Korean Job Discussion Forums

GENO123 · Joined: 28 Jan 2010

REPOST

16 WEEK SEMESTERS PLUS TWO WEEKS AFTER TERM PAPER WORK AND ONE WEEK PRE TERM PAPER WORK BEFORE FOR A TOTAL OF 14 WEEKS VACATION A YEAR. REAL NUMBERS . ALSO CONSIDER -NO NATIONAL HOLIDAYS AT UNIVERSITIES EITHER. OF COURSE THE PAY AT UNIVERSITIES IS LOW AS WELL.

IF ANYONE IS ON THE TEACHERS PENSION - AND- THEY HAVE BEEN IN THE SYSTEM LESS THAN FIVE YEARS OR HAVE LESS THEN FIVE YEARS OF MONEY IN THE TEACHERS SYSTEM THEN IT IS FAIR TO DEDUCT 200 K A MONTH FROM YOUR SALARY BECAUSE YOU DON'T GET SEVERANCE RATHER YOU JUST GET THE MONEY THAT WAS PAID IN. (UNLESS YOUR SCHOOL PAYS SEVERANCE THEN YOU CAN DEDUCT THIS)

LAST "CONTACT HOURS" IS/ARE IRRELEVANT. WHAT COUNTS IS TOTAL WORK COMPARED TO SALARY. IF YOUR CONTRACT SAYS 12 HOURS BUT YOU ARE DOING LOTS OF CORRECTING AND ADMINISTRATIVE WORK THEN THE 12 'CONTACT " HOURS MEANS PRETTY MUCH ZERO

SINCE AIR FARE ISN'T PAID EITHER. TEACHERS MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER DEDUCTING THAT AS WELL .

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:54 am Post subject:

When you are done typing in all caps & have calmed down a bit you might want to consider that grading is seldom paid or officially included in the paid teaching duties of teachers. This is sad and wrong but pretty common.

You might also consider that in your own statement you mention 14 weeks of vacation per year.

Now sit down, breathe deeply and ponder on that for a second... 14.weeks.vacation.per.year.

Not 14 days...no no, 14 weeks.

Now next item....

12 hours of teaching per week then it becomes OT. Yes 12 hours.

Sit down again, and ponder this.

Now take a deep breath and crunch the numbers and compare it to other teaching jobs in Korea.

Sure Universities seldom offer airfare (they do not need to) but then again working hours are far lower, vacation is higher and opportunities to work on other projects are higher due to more free time.

The decent Universities offer a housing allowance and pay 2.4 or better....for an avg of 12 hours per week of teaching over 38 working weeks a year (considering those 14 weeks of vacation).

This my friend is a pretty decent deal if you can get it....

GENO123 · Joined: 28 Jan 2010

At Universities the vacations Really 14 weeks is nice .However outside of that everything else is a negative. .The vacations are reflected in the (very) low salary Even vacations are not what they seem when you get emails saying you have to upload your syllabus or some other kind of pointless busy work. If you have to do work then it is not really vacation.

12 hours of teaching is illusory . Teaching hours or contact hours doesn’t really matter. What is important is total work and trouble compared to compensation.

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 4:20 am Post subject:

Ok then, stay away from them.

Let others work there.

I did work for a University in Busan for years and it was a great job.

I still have many friends working at universtities in Korea and their situation is pretty damn good compared to the average teaching job in Korea for westerners.

To each his own.

If in the broader sense you feel ESL is broken in Korea, I suggest you move on to greener ESL pastures. The other option makes no sense for you.

Good luck!

GENO123 · Joined: 28 Jan 2010

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 7:45 am Post subject:

Some of your points are valid but the PHD is not required to earn a wage that will allow you to support a family.

You can do that with a M.A. (related to the field of work), or a B.A. and some related certs along with experience and a bit of networking.

The proper visa status will help as well.

jlb · Joined: 18 Sep 2003

I've worked at Dong-A for the past 2 years and it's an excellent job. One of the best in Busan, by a lot in some cases (compared to somewhere like Shilla).