Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kneezah~]

Hi Everyone, I'm new to the job market and am looking into Namsan International Kindergarten and Rainbow International School. I know you need to be a certified teacher to work at these places, I wonder if anyone has any other information about them (beside their homepages)^^

[Yucca Girl]

I don't know anything about Namsan International Kindergarten, but I do have information about Rainbow International School. The first thing you should know is that although the school is technically a North American curriculum school, the admin of the school are all Turkish men with no real education background or credentials. Because the admin completely lack a background in North American (or any kind of education for that matter), it can be really difficult to make suggestions on ways to improve the school, curriculum etc. In general the admin are not receptive to any kind of feedback or input. It can be very frustrating environment to work in for a certified teacher with credentials and experience.

Another big issue with the school is the manner in which the teachers are treated. Teachers are often fired or have their contracts non-renewed with little notice, cause, or explanation given as to why they were dismissed. The people who run the school use the threat of firing people as a way to discourage them from making any kind of suggestions. During a period when some key staff members decided to leave the school mid year, the school founder held a meeting with the teachers so that they could voice concerns about what was happening. A few days later the teachers who had spoken at the meeting found ads for their jobs posted online. From the start dates listed in the ad, it appeared as though the school planned to wait until the last day before Christmas break and fire the teachers who had voiced concerns. Because they were confronted with the ad, the school backed down, but for the rest of the year teachers were threatened with being fired if they voiced any further concerns. At the end of the school year, the principal waited until a few days before summer vacation to tell a large portion of the teachers that they would not be returning the next year. Some of the teachers did not expect this and found themselves scrambling for new jobs, housing, etc at the last minute.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend working at the school. There are a lot of issues with management, and other real international schools offer much better pay, housing and benefits.

[kneezah~]

Hi Yucca Girl,

Thanks for the information. I was only able to find one other posting about Rainbow on this site and it seemed relatively positive. Having this sort of info is really important for future job seekers.

Has anyone hear anything about Namsan International Kindergarten? I know it's a pretty small school...

[ifa79]

I can back up everything in the previous posting.

Rainbow International School (RIS) is a bad place to work and it is a bad place to send your children for school. I was a teacher there when it was pretty nice in 2009 but since the owner installed a new administration at the end of 2010, the working and learning conditions got much, much worse. I can only imagine how terrible it is now. Very unprofessional and unethical administration.

I don't recommend that school to anyone.

[midnightpariah]

I would be extremely careful with RIS. I got hired by an international school in Japan who is owned by the same Turkish company that RIS is owned by. I got screwed over so badly, that I had to leave Japan. I don't know if all of these Turkish international schools are run the same, but I personally wouldn't want to risk it.