Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jimmyjnc]

I've been teaching in Korea since 2006. Started my first EPIK position in July 2010. E-2 visa. Have been in 부산 the whole time other than some extended vacations here and there. I have taught in every kind of Hagwon other than adult.
EpiK is so lame. So overly bureaucratic. I miss the days of Hagwon when if I wanted to walk out of work to do some personal business I didn't need three people's signatures. I miss not having to do B.S. orientation, learning about Korean culture and 가 나 다 for timed internet sessions. I miss a decent salary. I make now less than I made at my FIRST Hagwon job. I thought public school kids were supposed to be respectful and chill. Now I'm just teaching some oversized hagwon class.
EPIK is a JOKE! I can't wait to find out my Winter break teaching schedule is. To all the newbies. EpiK used to be a sweet position with ample vacation time and if you worked during breaks you got paid for it. Now it is super standardized and super bureaucratic.
Here's the point: At a hagwon they need you and they act like it if it's a decent hagwon. At a public school they don't need you or want you. Did I mention the Korean people that work at hagwon's are way less conservative and way more interesting? My coteacher acts like Hitler's tutor. LAME...What do you other people think that have been around for awhile? FYI my second hagwon had serious financial issues so it was not an easy contract to work but at least they acted like they needed me.

[liveinkorea316]

Totally agree with ya Jimmy my man.

I have experience working in a Hagwon, Public School and University. So far I have found both the Hagwon and University to be great experiences in their own way. You get to meet interesting people and have great experiences and your co-workers and bosses don't walk around like the ^&%$*^ shines out of their &(^%.

If I could go back in time I wish I had never chosen a public school that time. Hagwons have their drawbacks and I am obviously fortunate mine didn't rip me off.

I guess that is why Universities regularly top the list of places to work. They are big and so there is no risk of shoddy dealings or not getting paid. But unlike a Hagwon, you get to work in the daytime and go home for dinner.

[furtakk]

+2.
maybe it's because of some of the nightmare hagwon jobs, but public jobs are way overrated. a good hagwon beats a public school any day. better pay, better kids, smaller classes, shorter days, other foreigners to talk to, etc etc.

the koreans who work at hagwons are generally more fun as they are usually younger and thus easier to relate to. the oldest person at my school is 35 and she is the director. all the korean teachers are under 27.

[Wishmaster]

Yep, hagwon is far better than public school. I don't know why do many people have such love for the public school gigs. Of course, if you are in a sucky hagwon, I can understand. But if you research, and get a little lucky, hagwons are the way to go. I work from 4-9 pm, Monday-Friday. As in, I walk in the door at 4 pm and walk out the door at 9. Pay is good and I don't have to deal with any of that key money nonsense. I also don't have to deal with classes of 40 or more students and a useless co-teacher. I also do not have to do prep, have useless conferences...it's all gravy. That is why I am still here in Korea. Now, if I were forced to work public schools, then I would have left Korea long ago. But, by all means, if you think working public schools is so good, then continue to do it, while I continue to slack at my hagwon. Do the heavy sledding for me...thanks. Another good benefit is that I can watch all these football games and baseball playoffs and still get plenty of sleep before coming into "work." Sometimes wish my job wasn't this easy because it gives me an excuse to keep staying and making the easy dosh.

[UncleAlex]

In my first three years I taught at hokwans, but after I switched to the public school sector, I never turned back. Just preparing one lesson a week and enjoying six to eight weeks of vacation a year ever since. A little bureaucracy is nothing to sweat over. Try teaching in China. Now there's bureaucracy for you: having to attend meetings that have nothing to do with teachers, but with the board of directors in Chinese for at least an hour. I never had to sign out when I taught at a Korean public school, just tell my head co-teacher; but I'd rather spend a second signing my name than listening to a stodgy official for an hour or more once a month.

[UncleAlex]

[Diqquad]

Hakwans pay more?

I was on 2.6 at my epik job and had 18 days paid vacation in both summer and winter, a 6 room apt to myself and was able to go out and do personal business whenever I wanted if I didn't have classes and no 'timned internet' sessions etc. Oh, let's not forget the 100k a month extra for rural living plus the 800,000 entrance allowance and the 300,000 for set up which was in the contract. Then there was the paid week of orientation where we stayed in a resort and did have some crappy and pointless lectures, but I hooked up with a really hot chick and it was basically a 1 week vacation where i met new friends.

But it depends on the individual school. I have had 2 friends who did GEPIK / EPIK and hated it and their co-workers were apparently psycopathic.

Same with hakwans, there are good ones and bad ones.

Not ever public school job is the same, just like with hakwans is all I'm saying.

[liveinkorea316]

The pay scale is less rigid at Hagwons and it is more possible to get paid more. Some Hagwons have a starting salary for new grads at close to 2.6m.

EPIK has had differences in holidays and pay between regions and schools but as the OP mentioned these are closing up and things are becoming more standardised.

I would say AVERAGE pay between the two would be even. But the higer salaries would be in good Hagwons. Especially in the coming years.

This does not include High School contracts that are outside of EPIK. Those can be pretty good and have more holidays. The OP is talking at EPIK.

[sojusucks]

EPIK, GEPIK, and SMOE are becoming more like bad hagwons every day. They seem to be looking for any angle they can find to stick it to the foreign teachers. It's a shame but bad leadership is ruining what should have been a positive thing for everyone.

[English Matt]

I taught 16, fifty minute classes a week at my PS. I had to prep one lesson a week. I had my own classroom, as well as my own desk in one of the teachers offices. The school bought me a laptop, which meant that I had two laptops including my own. I had a 10 minute walk to school from my apartment. I got between 6 and 8 weeks of vacation a year. There was another NET at the school. I was allowed to leave the school premises, whenever I had no classes, as I pleased. I ran an after-school class and was paid 70,000 Won for around 80 minutes of class-time. I had complete control over the syllabus, lesson planning and lesson delivery. I had no tests to make, no tests to mark, no homework to mark, no report cards to write.....no extraneous work outside of preparing and delivering lessons.

Whilst my time working in a PS wasn't all kittens and candyfloss raining from the sky, I defy anyone who has worked in a hagwon to tell me that they can trump those sorts of working conditions. I may have had a good school, but a good PS will always beat the best hagwon.

[sojusucks]

[English Matt]

[Louis VI]

Shhhhhhh.

Don't tell everyone! I've been taking months off (self-chosen vacation time, so to speak) between great hagwons and it's been easy to do without a lot of competition for jobs. Don't ruin a good thing.

When someone says teaching 30+ students and deskwarming and having a coteacher are great, just nod.

Don't say you prefer 12 students per class, not having any office responsibilities and having complete autonomy in teaching in the classroom. Maybe moan how no one directs you as to what to teach or how to teach, that'll throw them off. And if they start to suspect then bring up a horror story about a bad hagwon, yeah, that'll do the trick.

Whatever you do, don't let the clueless masses in the public school know what's up at the good hagwons. Or at least talk about how very, very rare it is to find a good hagwon.

[jimmyjnc]

5. ELIGIBILITY & REMUNERATION


Busan

Level 1+


ㆍ Level 1 plus 2 consecutive yrs teaching experience

within the same Provincial Office of Education

2.5 million won


Level 1

ㆍ 2 years of teaching experience with one of the followings

- MA degree

- Teacher's, TEFL/TESOL/CELTA(100+hrs) Certificate

- Education, English Education or English Language/Literature major

ㆍAs a level 2+, contract renewal at the same POE

2.3 million won


Level 2+

ㆍ MA degree in any discipline, with BA in Education, English Education or English Language/Literature

ㆍMA degree in Education, English Education or English Language/Literature, with BA in any discipline

ㆍ As a Level 2, contract renewal a the same POE

2.1 million won


Level 2

ㆍ Must have one of the followings

- Teacher's, TEFL/TESOL/CELTA(100+hrs) Certificate

- Education, English Education or English Language/Literature major

- BA degree plus 1 yr full-time English teaching experience

ㆍMA degree

2.0 million won


Level 3

ㆍBA degree in any discipline

1.8 million won



So 1.8 million for your average newbie. What a joke. I'm making 2.0 million and I'm not happy about it. I made 2.1 million my first contract in Korea, in 2006, but it's not 2006 anymore. Inflation is quite strong in Korea. So what's 1.8 after taxes and what not? Maybe 1.65. Okay in terms of dollars 1,500 give or take. Do you really want to work in KOREA for that wage? Don't forget that Korean cities are NOT cheap. The only reason I'm with the job is because after working hours I teach a private that supplements my income big time. If it weren't for the private though, forget about it.

Anyone that says that more money is to be made in EPIK or any public school for that matter is wholly ignorant. Think Pagoda, CDI, YBM, your average kindergarten,etc... These are hagwons you can make bank in. You take the best public school wage and it would compare with a slightly above average hagwon wage. The best hagwon wage has no comparison in the public school sector.

[oldfatfarang]

It's all swings and roundabouts. I had a good hakwon - that turned into a bad one in the second year (mistake re-signing).

I had a nightmare SMOE year - then a wonderful year at an EPIK funded private catholic school - and now...... an EPIK not-so-good out in the boonies year (2.30 hour commute, not extra time off/standard 18 days hols, and simply no acknowledgement on how hard it is for a GET to be in this position).

What I've noticed in the last 3 years is: there's been a gradual and deliberate change in attitude towards visiting Guest Teachers in PS. There seems to be a hardening of attitudes towards GET's - and the authority to grant perks (extra hols etc) has has been taken away from principals and centralised in the POE. And it's a waste of time trying to get any help from the local POE - in typical bureaucratic style- the only thing they do is try and cover their butts.

Heck, my school won't even let me go 15 mins early to catch the free school bus back home - even though I arrive at work 40 mins early every day). Don't even get me started talking about all the hours deskwarming I do every week - or during the times when other teachers are on vacation. And, how could I forget being refused a rural allowance to teach out here (well done EPIK).

Personally, I think EPIK is dying - too many GET's - too many rules - too much bureaucracy - and too little holidays. Many EPIK schools' default button is now to treat GET's like the admin staff ( I have to deskwarm with the photocopy/support ladies when the other teachers go home early.)

So, to all newbies coming to EPIK - just be warned that you may end up in a school that treats you as unwanted and unqualified 'support' staff - or you may land one of the dwindling sweet gigs where you treated as a valued visitor (who has come a very long way to help the kids with their English).

Good luck. I'm done with EPIK in 131 days, and I won't be back.