Korean Job Discussion Forums

[creeper1]

In the city I live in a lot of the ESLers have been laid off. The schools are simply going without foreign teachers. They are pretty big schools as well.

However some of these laid off teachers have been able to get GEPIK jobs but in the countryside.

So what is the story? Is GEPIK still doing this allign the starting dates from March or September. Or are they giving countryside schools a chance of having a waygook where they couldn't before?

Or maybe there is no plan at all and this is random.

[Airborne9]

There have been a few threads like this, I�m sure if you do a search you can find better more detailed information.

My understanding is that GEPIK�s funding has been cut and that most schools will not either renew or rehire their FT unless they can find the funding from somewhere else I.E. within their own budget, city hall etc. But again my understanding is that no teachers have been �laid off� mid contract.

I was told from a GEPIK recruiter that probably only 30% of the FT jobs in GEPIK will have funding next year and that will most likely reduce over the following year. So if there is recruitment for Febuary/March I�d imagine it will be extremely limited

[ttompatz]

[jrwhite82]

The GPC (Gyeonngi Provincial Council aka State Senators) rejected the GPOE budget for NETs.

This essentially eliminated funding to all GEPIK teachers who are funded by Gyeonngi Province. These teachers will be able to complete their contracts but cannot renew at their current schools. (unless the school comes up with independent funding) GEPIK has stated that they plan to bring back these 819 teachers (or their replacements) on the next hiring date (March 2012). However, that remains to be seen because there is no budget in place for that.

Some schools receive funding for their NETs from their local city or other sources. These schools are still able to hire.

GEPIK is just a small part of the GPOE that organizes the English Program for Gyeonngi province. They are responsible for administrating the overall English program. They don't officially hire teachers.

Think of it like the NFL (American Football League). The athlete (NET) belongs to a league (GEPIK). But they are employed by a team (school). This league (GEPIK) makes certain policies and rules that should be followed by the teams (schools), owners (principals), coaches (coteachers) and players (NETs). There is a large disparity of wealth between some teams (schools), so a lot of that wealth is redistributed (taxes which turn into GPOE funding) to help the small market teams (schools that can't afford a NET out of their own budget, aka most schools). That redistribution was just cut.

The country schools that secure their own funding probably have surplus budget. I worked at the largest school in my city and had signed a renewal contract 2 and a half months ago. However, a week after signing, the contract was voided because of the budget cuts. Although it was a very large school (over 2300 students) there was absolutely no money available out of the school budjet. I think you will find that most large schools in neighborhoods that aren't well off don't have money lying around.

[koreatimes]

I worked for a GEPIK one year. They were funded quite nicely and built 3 rooms for my co-teacher and me to use (a 4th being the teacher's room). Only the two of us had access to 3 computers in a teacher's room, a big interactive screen in the main classroom, and 2 computers in back. Another computer with projector was in a presentation room, which also served as a library (about 4 shelves worth of books). The third room had about 10 role-play stations where 2-3 students could be in.

The problem with all this was how they selected the materials (books were way too high for the students' levels), how they scheduled classes (they brought in every class and classes from different schools, including mentally disabled children, we met each group only once or twice a semester), and how they selected groups. They just filled the main classroom with 30-40 different students every 2 hours until they got everyone. They did nothing to work with one group of advanced students who could actually make use of the resources they spent their money on.

If we suggested putting in extra hours, without pay, they would say the students have other obligations. Our ideas were completely rejected to make sure every kid was not "left behind" and could spend 2 hours with a native speaker, 4 hours per school year.

I gave them the analogy that that is like giving a starving kid only 4 cups of rice a year. You need more to go on, not enough sustenance.

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