Korean Job Discussion Forums

[plchron]

is there something definitive or written down about what constitutes a class or a class hour? In my contract it says that i will get paid extra after 22 hours, not 22 classes. But for public schools does a class, legally or in the eyes of MOE, count as an hour?

Have any of you ever had this situation happen and what was the outcome? When did you start getting paid extra money? After 22 hours or 22 classes?

[koreatimes]

A typical class will last from 40-50 minutes. Anything less, teach more often, anything more, teach less often. Then, expect overtime pay. If you are in Taiwan, it seems like you haven't worked one day yet in Korea. Is this correct?

Ask how long each class is, then ask how many classes. Get it straight from the school. Try to talk with the head English teacher. Since you said 22, I think you are looking at a public school job, and probably GEPIK (maybe EPIK). In this case, what they do is schedule you for 40 hours. So, even if you teach 22 classes, you are still expected to be at the school. Realize this for public schools. For private schools called hagwons, you will have more like 30 hours, but when you are done, you are done. Same rule applies, look at the workload.

When you become an experienced teacher you can negotiate along the way relative to workload. There isn't one rule that says a class is equal to 40 minutes or 1 hour. I once had a bunch of short 17-20 minute classes for elementary school students. Another school had 2 hour classes for one class in the morning. We treated it like 3 classes. I agreed to regular overtime, so my workload was about 27 classes a week. One class stopped showing up, but my pay was already set, so I continued to get the same amount each month relative to days off.

[schwa]

In public schools, one class (40, 45, or 50 minutes) equals one contractual teaching hour.

Re: hagwons. Some do the same but some count every minute. Theres no regulation. Ask & know before you sign.

[plchron]

i am already at orientation in korea. i got the same answer up uuntil yesterday when the person giving the lecture about regulations told us that some schools go by actual hours and some schools go by the one class equals one hour rule. i am wondering if anyone can provide a link to any specific moe policy that says it is based on numberof classes, not number of actual hours. i just want to make sure that my pay is straight and i dont have any ridiculus surprises in my paycheck

[koreatimes]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[koreatimes]

[plchron]

OK. thanks for the replies. Has anyone ever been screwed over and not gotten paid overtime for working more than 22 classes? What was the outcome. I had someone tell me that it just depends if they like me or not.

[koreatimes]