Korean Job Discussion Forums

[StAxX SOuL]

Just had an offer put to me for a school in Seoul, I forget the name of it but I was told how nice the directors are at this school and how staff are hugely valued... also they are moving to a huge new building which will even have a soccer pitch within it... if anyone can add a name to the thread it'd be appreciated

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Location : Seoul
Near Subway St. : Subway Line 2 Kangbyeon St.
Starting date: end of February, 2006
Salary: 2,000,000 won - 2,100,000 won
Housing: Fully furnished studio flat
Teaching Level: Kinder & Elementary students
Holiday: 10 days of paid holiday + Korean national holidays
Working Hour: 11:00am~7:30pm (Monday through Friday)
Maximum 30 hours teaching per week
Age: From twenties to forties
Medical Insurance: 50 % of medical aid
Severance Pay: One-month salary after completion of contract
A round-trip ticket: Offer
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Not too bad for my first offer... salary meets my expectation given I've no experience teaching, and am without a TESL qualification. However, my two concerns

1. Working Hours... yea, its Monday to Friday and its 30 hours a week, but it appears that I'd be in school a little more than my working hours as though my lessons wouldn't be in blocks... is this an issue, or it is quite a minor thing, I don't know, my initial thought is that I'd fill up the time sorting lesson plans

2. 10 Days of Holiday + National Holiday... standard? Does that mean no summer holiday time off? Also, I could swear I read that 20 Days Holiday + National Holiday was a standard...


Input appreciated...

[Grotto]

LOL

[StAxX SOuL]

I know, I noted that discrepancy... as I acknowledged above, actual Teaching Hours and the hours which you may actually be in school can vary tremendously if you don't have block lessons... I'm just considering whether those extra hours in school will be detrimental or if I'll just end up spending that time preparing lessons anyway...


Pension Wise... well I've just turned 22, I'm not really thinking about a penion right now... what should I expect with regards to pensions, and if I opt not to take a pension what should I receive as a compensatory measure?

[IwalkAlone]

Pension is 4.5% of your income deducted every month and returned to you when you leave the country.

Seems this school does pension, and that one doesn't, and that one over does it sometimes, and these ones never do it, and a few of those always do it.

If you're on an australian or NZ passport, don't go pushing the pension issue as you will lose the 4.5% completely.

Brits aren't affected since they get their contributions returned.

USA and Canada get their 4.5% returned PLUS another 4.5% from their school.

You can bring it up with administration if it's important to you, but I wouldn't let it ruin a good job otherwise.

[Big Mac]

[Homer]

The pension is madatory by law.

While this school might be trying not to pay into it (bad sign) if that fact is found out by immigration the school will have to pay into the pension scheme retro-actively, i.e. the school has to pay the total amount they had "forgotten to pay" until they got busted. This applies to the teacher as well and he or she also has to pay his or her portion...retro-actively.

As for the hours on your contract, there might be a split shift in there (call the other teachers at the school and ask instead of relying on a discussion board for this information as none of us work at that school!).