Korean Job Discussion Forums

[T-J]

From the Korea Times today:

[liveinkorea316]

These kinds of programs are ONLY good if they are coupled with adequate training. If you hire someone for a job and they are unable to do it why did you hire them? In most western countries if you hire someone for a job and they fail some form of assessment then by law they must be given adequate training to meet the standard and only if they continue to fail then they can be fired.

Just evaluating and then firing is prehistoric. Not even Korean teachers are treated like that. If they failed an evaluation you can bet they would be given "work-on's" and then given multiple chances again until finally they might be fired. But I have heard it is very hard to get fired for them.

It might also depend on the criteria used. if 70% is reasonably hard to get then you could see alot of teachers fired.

In practice I hope to see them giveing teachers who fail an evaluation another chance and a warning, and if they request extra help with teaching skills such as lesson planning, classroom management or other things then this should be provided by the Busan Office of Education.

[jvalmer]

It won't work unless it's random. Otherwise it will be like those open classes where everything is prepared.

[ippy]

Woohoo! bring it on! nothing shows how good i am better than a pre planned demonstration lesson! i look forward to my 100,000 bonus for being rated one of the most energetic, cheerful and exciting teachers in korea!

[Otherside]

Sounds like a great idea. I'd be VERY AFRAID of the execution though.

[NYC_Gal]

[Fishead soup]

Observation1- Look through the window. Teacher is playing a Wondergirls youtube video in English with English subtitles
Fired

Observation2- Look through the window. Teacher is doing a task based activity it is noisy and the old fart doing the evaluation doesn't understand the concept of students centered learning. The old fart also can't speak English so he can't tell that the lesson is in English.
Fired

Observation 3- Look through the window. Teacher is Parroting the government approved textbook
Renewed.

[JBomb]

it is basically the open class shit I am already doing only now they threaten to fire you if you are [Mod Edit]. I guess kissing up to the principal and the co is going to be even more important than ever.

[Fox]

Your post and the text you quoted don't make this clear, but the article says it's only talking about Busan.

The article itself is also somewhat deceptive. Public school teachers have always been evaluated. Generally the evaluations in question are at the end of each year, so they only affect you if you want to renew, but they still exist. More frequent evaluations aren't necessarily a bad thing, but they shouldn't be done by a third party based on observing individual classes. Just like yearly evaluations, hypothetical quarterly evaluations should be done by one's school, which is in a much better position to evaluate a foreign teacher than some small group of people that sits in on a single class.

On the other hand, firing someone mid-contract based on the results of a single evaluation is ridiculous. Teachers scoring under 70 should be given additional training and another chance to perform before being fired.

[Ramen]

[TheUrbanMyth]

The end result of this will most likely be a mass exodus of FT's out of Busan and to other cities. And then Busan realizes it doesn't have enough FT's and the whole plan collapses.

More likely it will come to naught as many such initiatives have. Sounds good in theory but once it comes time to put it in practice there are going to be a lot of kinks to iron out.

[JBomb]

Good point above about evaluation. They have been doing that vaguely with the open class competition in Busan already. It just sounds to me like the new super intendant is simply trying to sound tough and full of new and wonderful "ideas." It is disappointing because the open class thing could actually be made to work well as a training method, but also as a forum for sharing classroom ideas. Did any of you also read the other part of the interview with her about corporal punishment? It contains quite a wacky change of subject middle of the way down in the story. Oh and sorry for swearing. I am just really frustrated with the open class thing. I won the so-called competition last year and have been forced through an endless stream of them this year. They are doing little to stimulate the students or the teachers doing them with me.

[Caffeinated]

[Louis VI]

Is a stick over the waygook teachers head going to help? In some cases, but... they will still hire inexperienced attractive-looking twentysomethings over more experienced applicants but they will have more power over the waygook, which some schools will abuse on staff power trips, resulting in more waygook teachers not finishing their contracts.

The golden days of a public school gig have passed and those who are in a good hagwon have all the more reason to stay in their small bunkers of glee.

[captain kirk]