Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pullmydaisy]

I'm planning on coming back to Korea for a second year. I don't want to work at a hagwon again. I'm looking into a private elementary school, but I'm wondering if it would mirror a hagwon in terms of spoiled, poorly behaved children, uptight parents, zero consideration toward foreign teacher input and a mess of an administration. I know each case is different, but does anyone have any insight to share on what their experiences have been at a private elementary school and can make any comparisons, if able?

[Thunndarr]

Fewer teaching hours, longer vacations. That's pretty much all you need to know.

[yeremy]

I work in the EPIK program, but I did check out a private elementary school in Gyeongbuk near Waegwan (it's 20 minutes from Daegu. I did not get a chance to interview because I decided to stay in the EPIK program because I had a chance to transfer to a public elementary school job (which I did).

The salary which was quoted to me by a respectable recruiter was 3 million won a month. I do not know what the hours would have been like but I felt that the contract might have been somewhat negotiable.

I was concerned that the salary was a bit on the high side, when the high end of the EPIK pay scale for a level 1+ was 2.7 at that time. I wondered if it did not include having to work an afterschool program for which the lucky candidate would have been paid overtime, I wondered. I never did find out but this would be a good thing to watch out for: Is there an afterschool program quietly attached to the job offer?

I think that if you go to work for any private elementary school, you should try to do your research about that school, and do your best to negotiate decent hours, working conditions, vacation, sick time, health insurance, start and ending time for each day, etc. And then have it put into writing so there are no questions about what is expected of you.