Korean Job Discussion Forums

[I_Am_Wrong]

What have your holidays been like?

[Goro-chan]

In my case, last year I had 3 weeks for summer, plus one extra week where I taught mornings and had the afternoons off. In winter I had 2 months, minus one week in the middle where I had to go back to spend a week watching DVDs with the kids rather than actually teaching! I also had a few random long-weekends during exam times too.

But a few months ago all the GEPIK supervisors had a meeting and were told not to give such long holidays, so who knows what it'll be like this year. It is exam time now at school and no one has given me the week off, so it looks like I'm expected to turn up and do nothing rather than stay home and do nothing!

[I_Am_Wrong]

I'm asking because I currently have a public school gig where I only have the hagwon standard of two weeks of paid vacation and the option of one week unpaid. However, in the winter I get six weeks of three classes per day and in the Summer three weeks of three classes per day.

I was thinking about applying with the new Seoul school jobs but it turns out they are only offering the same two weeks. Which is really a joke because you're a teacher at the school who works just as hard as the Korean teachers. They get vacations, so why do the foreign teachers not deserve vacations?

[Grotto]

I have told my school that unless I get 5 or 6 weeks vacation I will not renew....I pointed out that in February I have no classes, there is no reason for me to be there and I have nothing to do. They agreed but the gyeonggido ministry of education doesnt want foreign teachers to have any more vacation time that a hogwan teacher.

lets you know where we rank in the scheme of things

[crazylemongirl]

[I_Am_Wrong]

yeah exactly, they'll be lucky to get 20 teachers with the holidays they're offering.

[canukteacher]

I discussed this with my principal weeks ago, and told her my two main concerns were the excessive amount of non-teaching hours spent sitting in the school, and the lack of vacation time.

Like you Grotto, I did almost no teaching in Feb., and since no class schedules had been decided it was impossible to do prep work.

My principal wants me to stay, and apparently she has spoken to Gepik about my concerns, but almost the same contract conditions were released today for 2005-2006. Whether or not she will do something for me outside of Gepik remains to be seen. In the mean time I am not going to sit around. I'm getting busy looking for another job.

I sincerely hope that they lose alot of good teachers, and that they can't find replacements.

CT

[schwa]

When I joined EPIK (in many ways the template for GEPIK) 4 years ago, conditions there were deteriorating in similar ways. The contract, which yours models, has always stipulated 2 weeks vacation but schools back then either gave all the school vacation time off or provided opportunities to do provincial teacher training sessions for fat extra pay. That all got rolled back. Workshops & camps became the vacation norm. The payscale had stagnated for years & with the reduced incentives a lot of good people bailed.

Provincial Ministry of Education had to take notice. Newbies were still coming in to fill the jobs but morale sucked, creating lots of problems. They put a new guy in charge who listened to the grievances & actively intervened to admonish stubborn high-handed local officials. Thats a sensitive business, as supervisors (even at provincial level) wield less power than even vice-principals in backwater schools. But the upshot was some nice improvements.

No guarantees, but softer vacation schedules became negotiable on a school-by-school basis. Pay underwent some good upscaling -- what youre looking at now, especially upper levels. Plus 200000 on top if you stick around. My district office came up with a pleasant easy "overtime" gig for me to chat with officeworkers a couple hours a week for a considerable extra sum.
Deskbound time is a crapshoot. Some supervisors have a punchclock mentality, some dont care as long as youre fulfilling your job duties competently. I've known both kinds. I can spend the time productively at my desk or these days I'm free to come & go & I do much the same stuff on my home computer anyway.

But back to main points. GEPIK is new & will stumble its own way through the learning curve. Many teachers will leave for good reasons. The program will scramble to make itself viable.

Dont hold your breath for 3-month vacations written into the contract -- aint gonna happen. But if you like where youre at & your boss regards you as a valuable & pleasant asset to his school, things might well go sweet. This is where the non-bindingness of contracts can work in our favor.

I dont even think of myself as part of any program anymore -- its just a cool local job & I feel appreciated. All that said, it could turn to *beep* in a heartbeat. Impermanence keeps life interesting!

[Gollum]

I just stayed on this year, being promised vacations wouldn't be an issue, despite what the contract says. I've had one week off so far. We'll see if I get the 3 1/2 months off I got last year.