Korean Job Discussion Forums

[iotaphi821]

So I'm wondering..which usually has the better deal, the public schools or the private ones (hagwons). I'm trying to decide which one I should really be shooting for so any help would be greatly appreciated.

And yes...I even included a poll

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Do you mean private academy? Because that's a lot different from a private 하교.

[iotaphi821]

[Seul]

I work at a public school, but for me the decision was pretty close. It really depends on your personal preferences.

I am a night owl, so I would love to have a schedule like a 2-8, 3-9, or 4-10PM or something like that. That's a major plus for hagwons for me, but for someone else that may be a negative.

You also know the exact location of your hagwon most of the time. Location was very important to me. I ended up a little further than I care to be having gone with public schools.

That said, I love my public school job.

[bcoral99]

It really depends. In general ( I use this term loosely) you are less likely to get screwed over with money issues at a public school than a hagwon. It obviously depends on whether the principal or hagwon owner are good people or not.
You can definitely make quite a bit of money in a public school as they give you extra paid classes and summer and winter camps. For the most part, hagwons will try not to give you any overtime because they want to save as much money as possible. but you can have more time away from the school to make money 'other' ways.
Good thing is that in a public school u have a lot of down time but you have set hours usually 9-5. At a hagwon u will prolly just have to go in during your set teaching hours and then be able to leave. But you will usually be stuck teaching at least 30 hours as oppose to the 22 hours for public school.

I have done both and as of now i prefer public school. The hagwon I was at had dishonest people who I did not trust. Luckily they did pay me but there were issues with communication, complaints from parents about things that didnt matter and lots of other issues that I wont get into. Thus far in the public school i am in, it has been ok so far. It is boring alot of times because you have alot of down time and you will be the only foreigner. In general, public schools are much easier. If it is your first time though I would try for a hagwon as they usually provide a curriculum for you to start which would be easier. In public schools they usually have a textbook but no lesson plan. Usually have to make it up.