks!

[ttompatz]

Renewals / extensions are all done directly with your school.

There is NO requirement for you to change schools.

.

[Curiousity]

[xCustomx]

I'm with GEPIK, and when I re-signed, I negotiated salary, housing allowance, vacation time, and my camp schedule. Whatever you're able to negotiate, get it in writing. If I hadn't done that, my VP would have wiped out the vacation time that I negotated for and replaced it with more English camps.

[Curiousity]

[marlow]

The older teachers that changed schools would have done so prior to the influx of three years ago. This was back when the whole city had 26 foreign teachers, so they changed them from school to school to share them around.

[Curiousity]

Thanks for the advice, all. I do have yet another question (...it's Dave's, of course I do ).

My current housing isn't doing it for me. It is clean, and large (ish), but located in a difficult area as far as transport is concerned. I'd be keen to shift, and I'm sure my school will understand as they're aware of the issues and have done what they can to make life easier for me to date.

The real question isn't necessarily in relation to housing itself. What I'm really curious about is funding. When you re-sign with a school, where does the cash come from to cover your salary, housing, etc. Does the Office of Education continue to cover such costs, or is the school required to find a way to fit them in the budget they've been alloted for the year?

[TDR]

As often as ttompatz is correct, I believe he's wrong in regards to Busan's policies (so far as I have experienced/been told). I re-signed my PS contract this year and, like you, I wanted to negotiate some terms. Nothing big, but some guaranteed dates for vacation time (I have weddings to attend) and a few other small items.

I had a sit down with my VP and co-teacher (both of whom speak English well) and had a talk about these items. They said they'd love to have me stay but that they aren't the ones that sign the contracts and that the school itself didn't have the power to make one. In Busan, it's all done through the District Offices. We could not put anything in writing but they gave me their word that they would work it out with me.

Some may scoff that I trusted their verbal contract but my school and staff have been completely upfront, quick and honest in all of our dealings, so I had no reason to doubt them. True to their word, they stuck to what they said and all are happy. However, I would have had them sign something between us if I thought they weren't as honest as they could be. and I would have quit if they hadn't followed up on it)

To sum it up: From my experience, you can't negotiate with the BEP (Busan Education Program) but if I'm wrong, I'd love to hear about how someone went about it.

[Curiousity]

Thanks for the info, TDR.

Stories like these (and the change of school issue) are what initially prompted me to post the quesiton.

I recall a district office meeting where someone from that office mentioned one could "make a contract with your school." It was, however, an off the cuff comment in fairly poor English.

I'd be inclined to approach the issue in the way you did, however, with the regime change all but certain for next year, it simply isn't a possiblity.

In the event that I'm required to re-sign a contract with the Office of Education, I'll be moving on. I'd rather not gamble, at those odds, with my contentment.

Anyone else have a (recent) first-hand account of re-signing in Busan?

[ttompatz]

They need to have approval from the district office to keep you (it is the same for me) and they may not be willing to confirm future employment without it...

but there is no requirement for you to change schools (unless you are not renewed for whatever reason).

Not being renewed would give you the chance to go anywhere of YOUR choosing and is not just a matter of being reassigned within the district.

.

[Curiousity]

[ttompatz]

[Curiousity]

I get ya.

In all honesty, I hope to have moved onwards and upwards anyway, but I'm trying to keep my options open at this point. In order to do that, I needed to have a better idea of what those options are likely to be, in real terms.

Thanks again for your help, everyone. In the event I go down this path, I'll try to remember to post an update on how it goes!

~C