Korean Job Discussion Forums

Fat-Elvis · Joined: 28 Mar 2008 Location: Boston

I've read from time to time that public positions are more difficult for new teachers than private jobs. Is this true? If a brand new teacher were to be offered a private job would it be worth taking?

sorry if this is a old topic but the search function hasn't worked for me for days.

stayfocused · Joined: 27 Jul 2009 Location: Seoul

It depends on the job, not whether it's a hakwon or public school. There are good hakwons out there.

Public school negatives include large class sizes and students of widely varying abilities.

Theo · Joined: 04 Jul 2009

First of all, it depends on what you mean by "harder." Age group? Number of teaching hours? Number of students in the class? Working with Korean co-intsructor? What exactly?

I have only worked in private schools, not in public ones (except for a public university in my home country), so I can't say for certain, but the opposite seems true to me; becuase of what I've been told and read on various ESL-related forums such as this one.

That's one reason that private salaries are usually higher than public ones; more teaching hours; and less attractive teaching schedule; usually evening work as well as mornings.

martypants · Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Location: Ulsan, South Korea

I have only worked at a hogwan, so I can only comment on that - it's been fabulous. Great owners, nice apartment, good kids. I have been here almost 4 years - same school. I hear lots of horror stories about other places and just have never found a reason to look elsewhere for a job. I'm probably an exception rather than the rule, tho.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

You need to clarify your terminology...

Korea has public schools, private schools, and hagwons (academy).

The public/private schools are pretty much the same, but different in ownership and somewhat different in funding. A Korean child can be assigned to a public or a private school at random.

Hagwons are an evening academy type of situation.

I'm no Picasso · Joined: 28 Oct 2008

Me personally, I'm not a hagwon type person. Couldn't cope with the schedule, don't like the idea of serving paying little "customers", and consider myself mostly too inexperienced to properly judge a hagwon from the beginning, and thus not end up basically rolling the dice as far as how screwed over I could get.

Public school means gigantic classes and wildly different leveled students, as someone already pointed out. You also have no other foreign coworkers (which could be a good or bad thing, depending on you look at it). It also can often have a lost-at-sea feeling about it, due to the disorganized nature of things and the fact that your co-teachers and handler will have a mass of other responsibilities. But. I like the students and I love the schedule.

Mostly, in short, it depends on what type of person you are, what you prefer and, ultimately, the kind of school/hagwon you end up in.

Ukon · Joined: 29 Jan 2008

I've taught in both...PS by a mile, hagwon kids and after school program classes are alot worse becuase the kids know they're paying customers and even more antsy becuase it's after regular school.

Smaller class size doesn't seem to alleviate them at all....I rarely lost control a class of 30, but it's happened more times then I like with a class of 10-15.

Granted, some schools don't have a co-teacher or support is horrible...

As for more foreign teachers at the hagwon...that's a mixed bag...I've heard far more negative things about it then positives from friends in hagwons(weird, clichy, co-workers)....If your PS staff is cool and some speak english, your not gonna miss having other foreigners around...making foreigner friends is easy, especially since PS jobs have orientation where they lock you up in a mountain hide out with 200 teachers for a week.....If you can't make friends there....

I'd moreso worry about finding korean friends...I have plenty of them, but focus on getting some of them early on...kyopos are cool and have more connections to places than most white guys here. Don't be that guy who only has one korean friend and 20 foreign friends...diversify.

Rory_Calhoun27 · Joined: 14 Feb 2009

I'd agree with the above- having Kroean friends, esp. at the school, can totally make it....

and having a coteacher who actually wants to be a team with you is the ideal... unfortunately I had the opposite experience... but my tale is legendary at this point... Rolling Eyes

But having natives as your friends pays big dividends.

lifeinkorea · Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Location: somewhere in China

There is good and bad points to each. The public school system is more secure in my opinion and will give you exactly what you agreed to (nothing more, nothing less). However, you can't negotiate. They have their "system" and either you fit in or you leave. If you have an ounce of creativity, it's harder to use it in such an environment.

A hagwon will divide classes up by level, so you can work with each instead of boring the smart ones and confusing the others on the low end. You can negotiate with a hagwon owner if it helps them out. Usually, they will take your suggestion. If it comes off as a favor to you, then forget it. You have to craft it to sound like you are doing more work for them and they are getting a better deal out of your suggestion than you are. Sometimes, you do have to do just that and give up some money to get what you want.

halfmanhalfbiscuit · Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Location: Seoul

Kids hagwons-I have no idea why 95% of these places exist outside of being glorified babysitting. Pros-schedule,pay. Cons-draining schedule eg 2 hour classes on occasions though usually it's just a quickfire set of classes over 6 hours and you need to be liked by snotty ball scratching 14 year olds to safeguard your job.

Adult hagwons-split schedule. Lower pay and benefits.Students can be fun and are usually motivated.

Public schools-if you have KTs who will support you, they go really smoothly. If not, you're on your own with 40 kids and no set curriculum, classroom management expectations, assessment, formal feedback etc etc. Deskwarming.........sitting at the bottom of the hierarchy whatever your quals. OTOH, no hassles with pay.

All can be potentially either fine or feel like a mammoth waste of time. I think in any interview you have to really pinpoint the schools motivation for having you there. What's their expectation of you in the classroom, what are the end results being sought and how are you, the school and the students going to approach them.