Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dbee]

If you are anything like me, then you are probably fed up with the litany of complaints appearing on this and other boards, from teachers about recruiters, hogwons, universities etc ...

Often it's all but impossible to seperate the genuine complaints from those that are just 'less reasonable' complaints made by unexperienced teachers. Also, almost everyone has a different view as to what exactly constitutes fair and honest behaviour on the part of a recruiter/school/manager etc...

I thought that perhaps it might be worthwhile for ourselves (and hopefully the industry as a whole) if a couple of the longer-term teachers, as well as a few full-time recruiters and hogwon owners etc... were able to sit down and trash out (on a non-copyrighted forum) what may or may not lead to a working group of standards.

Among the questions that need answered IMO, include

How honest does a recruiter have to be ??
How many extra-cirricular hours should a teacher find reasonable ??
Can anything be done about the 'letter of release' debacle ??
How lenient should a teacher be with regards to the issue of late pay ??
Is it reasonable for teachers to expect to have their flight paid for up front??

and there are probably one hundred other ones out there that could be discussed. The thing is though, that while the standards themselves are non-copyrighted, and completely open to reproduction by anybody on any site or contract in the industry, I'm only looking for a smaller number of teachers with at least 2yrs experience teaching in Korea under their belt to take part. This is to preserve a balance between recruiters/teachers/owners/managers on the forum, so it's responsive to the needs of the industry as a whole. But anyone is allowed to post on the guest category.

Anyway if you'd be interested in giving your spare time to taking part in something which hopefully will benefit your industry then the address is www.englishteachingkorea.com/forum/

I'm especially interested to hear from you if you have worked full-time in either the recruiting industry or as a hogwon owner/manager etc... . If you're not interested or don't fit the description, then feel free to come over anyway from time to time to see whether you agree or disagree with what we're thinking.

all the best,

[Yu_Bum_suk]

An interesting project - I don't have the length of time in you'd like, but I'd like to see the results. I think that unrealistic expectations on the part of teachers, hogwan owners, and parents all contribute to disappointment.

As for teachers, I think we need to be educated and savy, and prepared to be manipulative and nasty if necessary, in order to get ahead. It pays to have back-up plans, contingency plans, connections, shrewdness, and resolve. If you do, then you need not be at the mercy of dickhead employers.

One problem I can see with your survey is that every teacher's concerns are different. Take common gripes:

- long hours / split shifts
- hostile co-workers / management
- unpaid overtime
- late pay
- unprofessional workplace environments
- zero support dealing with problem students
- lack of teaching materials
- having to use very poor teaching materials
- location
- pension / flight / bonus issues
- dislike of teaching very young children / kindie
- poor housing

Now, for me, some of the above mentioned problems are enough to make me quit. Others I could live with. For other teachers things might be different. It also makes a huge difference whether you're dealing with hogwans, public schools, unis, or adult academies.

[livinginkorea]

[dbee]

cheers guys,

I'm adding those points as we speak - keep'em coming ...

As for the length of time issue, I kinda added that as an after-thought. I know that the majority of teachers are here for less than two years.

There are lots of teachers on this forum that have been around for ages and know the issues involved here like the backs of their hands. On the other hand though, if someone is experienced in the industry and is interested enough to spend their time thrasing out some ground rules, it doesn't seem fair to exclude them ??

I'll guess I'll just see what kinda response I get to begin with, and if it's a bad idea then ditch it later on.