Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kathycanuck]

Hi: I just found out my contract will not be renewed at my private high school, in spite of great feedback from students and parents...and the people from the govt who "evaluated" my teaching.
At first I disciplined my rowdy juniors....40 of them, no-credit class, so they were not motivated. The Korean teachers in the English office kept insisting that they were there to help me, and to please refer any discipline problems to them. I did. Bad move. When i inquired why I wasn't being renewed I was told that the Korean teachers had told admin that I "couldn't control my classes." Total shock and looking for a new job.

[jlb]

Tough break. I would feel angry if I were you.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Looks like you got blind-sided. Sorry.

[marlow]

Those teachers are very two-faced.

[BigBlackEquus]

Oh well, it's best to move on and forget them. The next person they get might suck so much, they wish they had you back.

You're trying to teach a foreign language without much education in teaching it (I assume) within a backwards system that probably wants to hire a man. I have come to the conclusion, after reading posts on this board, that high schools prefer this. Elementary schools want women. Try to find one. Leave your school gracefully, apply for other public school jobs, and mention your year of experience.

[paperbag princess]

karma karma karma karma karma karma karma karma


i'm sorry to hear about your situation, but if it makes you feel better, it's pretty common.

[canuckistan]

Damned if you do, damned of you don't. Sounds familiar.

[crazylemongirl]

The discpline thing might just be a 'face saving' thing for a whole heap of reasons to not be rehired.

They want a man, they want an american, you've got off side with some of the teachers, the list goes on.

[UncleAlex]

As I pointed out in my post 'Are Public Schools Really Worth It?' the worst
thing a foreign teacher can suffer at a Korean public school are the Korean
teachers. I was told by the wife of a Korean friend of mine who is a high school
teacher that most Korean teachers dislike or resent our being there. One can
speculate all he wants on the reasons why, but the bottom line is we are foreigners.
I've been teaching in the public secondary school sector for seven years, and
only once at a middle school in Icheon did I feel like part of the family. Of course,
I was welcomed at the other schools I'd worked at but only superficially - as a
formality or protocol. One can believe that the Korean staff has accepted
him by being invited out for dinner with them and receiving compliments for his teaching
ability. But at the end of the year, when they tell him that they don't want him back
the following semester, one's illusory bubble bursts. That's all because of how
sensitive and wary the Korean teachers are toward us in their own form and
measure of bias and discrimination. In your case, they have projected their
own impotence and incompetence on you - the foreign scapegoat and victim
of ethnic discrimination. All the compliments and praises you have received
amount to nothing, and could even have hurt you, because of pent up jealousies.
I advise you to write a formal letter of complaint to the head Education Office
in your district concerning the Korean teachers' incompetence and indifference
toward your needs in the classroom. For be assured those same Korean teachers
will be contacted by other public schools when you apply for a new position
in the future. And your former colleagues - if that's the right term - will advise
those prospective employers through the medium of their Korean English teachers
not to hire you on account of your alleged inability to control students.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[manlyboy]

If my school started firing teachers based on their inability to keep control of classes, I'd be short at least 3 or 4 co-teachers.

[UncleAlex]

It makes much sense if you think aboiut it. First of all, whether in public or private schools,
in most cases, the Korean English teachers have a meeting with the principal who
asks them if they would like the foreign teacher to continue the following year. If for some
irrational reason the Korean co-teachers would prefer that the foreign teacher leaves
"their' school ( age, gender, or personality), then he gets the boot, and it's usually the
Korean team teacher who tells him that "the principal has decided....". Of course, they will
go with another foreign teacher, for the parents of the students would expect one or the
Education Office require one to teach at that school. In the meantime, the Korean staff
will have to take their chances with the next alien and hope for better luck next time.
The point is that Korean native teachers are not shuffled around so unprofessionally
and disgracefully as we foreign teachers are because of their ethnicity and citizenship.
We are the ones who are discriminated against in the above manner and in many
other subtle ways too, for we are outsiders. We are not even considered bonafide
teachers, because we don't hold a Korean teacher's certificate: thus the undignified
treatment when it comes to dismissal time. When it is a question of a contract
renewal between a public or private mainstream school and a Korean teacher,
the latter meets privately with the principal without any other teachers getting
involved in a conspiracy against her. In the case of a foreign teacher, like myself, if he
happens to be called by the principal to discuss a contract renewal, it is likely that
she had already consulted with his co-teachers to broach their feelings on the matter.
Once upon a time, I was called to the principal's office to discuss my
contract renewal. My wish to continue was denied because "the girls requested a
female teacher." A few weeks later, I discovered through a third party that it was
the Korean co-teachers, not the students, who made the request. Ironically, the
young lass from New Zealand quit after the first semester because she found it hard
to work with the co-teachers. Better luck next time!

[Hollywoodaction]

I wouldn't be so quick to accuse them of being xenophobic. For one, Korean teachers are unionized. When was the last time that a union worker was sympathetic to a non-union worker? Besides, is there a better, guilt-free way for a senior teacher to assert his or her authority than by getting the popular, and very expandable foreigner fired?

[mithridates]

That's too bad. And odd, too. When I was 20 in Japan I got a job as a teacher in a girl's high school for a 3-month position and everybody was perfectly nice. The gym teacher was a small woman about 8 years older than me that was a definate cougar but I wasn't brave enough to hang out with her after school. Then later on a grade 12 girl from the school offered to let me live at their house for free so I did that for the last two months. There was also a 4-week vacation in spite of the contract being 3 months, which was just weird. There was also a drum kit on the third floor I could play whenever I wanted and the library was full of things I was studying at the time. That job was surreal.

I've never been in the Korean system but from what I can see from this board the one in Japan kicks some serious ass in comparison.

[kathycanuck]

actually I have a lot of experience in Canadian public schools special ed; my juniors, so I was told by their regular teachers, are a problem for everyone, not just me. My course being non-credit just aggravated the problem because they only care about the grades. I was given twelve different classes, 40 each, and only saw them one hour a week. What is totally strange is I am now being offered an elementary job....at the same school! One of their teachers is not being renewed (male) and they want me to replace him. ?????? any takes on this?