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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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 Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 7:52 am Post subject: Not all public schools going without foreigners |
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My former Korean coworker works at a private middle school. They had the same gov't sponsored SMOE waygook teacher for years, and now that he left, the school actually hired two foreigners to replace him.
The gov't isn't paying for both of them, though. The parents are all paying a certain amount each to cover the costs.
Parents want foreign teachers, whether they come as part of a gov't program or not. The more I see news stories talking about Korean English teachers replacing foreign teachers, the more I realize that the same stories surface every year about the same time before the hiring period. |
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ZIFA
Joined: 23 Feb 2011
Location: Dici che il fiume..Trova la via al mare
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| Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:11 am Post subject: |
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The parents and students want the waygook ..but the korean teachers don't.
... seems to be the normal scenario. |
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BigBuds
Joined: 15 Sep 2005
Location: Changwon
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| Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:38 am Post subject: |
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This is because some"public" schools are privately owned and their money for waegooks comes from them not the government.
They just got a subsidy for their NETS before but the private schools can afford waegooks without the subsidies. The true public schools (government run) won't be able to afford NETs once their budgets for them are slashed or removed entirely. |
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ZIFA
Joined: 23 Feb 2011
Location: Dici che il fiume..Trova la via al mare
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| Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:58 am Post subject: |
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| BigBuds wrote: |
This is because some"public" schools are privately owned and their money for waegooks comes from them not the government.
They just got a subsidy for their NETS before but the private schools can afford waegooks without the subsidies. The true public schools (government run) won't be able to afford NETs once their budgets for them are slashed or removed entirely. |
KT's don't seem to get it, that FT's were introduced due to parental demand in the first place.
It was a goverment ploy to take away business from hogwons.
If they get rid of FT's now all that will happen is the same cycle begins all over again. Parents complain and send their kids to more hogwon classes. The poorer parents order their school to provide an FT. And so it goes. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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| BigBuds wrote: |
This is because some"public" schools are privately owned and their money for waegooks comes from them not the government.
They just got a subsidy for their NETS before but the private schools can afford waegooks without the subsidies. The true public schools (government run) won't be able to afford NETs once their budgets for them are slashed or removed entirely. |
Actually private schools do get the same funding from the government as public schools. They have to follow most of the same regulations as their public counterparts, like being allocated students by the local office. The biggest difference is how they hire staff (like being the only school in town that gets a NET pre-2006). Private schools are relic of the past, when Korea was poor and needed private sources to help educate the masses, all new schools are public.
If EPIK decides to cut it's NET's, expect being farmed out to another school. Which means teaching at two, or more, schools. And being the only NET in a town of 50,000. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 4:19 pm Post subject: Re: Not all public schools going without foreigners |
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| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| M The more I see news stories talking about Korean English teachers replacing foreign teachers, the more I realize that the same stories surface every year about the same time before the hiring period. |
Indeed. This has been supposed to happen every year since 2005. And GEPIK states they will be hiring next year. And so far there's been no rumors regarding EPIK.
Every year there are rumours of doom-and-gloom regarding public schools...remember the big flap about Indians and Filipinas taking over our jobs? And where are they?
And then there were these thousands of supposedly fluent-English speaking Koreans who were going to be hired from overseas...that didn't work out that well did it?
And then...oh skip it. Suffice to say that this too shall pass. |
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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 4:40 pm Post subject: Re: Not all public schools going without foreigners |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| M The more I see news stories talking about Korean English teachers replacing foreign teachers, the more I realize that the same stories surface every year about the same time before the hiring period. |
Indeed. This has been supposed to happen every year since 2005. And GEPIK states they will be hiring next year. And so far there's been no rumors regarding EPIK.
Every year there are rumours of doom-and-gloom regarding public schools...remember the big flap about Indians and Filipinas taking over our jobs? And where are they?
And then there were these thousands of supposedly fluent-English speaking Koreans who were going to be hired from overseas...that didn't work out that well did it?
And then...oh skip it. Suffice to say that this too shall pass. |
I've come to the understanding that all of the articles and hub-bub are about one thing -- freaking teachers out so that the feel they should accept whatever crap contract is thrown at them. Make no mistake, the media here often operates at the whim of the government, and articles are created for specific purposes.
Every year (twice a year, really) we've heard this same crap, as you mentioned. And every year, the number of foreigners hired seems to stay the same or go up.
This became even more apparent to me when my wife and I were talking about the recent article in the KH or KT about foreign teachers being pushed out and replaced with Koreans because the program "Failed."
My wife laughed out loud at that.
Why, you ask? Because she remembers the main reason for hiring foreigners to teach in the public schools was to reduce the amount of private education spending by the parents.
So, if they are stating that having foreigners in the classroom is a failure, then what they are really saying (but ignoring) is that they CAN'T stop parents from spending on private education. They KNOW that if they take the foreigners out, the amount of money spent on private education will only increase. That would be very counter-productive.
Oh, by the way, I spoke to my Korean friend again. She claims they are getting government money for a 2nd teacher at the school. Two... that's right... government money for TWO foreign teachers. Does that surprise you? It did me. She says that her school is considered to be in a disadvantaged area (although in Seoul) where the parents can't afford hagwons, so the gov't is bending over backwards to provide funding for more foreigners at her school.
Next time we approach contract discussion time, mark my words, you'll see the SAME doom and gloom stories appear in the Korean Herald, Korea Times, etc.. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:33 pm Post subject: Re: Not all public schools going without foreigners |
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| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Swampfox10mm wrote: |
| M The more I see news stories talking about Korean English teachers replacing foreign teachers, the more I realize that the same stories surface every year about the same time before the hiring period. |
Indeed. This has been supposed to happen every year since 2005. And GEPIK states they will be hiring next year. And so far there's been no rumors regarding EPIK.
Every year there are rumours of doom-and-gloom regarding public schools...remember the big flap about Indians and Filipinas taking over our jobs? And where are they?
And then there were these thousands of supposedly fluent-English speaking Koreans who were going to be hired from overseas...that didn't work out that well did it?
And then...oh skip it. Suffice to say that this too shall pass. |
I've come to the understanding that all of the articles and hub-bub are about one thing -- freaking teachers out so that the feel they should accept whatever crap contract is thrown at them. Make no mistake, the media here often operates at the whim of the government, and articles are created for specific purposes.
Every year (twice a year, really) we've heard this same crap, as you mentioned. And every year, the number of foreigners hired seems to stay the same or go up.
This became even more apparent to me when my wife and I were talking about the recent article in the KH or KT about foreign teachers being pushed out and replaced with Koreans because the program "Failed."
My wife laughed out loud at that.
Why, you ask? Because she remembers the main reason for hiring foreigners to teach in the public schools was to reduce the amount of private education spending by the parents.
So, if they are stating that having foreigners in the classroom is a failure, then what they are really saying (but ignoring) is that they CAN'T stop parents from spending on private education. They KNOW that if they take the foreigners out, the amount of money spent on private education will only increase. That would be very counter-productive.
Oh, by the way, I spoke to my Korean friend again. She claims they are getting government money for a 2nd teacher at the school. Two... that's right... government money for TWO foreign teachers. Does that surprise you? It did me. She says that her school is considered to be in a disadvantaged area (although in Seoul) where the parents can't afford hagwons, so the gov't is bending over backwards to provide funding for more foreigners at her school.
Next time we approach contract discussion time, mark my words, you'll see the SAME doom and gloom stories appear in the Korean Herald, Korea Times, etc.. |
And the time after that and the time after that........ |
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TeaTime
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks guys, for the reassurance. |
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sojusucks
Joined: 31 May 2008
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| Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Politics and funding are the problems. It's alreay been a SMOE issue and now it's GEPIK. |
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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 12:01 am Post subject: |
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The government dropping employment of foreign teachers may be a good thing. Why? Because the original problem has not disappeared. In fact, the entire program likely fueled parental expectations.
Parents will still want foreign teachers whether the government places fewer or not. If they do drop the number of government-funded waygooks, then schools will just pawn costs off on parents to have them funded by the schools individually. That was how my old job worked, and it even meant I was not subject to government restrictions on vacation, pay, etc. No riding a desk during breaks!
So it could be a big positive if SMOE cuts teachers. At the very worst, it will mean a whole lot more private teaching available once the waygooks are gone from public schools. My bet, however, is that more schools will just step up and fund teachers themselves. Parents have come to expect having a native teacher teach English to their kids. |
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