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shifter2009
Joined: 03 Sep 2006
Location: wisconsin
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 Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:23 pm Post subject: New EPIK security pledge? |
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Anyone working for EPIK get one of these? It reads as such.....
I solemnly swear blah blah blah
-I shall not disclose any confidential information about my co-workers, school, or program, either during the term of employment or after the termination of my contract
-I shall not divulge any confidential work-related materials that I've acquired
- I shall observes school regulations and carry out my duties under the specific instruction and supervision of the principal.
If I fail to observe these rule, I shall accept the consequences of my actions as determined by the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education
Name, signature ect
Anyone know the motivations behind this? Are lots of people getting them? |
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thegadfly
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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All rules exist to counter a severe problem, usually one that just occured. Therefore, I would presume that:
-- a teacher divulged confidential information about co-wokers, the school, and programs, that has resulted somehow in the loss of revenue for the program, loss of face for the administrators, and/or some kind of lawsuit or additional bribes being necessary to keep the whole thing afloat.
-- a teacher was taking work-related materials and giving/selling those materials to hakwons or other tutors, or making use of those materials for private lessons.
-- a teacher was breaking the law and/or the terms of the contract, and was told to stop by the principal. Further, the person was told by the principal what ought to be done, but the person refused to follow those instructions, and this resulted in a loss of face, work-related problems, or a loss of revenue sufficient to warrant making people take a pledge.
Really, everything in that pledge should be done anyway -- do not betray confidences, do not gossip, do not steal, and follow your boss's work-related instructions.
Seems pretty "Duh!" to me.... |
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shifter2009
Joined: 03 Sep 2006
Location: wisconsin
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| Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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| thegadfly wrote: |
All rules exist to counter a severe problem, usually one that just occured. Therefore, I would presume that:
-- a teacher divulged confidential information about co-wokers, the school, and programs, that has resulted somehow in the loss of revenue for the program, loss of face for the administrators, and/or some kind of lawsuit or additional bribes being necessary to keep the whole thing afloat.
-- a teacher was taking work-related materials and giving/selling those materials to hakwons or other tutors, or making use of those materials for private lessons.
-- a teacher was breaking the law and/or the terms of the contract, and was told to stop by the principal. Further, the person was told by the principal what ought to be done, but the person refused to follow those instructions, and this resulted in a loss of face, work-related problems, or a loss of revenue sufficient to warrant making people take a pledge.
Really, everything in that pledge should be done anyway -- do not betray confidences, do not gossip, do not steal, and follow your boss's work-related instructions.
Seems pretty "Duh!" to me.... |
Using the current contract that covers these topics already seems pretty "duh" to me. Why should I sign another sheet of paper making the rules I previously agreed to more vague? |
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thegadfly
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not saying that the pledge is a good thing at all -- I am just postulating reasons why it exists, since you asked.
Yes, you already agreed to do those things -- but the pledge is supposed to make sure you really, really mean it, and didn't have your fingers crossed behind your back.
I haven't worked for EPIK, but I HAVE had to sign pledges for teaching jobs in the US -- I even had to sign a Moral Turpitude agreement to work in Texas -- I wasn't allowed to go to a bar within 5 miles of the school, nor buy alcohol within 5 miles of the school, for example.
In my case, the pledges went much further than "do stuff you are supposed to do already." Your pledge seems to be a case of "someone got burned and wants a little bit of theater to pretend he won't get burned again." To me it seems like a non-issue, since I wouldn't have been doing any of those things anyway, but I guess if you really like your gossip, or you insist on disobeying your principal, those could be issues.
Where I'm from, disobeying your principal will get you fired in any event, so there is no need for a pledge -- you rock the boat, you get tossed out to sea (at least in the US). |
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alwaysgood
Joined: 15 Aug 2011
Location: Changwon
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| Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:05 pm Post subject: Re: New EPIK security pledge? |
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| shifter2009 wrote: |
Anyone working for EPIK get one of these? It reads as such.....
I solemnly swear blah blah blah
-I shall not disclose any confidential information about my co-workers, school, or program, either during the term of employment or after the termination of my contract
-I shall not divulge any confidential work-related materials that I've acquired
- I shall observes school regulations and carry out my duties under the specific instruction and supervision of the principal.
If I fail to observe these rule, I shall accept the consequences of my actions as determined by the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education
Name, signature ect
Anyone know the motivations behind this? Are lots of people getting them? |
I work at a PS in Gyeongsangnam-do and have not received one of these (yet). |
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ED209
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:25 pm Post subject: Re: New EPIK security pledge? |
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| shifter2009 wrote: |
Anyone working for EPIK get one of these? It reads as such.....
I solemnly swear blah blah blah
-I shall not disclose any confidential information about my co-workers, school, or program, either during the term of employment or after the termination of my contract
-I shall not divulge any confidential work-related materials that I've acquired
- I shall observes school regulations and carry out my duties under the specific instruction and supervision of the principal.
If I fail to observe these rule, I shall accept the consequences of my actions as determined by the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education
Name, signature ect
Anyone know the motivations behind this? Are lots of people getting them? |
You've just broken those rules! |
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shifter2009
Joined: 03 Sep 2006
Location: wisconsin
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| Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:55 pm Post subject: |
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| thegadfly wrote: |
I'm not saying that the pledge is a good thing at all -- I am just postulating reasons why it exists, since you asked.
Yes, you already agreed to do those things -- but the pledge is supposed to make sure you really, really mean it, and didn't have your fingers crossed behind your back.
I haven't worked for EPIK, but I HAVE had to sign pledges for teaching jobs in the US -- I even had to sign a Moral Turpitude agreement to work in Texas -- I wasn't allowed to go to a bar within 5 miles of the school, nor buy alcohol within 5 miles of the school, for example.
In my case, the pledges went much further than "do stuff you are supposed to do already." Your pledge seems to be a case of "someone got burned and wants a little bit of theater to pretend he won't get burned again." To me it seems like a non-issue, since I wouldn't have been doing any of those things anyway, but I guess if you really like your gossip, or you insist on disobeying your principal, those could be issues.
Where I'm from, disobeying your principal will get you fired in any event, so there is no need for a pledge -- you rock the boat, you get tossed out to sea (at least in the US). |
I understand the intent. I guess I was looking for specific explanation that was coming down the pipe or maybe the incident that sparked it. My co-teacher had just given me an "I don't know" so I thought maybe others had gotten better explanations. I am also not trusting so I am on the look out for more nefarious reasoning. I'd hate to sign it and then have it leveraged into new "duties" not discussed in my contract. |
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thegadfly
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 12:13 am Post subject: |
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| shifter2009 wrote: |
| thegadfly wrote: |
I'm not saying that the pledge is a good thing at all -- I am just postulating reasons why it exists, since you asked.
Yes, you already agreed to do those things -- but the pledge is supposed to make sure you really, really mean it, and didn't have your fingers crossed behind your back.
I haven't worked for EPIK, but I HAVE had to sign pledges for teaching jobs in the US -- I even had to sign a Moral Turpitude agreement to work in Texas -- I wasn't allowed to go to a bar within 5 miles of the school, nor buy alcohol within 5 miles of the school, for example.
In my case, the pledges went much further than "do stuff you are supposed to do already." Your pledge seems to be a case of "someone got burned and wants a little bit of theater to pretend he won't get burned again." To me it seems like a non-issue, since I wouldn't have been doing any of those things anyway, but I guess if you really like your gossip, or you insist on disobeying your principal, those could be issues.
Where I'm from, disobeying your principal will get you fired in any event, so there is no need for a pledge -- you rock the boat, you get tossed out to sea (at least in the US). |
I understand the intent. I guess I was looking for specific explanation that was coming down the pipe or maybe the incident that sparked it. My co-teacher had just given me an "I don't know" so I thought maybe others had gotten better explanations. I am also not trusting so I am on the look out for more nefarious reasoning. I'd hate to sign it and then have it leveraged into new "duties" not discussed in my contract. |
That is certainly understandable.
I would bet 10 won that the pledge thing is specific to your individual school, and is a direct result of a negative experience with one of the recently-gone teachers -- I would hope that it is pointless and useless enough that it would not have been implemented across the board, but is a single person at your school's "bright idea." |
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jamesd
Joined: 15 Aug 2011
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:14 am Post subject: |
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| Tell them you'll have to discuss it with your lawyer before you sign it. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 7:36 am Post subject: Re: New EPIK security pledge? |
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| ED209 wrote: |
| shifter2009 wrote: |
Anyone working for EPIK get one of these? It reads as such.....
I solemnly swear blah blah blah
-I shall not disclose any confidential information about my co-workers, school, or program, either during the term of employment or after the termination of my contract
-I shall not divulge any confidential work-related materials that I've acquired
- I shall observes school regulations and carry out my duties under the specific instruction and supervision of the principal.
If I fail to observe these rule, I shall accept the consequences of my actions as determined by the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education
Name, signature ect
Anyone know the motivations behind this? Are lots of people getting them? |
You've just broken those rules! |
He didn't mention the name of his school. However, he is talking about the terms of his employment, so that could be a technical violation.
Let's sue the OP! Just kidding.   |
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earthquakez
Joined: 10 Nov 2010
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| Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 7:56 am Post subject: Re: New EPIK security pledge? |
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| shifter2009 wrote: |
Anyone working for EPIK get one of these? It reads as such.....
I solemnly swear blah blah blah
-I shall not disclose any confidential information about my co-workers, school, or program, either during the term of employment or after the termination of my contract
-I shall not divulge any confidential work-related materials that I've acquired
- I shall observes school regulations and carry out my duties under the specific instruction and supervision of the principal.If I fail to observe these rule, I shall accept the consequences of my actions as determined by the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education
Name, signature ect
Anyone know the motivations behind this? Are lots of people getting them? |
Please...................just another public school control-freak episode to attempt to assert control over NETS. While my attitude to Korea is that it's the best place currently to teach English in Asia, anybody who is familiar with Korean public schools and the programs that employ foreign Eng teachers know that these schools and schemes are paranoid about the said teachers revealing the less than professional and less than sunny sides of the public school system and EPIK/GEPIK.
Despite apologist wafflings, there is no need for extra pieces of paper to supplement a foreign teacher's contract. The contractual clauses give plenty of scope for applying strictures and penalties to multiple situations where a teacher may have done something inappropriate or has been accused of doing so.
If Korean schools, education offices etc and their staff are so worried about confidentiality matters, they might start in their own backyard. Lack of professionalism in confidential matters whether these are agreed generally or present in legal documentation is very much part of the education system here particularly as it pertains to foreign English teachers.
Anybody who has worked in EPIK or GEPIK should know that unless they've been living under a rock or are eager to blame foreigners for the K cultural tendency to have little respect for confidentiality and privacy except when a higher up feels they are entitled to it but others are not. 
Spend comparitively little time in a Korean public school staff room and you'll see very soon how laughable the document referred to by the OP is.  I also like the idea that NETS are somehow taking 'confidential' materials that are not theirs to supposedly use in hagwons or whatever it was some poster said. As is common knowledge, NETS are told they must hand over their intellectual property to Korean public schools and K teachers who often proceed to claim the materials as their own including putting the schools' and teachers' names on them.
THAT is the real issue re 'confidential work-related materials'. What a joke when K schools and teachers steal NETS' ideas and original materials. It matters diddly squat, too, if the contract states that such materials are the property of the school. Intellectual property rights as recognised internationally override fantasy clauses in Korean contracts that seek to claim all foreign English teachers' concepts and teaching materials as the property of Koreans.
Ignore the nonsense. Sign the 'pledge' if your school makes you but it has zero significance other than in the wacky/delusions of grandeur heads of those Koreans who came up with it. |
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bentobento
Joined: 21 Jan 2011
Location: US of A (for now)
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| Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 8:08 am Post subject: Re: New EPIK security pledge? |
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| shifter2009 wrote: |
I solemnly swear blah blah blah
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Try ending it with "...that I'm up to no good." I bet it reveals more secrets. |
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oldtactics
Joined: 18 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:50 am Post subject: |
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| All these recent EPIK posts make me wonder whether we're a year away from having to hand over our passports when we arrive. Good luck to everyone entering the system in 2012. |
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