Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sammym]

HI

Has anybody out there either worked for , presently employed by or has positive or negative comments about Seoul Metropolitan office of Education.

Thanks

[UncleAlex]

I recently applied for a middle school position with SMOE, but turned down
the offer. The school was situated on top of a huge hill, and my aprtment
on top of another huge hill twenty minutes walking distance away. The unit
was in a building housing university students, so I could imagine the racket.
Housing is very expensive in Seoul so, if the quality of accommodation is very
important to you, inquire about the housing offer when applying for a public
school position in Seoul. The good places to live are just too expensive for SMOE
to afford if you're offered a job in the central part of the city. Seek schools
that are in the suburbs. Also, the contract is similar to a GEPIK one: low pay scale
and only 2 weeks of annual vacation time. One month each vacation period
is spent outside of the city at an English camp, where you must live in a dormitory
and share your room with another teacher and share a public bathroom with the
entire community for no extra pay. SMOE can go BLOE!

[ddeubel]

My experience with SMOE is different. Maybe I lucked out or maybe it was because I didn't go through someone locally or a recruiter. ...

Make top salary A level, 600,000 housing allowance but I took the apartment. Modern officetel downtown Seoul. Fully and I mean fully furnished. Clean (but the monthly fees of 100,00 are a bit high). almost 4 weeks (19 days) of official vacation but much more. Live right by where I work. I get extra money if wanted from teaching workshops/demonstration classes /extra classes plus winter/summer camps. Free lunch. Airfare home or to another country every year , paid. 2 weeks more vacation if you re-sign (meaning almost6 weeks in the year). No hassles at work. Teach only mornings, leave many times in the afternoon if necessary. Annual raises. Professional development opportunities.....Less stress than teaching back home.......I could go on.

The point is that I think ones experience can differ depending.............but they are hiring. You can get info. directly at www.etis.sen.go.kr

[Ekuboko]

[Qjmonster]

[jangsalgida]

[ddeubel]

Sorry, i got it wrong. I was just trying to be helpful. Don't take a "....." fit. go to http://etis.sen.go.kr/ I'm a busy teacher and made a little mistake.....

ETIS is the program (English teachers in Seoul) which SMOE runs. The website is still being tested but you can find links to SMOE's website there as well as contract info......

DD

[ddeubel]

QJmonster,

Alot of what you say is true......but it is also a bit exaggerated. Sort of like the feel , the anti-Korea sentiment here on Dave's . My research shows that there are problems with the program in terms of teaching (which my survey looked at) but it is not that large. About 16% of co-teachers (based on my voluntary survey and yes, usually voluntary surveys are skewed to the negative.) are having what can be considered, considerable problems. Unfortunately, their story makes noise.

Still teachers have problems and they are all valid cautionary points you make. Like anything, check out the details and ask questions, pointed questions before signing.....

DD

[Axl Rose]

[Qjmonster]

I really don't think I'm just "making noise" here. I think my situation here has been average. There are people with much better, and much worse situations than mine. It's really a crap shoot where you'll end up, and SMOE has done very little to monitor the conditions of the schools they place their foreign teachers in. That's my point...


The last internal poll results for current SMOE teachers for "would you re-sign with your school if asked?" had the following numbers:

Yes: 20%
No: 44%
Maybe/Not Sure: 33%

The EFL law website has a contract legality ranking system. The SMOE contracts are not listed, though they are nearly identical to the EPIK contracts, which are listed. In terms of legality, the EPIK contracts score a 2.5 out of 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best.

[UncleAlex]

I was offered the middle school position last February directly from a high
ranking SMOE official, not through a recruiter. The salary and benefits would
be the same through either channel. It was an ASAP position because the former
teacher never returned from Canada after the winter break to complete the term
of his contract. He probably had enough of scaling high hills to and fro work
everyday and the racket of the college students, who stay up half the night.
He was supposed to have participated in the English camp upon returning,
so he may have chickened out on that score. Apparently, these camps are now
mandatory for all SMOE foreign teachers. But they might pay extra.

[butter808fly]

Im also a SMOE-er and I will not be resigning. I agree that everything is last minute and the 2 mandatory English Camps arent my style either. Maybe they are yours. My school is cool. I get offered extra classes, which I enjoy, for extra money. They were cool and let me have extra unpaid vacation so I could go home. They are generally cool if I need to leave work early and stuff (we get a certain amount of time we are allowed to leave early or call in sick). In that sense, the school Im at is decent.

My officetel is brand new with new furniture although in a bad part of town. Dirty. Hookers. Gross. Near Itaewon though, very good!

This is again preference, but last year my co-teachers SUCKED. They couldnt control a mouse let alone a class of kids and one could harldy speak a lick of English and the other alright English though I cant say anything natural pace to her.

This year, one cool co-teacher that has taught me a whole bunch of things about how to be a good teacher, and then my ajumma crazy teacher. You are the only foreigner at your school as well... although you are like superstar status to the kids, can get a bit lonesome in my opinion.

Im so glad to have this experience under my belt, but I wouldnt do it again. Also, I told them 15 minutes to school max (when they told me max 50 I said no way). The ride to work is about 40, home about 15. Not so bad though in retrospect of my 45 commute back in America.

I like helping the underprivledged kids too, kinda rewarding in that sense though its much harder to have any conversation with them (as oppoed to hogwon)

~808

[Hater Depot]

A high school math teacher of mine once wanted to start a public-access TV show called SMOE -- the Skinny Man of Wrestling.

[pompomouse]

I work for SMOE too and if you are considering working in Korea to teach English and it is your first time coming to Korea here is what I think you should keep in mind;

Working in a public school, like any other job is going to have it's benefits and drawbacks. The benefits being you will get paid each month, you will get your salary and you will get your airfare no problem. So in this respect you will not have to worry about that sort of thing like you would with some hogwans here in Korea. Your hours are pretty standard, 8:30-4:30. During the winter and summer sessions you will be expected to work either a residential style English camp or one in your own school. These camps vary in the number of hours you will have to work. Some people worked camps at their schools and got out at noon hour others had to sit around for four hours in the afternoon and do nothing all day. The residential camps tend to be great opportunies to actually teach but the conditions are often not the best (bad cafeteria food, sleeping in quarters close to students therefore not getting sleep etc.) I think another benefit of working for SMOE is that is will be a better work reference to have on your resume than "Mr, Kim's Language Institute".

However there are some drawbacks. I have worked in a hogwon and I presently work in a public school and huge difference I have noticed is working in a public school means totally immersing yourself in a Korean environment. I know some people will flame me saying that but it is something to think about. It is likely you will be placed in a school where there is no one in the English department you will be able to speak decent English. I coincentally work with a co-teacher who complains about all the pressure lately put on her to actually speak English. Imagine she has been teching the subject for over 10 years and now she complains that because of my presence and the fever for English in Korea, she has to actually speak English. That's like a math teacher complaining about having to know the solutions. This makes for a lot of stress. I know there are a lot of bad hogwons out there, but if there is one thing hogwons have on public school jobs is that I found their teachers generally speak better English. Another drawback is the steady schedule. Public schools have long breaks for winter and summer break but you the foreigner are not going to see much of that. Even if you have nothing to do because there are no camps going on, you will most likely be expected to come into school everyday and sit aroud and do nothing.

And the other thing to keep in mind is that public school jobs like SMOE really are the luck of the draw, a lottery really. Some teachers currently in the program work in favorable areas (centrally located) of Seoul while other don't. Some can negociate all kinds of great extras with their Principals while others can't because their Principals follow the absolute letter of the contract. Some teachers land dream jobs and couldn't be happier while others end up in situations that have them looking for the quickest way out. This can be said about all teaching jobs in Korea really.
I don't think SMOE is all bad or all good really. Your experience with the program will depend on so many factors that will often beout of your control. I guess it all depends on what you are willing to do and what you are looking for.

One of the posters here tried to make SMOE look perfect but I would wager that he/she is one of the lucky ones. He/She was placed in central Seoul, he/she has a Principal that allows for a lot of room in interpretation of the contract regarding working hours and so on. I think it somewhat irresponsible to lead others out there into believing SMOE is one wonderful bowl of cherries when it certainly is not. I think also though that it is not all misery and gloom either. Many people will not re-sign for another year because the holidays suck. After working a teaching job for close to 12 months in any foreign country will lead people to want more than a two week break to travel thousands of miles home to see family and to just relax a bit.

[Jaygee]

Something interesting from the SMOE website regarding duties of the foreign teacher:

C. Contract term and other conditions

The term of the contract is for 52 weeks (one year).

The NSET shall work 8 hours per day, 5 calendar days per week excluding Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays (approx. 14 days) of the Republic of Korea. The work hours of NSET may follow the normal work schedule of Korean teachers.

Actual class instruction hours of NSET shall not exceed 22 hours per week. (If exceeded, NSET will be entitled a supplementary class instruction pay). The person in charge of the work place may require NSET to work overtime in addition to normal workdays and work hours. In this case, overtime pay will be provided.

If NSET should desire to resign and thereby terminate the contract, he/she must give SMOE a one-month prior written notice of resignation and will not be able to have or seek employment in other institutes. (Letter of release will not be provided.)