Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Baluda]

It's hard to believe that a so called "reputable" and "prestigiouis" Foreign school is only willing to pay first year teachers between 2.3 and 2.4 million won per month, and second year teachers between 2.4-2.5..
2.3 per month for a B.Ed? 2.4 million per month for an M.A/M,Ed?
No wonder it's almost impossible to find "real" certified teachers in Korea. I can make twice as much teaching back home, and educators in their tenth year can make three times as much! Hell, I can make more money working 6 hours a day at a run down hagwon!
8 weeks vacation or not, this is brutal. The owners of Busan Foreign School should feel ashamed of themselves!
Am I the only person who finds this payscale insulting? And don't even get me started on EPIK, GEPIK, and SMOE! If only we teachers could stand together and demand more!

[sulperman]

For many this salary you mention is a step up, without even factoring in the free housing!

http://teacherportal.com/teacher-salaries-by-state

[SW]

[jugbandjames]

With an MA, you can easily make twice as much teaching at a community college back home--even more if you get a full time position at a 4 year university, although that's pretty rare w/ just an MA. If you teach part time, you can make decent money but it's hard to get a good schedule and you have zero job security.

The problem is most of those schools are state funded, and since all of the state governments are broke, they haven't hired full time teachers in about 1.5 years. Jobs are starting to become available now, but because there's so much competition for them you really need about 5 years of teaching experience, whereas just a few years ago you only needed 1-3 years for the same jobs. Hell, my state's community college system might be losing its accreditation because they don't have enough money to hire enough full time instructors to stay accredited.

[SW]

[Alaskaman]

People also need to take in account, taxes! In America we have federal and many times state taxes. This accounts for about 27-32% tax. Plus the cost of transportation and the utilities on your house are much lower here in Korea. For those people that think that the money is an insult, put those factors and others into consideration and then think twice about how much money you would need to make back home to have the same life style in regards to cash saved or avaliable at the end of each month! You are trying to compare apples to oranges and that is not possible in regards to income between the two countries.

This is my opinion and like all opinions you are welcome to your own. Please feel free to jump in with your thoughts

Alaskaman

[Baluda]

I should have mentioned that I'm Canadian. I also forgot that teachers in the US don't get paid well. Don't they get paid less than garbage men?
Anyway, a teacher in my province starts at 40 000 per yeear. Sure we have to pay crazy taxes, but once you are in your 10th year, you're making between 80-90 000 a year, which means at that point, taxes don't matter much. Besides, you'll end up getting most of it back in your pension.
Let's not forget that teachers in Canada get 2 months of vacation for summer, 2 weeks off at Christmas and one week off for March break. Not to mention all national holidays and about one more week throughout the year...That's over 12 weeks of paid vacation per year... sure beats 10 days off at a hagwon, 21 days off through EPIK, and 8 weeks at Busan Foreign School...
With regards to Korean teachers, I have no idea what you're talking about. They are paid among the highest in the world. After 10 years they can make roughly 5 million a year. Not bad for Korean English teachers, most of whom can't even speak English! Makes you feel great about making 2.3 doesn't it"?
And while people may talk about the free accommodations in Korea, for 400$ US per month (the equivalent of housing rent in Korea for one month) I can actually live in a nice place. For $700 I can have a mortgage on a house...
As for cost of living, it depends on what you buy. Trust me, there are a lot of things in Korea (fruits, vegetables, western food, clothes) that are WAY more expensive...
Oh, and in Canada I can drive a nice car or hooked up motorcycle instead of a beat up old magma.
My point: If your standard of living is not as good (ie: Korea), and you want certified/professional teachers, you'd better be willing to offer some incentives...that's what they're doing in the Middle East...

[AsiaESLbound]

Seems to be the pay scale is the same, regardless of degree. I'm sure this won't stop a significant number of unemployed laid off certified American teachers from coming this August and next Winter as American schools are in the process of letting go thousands of teachers across the states due to districts going bust at the bank.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/education/21teachers.html

You might be able to make twice at home minus taxes and housing expense than here if a real qualified teacher, but can you get a job? It used to be that it was easy to get a teaching job at home, but now they are letting 10's of thousands go this year. If you do have job, it very well probably means 40+ students in your homeroom class and a myriad of social issues bombarding you. Well, go teach in Korea to travel and get a new experience in life; not just to simply be a highly qualified career teacher.

[Alaskaman]

I should have mentioned that I'm Canadian. I also forgot that teachers in the US don't get paid well. Don't they get paid less than garbage men?
Anyway, a teacher in my province starts at 40 000 per yeear. Sure we have to pay crazy taxes, but once you are in your 10th year, you're making between 80-90 000 a year, which means at that point, taxes don't matter much. Besides, you'll end up getting most of it back in your pension.
Let's not forget that teachers in Canada get 2 months of vacation for summer, 2 weeks off at Christmas and one week off for March break. Not to mention all national holidays and about one more week throughout the year...That's over 12 weeks of paid vacation per year... sure beats 10 days off at a hagwon, 21 days off through EPIK, and 8 weeks at Busan Foreign School...
With regards to Korean teachers, I have no idea what you're talking about. They are paid among the highest in the world. After 10 years they can make roughly 5 million a year. Not bad for Korean English teachers, most of whom can't even speak English! Makes you feel great about making 2.3 doesn't it"?
And while people may talk about the free accommodations in Korea, for 400$ US per month (the equivalent of housing rent in Korea for one month) I can actually live in a nice place. For $700 I can have a mortgage on a house...
As for cost of living, it depends on what you buy. Trust me, there are a lot of things in Korea (fruits, vegetables, western food, clothes) that are WAY more expensive...
Oh, and in Canada I can drive a nice car or hooked up motorcycle instead of a beat up old magma.
My point: If your standard of living is not as good (ie: Korea), and you want certified/professional teachers, you'd better be willing to offer some incentives...that's what they're doing in the Middle East


Dude, I have no idea where you are getting your information about Korean teachers and the money they make after 10 years! My wife is Korean and a English teacher for a middle school. I will tell you that you are either misinformed or just trying to defend yourself to a fault! Just make sure that you get your facts straight before you just state some off the wall information.

People that make statements that are so incorrect just make people angry for no reason. If I am incorrect then you find a link and quote where they are the highest paid teachers in the world and that they make 5 million a year after 10 years! I am waiting for your post!

[Mr. Pink]

Baluda: when you do the amount of work a certified teacher in Canada does in a day, THEN come here and complain that the pay is too low.

Seriously, the work in Korea is like a vacation compared to what you would put up with in Canada. Also, as a certified teacher myself, I can tell you WHY you are in Korea to begin with: there are no jobs in Canada atm, so that 40k starting isn't a realistic comparison. Why don't you compare 20k a year in supply teaching (if that) with your 2.3-2.4 mil PLUS housing jobs?

If you were to work at a private school for a number of years, that pay would go up over 3mil a month plus the opportunity for OT classes. Not bad with also having free housing and low taxes...

That 90k the vet teacher makes in Canada is probably 45k after taxes, union dues, UI, CPP and TPP. I made more than 45k working in Korea if you took housing into consideration.

[Senior]

Everyone else pretty much covered it. 2.4mil plus free housing, ticket, add 30 odd percent on top for no taxes, severance, not to mention teaching in a Korean PS could be one of the easiest jobs in the world. All this makes the package not that much worse than back home. I would say better. The work to pay ratio is probably similar, if not better in Korea, than our home countries.

[sulperman]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

[Countrygirl]

[loyfriend]