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bcjinseoul
Joined: 13 Jan 2010
Location: Seoul, Korea
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 Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2010 10:59 am Post subject: |
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| Jet and Interac have been scaled back over the years. Nova and Geos are gone. Yeah, there are jobs in Japan, but they're so few and far between and the competition just ins't worth it; without going into money, airfare, savings, benefits, etc. Taiwan is almost as bad. |
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye
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| Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2010 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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| bcjinseoul wrote: |
| Jet and Interac have been scaled back over the years. Nova and Geos are gone. |
Thats mostly just due to a faltering economy though, isn't it? |
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shostahoosier
Joined: 14 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2010 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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| superNET wrote: |
It is not that simple. It would depend upon their budget, which they get from the federal government, . It would depend upon their priorities, what needs fixing or updating at the school. It depends upon what construction projects they have going on.
There is only so much money to go around and it all comes from the Federal government. Since they are doing other programs now, don't expect to see a lot of money thrown at schools like it was in the past. |
Actually it is that simple. If the school has the funds (whether they got it from the government or if they have extra funds) then they can pay for a teacher.
The woman who replaced me worked at another elementary school in town the year before she came to my school. That school released her because they got money from EPIK for a native teacher.
My point was that if a school WANTS (as in, they think it's a priority) then they can pay for an English teacher without EPIK's approval. |
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isitts
Joined: 25 Dec 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2010 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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| bcjinseoul wrote: |
| Jet and Interac have been scaled back over the years. Nova and Geos are gone. Yeah, there are jobs in Japan, but they're so few and far between and the competition just ins't worth it; without going into money, airfare, savings, benefits, etc. Taiwan is almost as bad. |
My point is that JET didn't shut down, in spite having problems similar to GEPIK/EPIK. |
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earthquakez
Joined: 10 Nov 2010
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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I'd like to add to this mention of JET. Despite the way those employed in the scheme have been rubbished, even back in the relatively good old days in Japan (mid - late 90s) JET was fairly choosy about who it recruited.
If you've heard tales to the contrary that's about a minority of male teachers mostly from North America. JET tended to have more substantial criteria for English teachers than some think. |
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machoman
Joined: 11 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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| i was told by my co teacher in 2007 from my old school that the education office wanted to end the foreign teacher program by 2012. so.... maybe there is some truth to this..... |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:37 pm Post subject: |
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| earthquakez wrote: |
I'd like to add to this mention of JET. Despite the way those employed in the scheme have been rubbished, even back in the relatively good old days in Japan (mid - late 90s) JET was fairly choosy about who it recruited.
If you've heard tales to the contrary that's about a minority of male teachers mostly from North America. JET tended to have more substantial criteria for English teachers than some think. |
Although obviously similar, JET is not exactly the Japanese equivalent of EPIK etal. because it proclaimed itself to be a teaching and exchange programme, where the idea of "international exchange", whatever that might be, was just as important. Indeed, unlike EPIK & co, JET never paid any extra for having a teaching qualification or teaching experience.
It was harder to get onto the JET programme but I don't think that was really because they employed a better class of applicant, even though some people on JET might try to convince themselves and others of that being the case. Mostly it was that Japan will have always the much cooler image and be the much bigger attraction than Korea and as a result JET always had so many more people to choose from. There were other reasons making JET harder to get onto like the age restrictions (used to be under 35 only), the bar on anyone who'd spent more than a limited amount of time in Japan beforehand and the relatively inflexible application schedule.
But I would say (and speaking from quite a bit of experience) that your chances of encountering a complete a-hole of a person working on the JET scheme were neither significantly greater nor less than befalling the same misfortune working for EPIK etc. |
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isitts
Joined: 25 Dec 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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| b-class rambler wrote: |
Although obviously similar, JET is not exactly the Japanese equivalent of EPIK etal. because it proclaimed itself to be a teaching and exchange programme, where the idea of "international exchange", whatever that might be, was just as important. Indeed, unlike EPIK & co, JET never paid any extra for having a teaching qualification or teaching experience.
It was harder to get onto the JET programme but I don't think that was really because they employed a better class of applicant, even though some people on JET might try to convince themselves and others of that being the case. Mostly it was that Japan will have always the much cooler image and be the much bigger attraction than Korea and as a result JET always had so many more people to choose from. There were other reasons making JET harder to get onto like the age restrictions (used to be under 35 only), the bar on anyone who'd spent more than a limited amount of time in Japan beforehand and the relatively inflexible application schedule.
But I would say (and speaking from quite a bit of experience) that your chances of encountering a complete a-hole of a person working on the JET scheme were neither significantly greater nor less than befalling the same misfortune working for EPIK etc. |
word.
I do still point out the similarities between JET and G/EPIK that are relevant to this thread. JET is co-teaching in the public schools. And it didn't shut down. |
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isitts
Joined: 25 Dec 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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| earthquakez wrote: |
I'd like to add to this mention of JET. Despite the way those employed in the scheme have been rubbished, even back in the relatively good old days in Japan (mid - late 90s) JET was fairly choosy about who it recruited.
If you've heard tales to the contrary that's about a minority of male teachers mostly from North America. JET tended to have more substantial criteria for English teachers than some think. |
But JET screened for personality types mostly, or particular cultural perspectives. Not in teaching credentials.
That�s not to say the former isn�t important or that G/EPIK couldn�t stand to have a better screening process. But in any case, I don't think these public school programs are going away. And if they do, it's Korea's problem, not ours. There are other countries in the sea that need English teachers  |
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oldfatfarang
Joined: 19 May 2005
Location: On the road to somewhere.
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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| earthquakez wrote: |
I'd like to add to this mention of JET. Despite the way those employed in the scheme have been rubbished, even back in the relatively good old days in Japan (mid - late 90s) JET was fairly choosy about who it recruited.
If you've heard tales to the contrary that's about a minority of male teachers mostly from North America. JET tended to have more substantial criteria for English teachers than some think. |
My mate got into JET with a BA hons in political science, blonde hair, blue eyes, and boyish good looks (26 and NZ accent to).
He then proceeded to chase everything he could talk to in a skirt (or should that be kimono?). But all that supposedly stopped when his co-teacher became his girlfriend. Sounds pretty normal for a TEFL worker to me. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 10:15 pm Post subject: |
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| isitts wrote: |
That�s not to say the former isn�t important or that G/EPIK couldn�t stand to have a better screening process. But in any case, I don't think these public school programs are going away. And if they do, it's Korea's problem, not ours. There are other countries in the sea that need English teachers |
Quoted for its intelligence and logic. Nicely done (Mr/Miss?) isitts. |
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isitts
Joined: 25 Dec 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| isitts wrote: |
That�s not to say the former isn�t important or that G/EPIK couldn�t stand to have a better screening process. But in any case, I don't think these public school programs are going away. And if they do, it's Korea's problem, not ours. There are other countries in the sea that need English teachers |
Quoted for its intelligence and logic. Nicely done (Mr/Miss?) isitts. |
Thank you, TUM. It's Mr. |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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| isitts wrote: |
I do still point out the similarities between JET and G/EPIK that are relevant to this thread. JET is co-teaching in the public schools. And it didn't shut down. |
Indeed JET did not shut down. My use of some past tenses in my post above were largely because my own experience of it was in the past and I was replying to a post referring to the 90s. I hadn't intended to convey any impression that JET had disappeared.
In fact, there's another reason besides the fact that it did not shut down why people trying to say "look, JET's gone, EPIK will go too" are completely barking up the wrong tree.
Because whilst JET has been scaled down, the number of NETs in Japanese public schools has most definitely not. If anything, it has increased. But it's just the way they end up there has sometimes changed.
Increasing numbers of local education offices in Japan have withdrawn from the JET scheme, but they are instead putting NETs in their schools through other means - sometimes organising it themselves, sometimes contracting it out to the lowest bidding dispatch agency. One of the reasons for this was of course money. But another significant reason was that many education offices were getting sick of having immature, early 20s just out of college types, who weren't really a lot of use, forced on them and wanted to have a bit more of an input in who was actually employed to work in their schools.
So the bottom line is that the concept of NETs in PS English classrooms is actually still pretty much thriving in Japan (even if the job conditions often leave a lot to be desired) and anyone trying to point to its demise in Japan as evidence of likelihood of the same in Korea really has little idea what they're talking about. |
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silkhighway
Joined: 24 Oct 2010
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 5:49 am Post subject: |
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| b-class rambler wrote: |
So the bottom line is that the concept of NETs in PS English classrooms is actually still pretty much thriving in Japan (even if the job conditions often leave a lot to be desired) and anyone trying to point to its demise in Japan as evidence of likelihood of the same in Korea really has little idea what they're talking about. |
There are NETs -- or ALTs -- in public schools in Japan, sure, maybe more than ever, but the demise is in the things that matter to us, salary and benefits. Working for an ALT dispatcher is a complete joke compared to GEPIK/EPIK/etc. The vast majority of ALTs in Japan barely scrape a living and ALT salaries have been steadily dropping over the last several years. |
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fusionbarnone
Joined: 31 May 2004
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| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 7:07 am Post subject: |
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| machoman wrote: |
| i was told by my co teacher in 2007 from my old school that the education office wanted to end the foreign teacher program by 2012. so.... maybe there is some truth to this..... |
There has always been an conservative anti-foreigner element in Korean education who want all NETs out of Korea. Nothing more than wishful thinking. |
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