Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kitten]

http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=620&catID=18

More than 17,000 foreign teachers are working in South Korea, but many have had to put up with poor working conditions in silence. Now a newly formed association has been set up by teachers to lobby government for a better protection and to raise the profile of this marginalised workforce. James Card investigates the challenges that lie ahead Angry union workers wearing red headbands and banging gongs, surrounded by riot police armed with plastic kendo swords and Plexiglas shields are a common sight in South Korea. From bank employees to illegal migrant workers and even prostitutes, workers have banded together to defend their livelihoods, taking to the streets to make their voices heard.

However one group of workers, currently numbering about 17,500, has so far kept out of Korea�s highly charged industrial relations, although they have reason to be militant. They are English language teachers from Britain, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Some now feel that the time has come to speak with a unified voice against poor working conditions.

The Association for Teachers of English (Atek), co-founded in March by Tom Rainey-Smith of New Zealand and the Canadian Jason Thomas, aims to provide that voice. Described as a union in the Korean press, Atek is careful to avoid that label, preferring to characterise itself as a professional association.

According to Atek�s mission statement, it aims to represent the opinions of teachers, to advance English language education as a profession through ethics and best practices and to improve living and working conditions. It will represent its members across the wide spectrum of Korea�s education industry and provide a community for teachers to advance shared goals.

Sunny Kurti, an experienced teacher from Canada who is accustomed to career-support organisations, said she was surprised there was no teachers� organisation when she started teaching at a middle school in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul. "[Atek] was exactly what I had in mind," she added and she later hosted the first meeting of directors at her home.

If Atek is to succeed it must win over a workforce that is by nature transitory. Many foreigners use Korea�s standard one-year teaching contract and the visa that comes with it as a working holiday, and they use the country as a springboard from which to explore the rest of Asia.

Korea�s immigration service estimates that an additional 32,500 foreigners are teaching English illegally without proper visas.

Atek�s task is to convince teachers with visas that joining a professional association will be worth their while. "I agree that people coming and staying a single year, who arrive and leave at all different times, is a significant challenge," said Tony Hellerman, a spokesman for Atek. "I think that stable leadership will come from teachers who have been living and working in Korea for some time. Once that leadership is established, teachers who come and go can get the benefits Atek provides for as long as they are here."

So far, about 200 teachers have expressed interest in joining and they will be able to do so officially soon. Atek�s eventual goal is to register as a non-profit organisation, but because this process requires a large initial investment or government sponsorship its founders have opted for the quicker route of applying for private organisation status.

Atek must also overcome opposition from some of the schools that employ many of its would-be members. The Korea Association of Foreign Language Academies (Kafla), which represents the owners of "hagwons", or privately owned language schools, has stated it would oppose hiring teachers who are members of Atek and will try to prevent Atek�s incorporation.

According to Lee Seung-ju, a labour attorney who advises Atek, Kafla�s recruitment threat would be illegal.

Kafla director Choi Chang-jin told the Korea Times: "I don�t think Atek will truly represent foreign English teachers, so we don�t see any point in talking with it, even if it is established."

Foreign teachers regularly complain of poor treatment from hagwons, such as misrepresented contracts and tax and health insurance fraud.

Hagwon owners also oppose any changes to the current visa rules that could undermine their power over foreign teachers. The government has said it is considering changing the E-2 visa system, under which teachers are effectively indentured to schools that act as their visa sponsors. To change employer a teacher must get a letter of release from their school and leave the country on a "visa run".

Meanwhile, a drive to recruit native English speakers to teach in rural primary schools has received a new boost. The government has said it will accept a wider group of candidates for its "Teach and Learn in Korea" (TaLK) programme, which aims to attract foreign college students.

It has removed the requirement that candidates must be undergraduates with at least two years in study and will now accept students enrolled in a wider range of further education.

The TaLK programme, part of President Lee Myung-bak�s initiative to raise English skills, aims to attract foreign nationals of Korean origin with six-month or one-year teaching posts. Travel and accommodation expenses are paid and they will receive a monthly allowance of $1,500.



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[wylies99]

Thursday June 19th 2008?

It was already posted.