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Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
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 Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 2:49 am Post subject: |
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Elementary and Secondary Education: Teacher Working Conditions
Internationally, teacher pay scales in the United States tend to be lower than those in a number of other countries, including Germany, Japan, South Korea, and the Netherlands, and teaching hours tend to be longer.
For primary education, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Mexico have relatively low salary costs per hour of instruction ($13, $15, and $16, respectively); by contrast, costs are relatively high in Denmark ($48), Germany ($49), South Korea ($62), and Switzerland ($48). Salary costs per primary teaching hour in the United States are in the middle of this range at $35. In South Korea, high costs per teaching hour at the primary level are balanced by a relatively high student/teacher ratio (31.2) and a low proportion of current expenditure on nonteaching staff, resulting in below-average expenditure per student (OECD 2000.)
Source: National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Science and Engineering Indicators�2002
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c1/c1s7.htm
Annual statutory teachers' salaries
Korea: US$26,983 - US$74,671
New Zealand: US$18,109 - US$35,034
United States: US$29,513- US$52,104
Source: Education at a Glance 2004, Education Statistics and Indicators, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
http://www.oecd.org/document/11/0,2340,en_2649_34515_33712011_1_1_1_1,00.html
OECD Data: Indicator D3: Teachers' Salaries (Excel Format)
URL: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/61/34/33671263.xls
Koreans Top Spenders in Education
South Korea topped the list of household educational spending to total consumption expenditure among the 30 OECD countries, with a ratio of 5.8 percent in 2003.
By Kim Yon-se, Korea Times (January 14, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200501/kt2005011418130411880.htm
27% of Economy Goes Underground
By Kim Sung-jin, Korea Times (February 26, 2006)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200602/kt2006022617591810230.htm
College Tutors Can Earn 60,000-100,000 Won Per Hour
by Yi-Young Cho and Soo-Jung Shin,
Donga.com (August 03, 2004)
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=040000&biid=2004080497078
Giving Gifts for Teachers Day
May 15 is Teacher's Day in South Korea, and to honor their teachers, students will be bring them flowers, write compositions in appreciation of them, and even participate in sports competitions with them. Parents also often give gifts or gratuities to the teacher. According to an article in the Nishinippon Shimbun, surveys indicate that parents spend a minimum of 100,000 won on these gifts (roughly US$100.00), while cash presents can go as high as 30 million won (roughly US$3,000). Instead of cash, reports the paper, it is not unusual for teachers to receive gift certificates, gold bracelets, Western liquor, foreign cosmetics, or nutritional supplements.
Japundit: Polishing the apple (May 15, 2005)
http://japundit.com/archives/2005/05/15/polishing-the-apple |
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flotsam
Joined: 28 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 3:10 am Post subject: |
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People make that much money.
There was an article about them in the Herald Tribune about a month ago.
And there are more all around. It is very possible. |
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ilovebdt
Joined: 03 Jun 2005
Location: Nr Seoul
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 3:12 am Post subject: |
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Hmm, okay they are making all this money.
But do they have a life? Time to spend it all?
Ilovebdt |
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flotsam
Joined: 28 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 3:22 am Post subject: |
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| Nope. That's a lot of what the article covered. But they do make awesome amounts per hour. |
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steroidmaximus
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: GangWon-Do
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 4:47 am Post subject: |
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| Dude, or Dudette.... sounds like they're screwing with you. When I came here, I convinced my coworkers that in Canada we all lived in igloos, the only place you could get electricity was close to the US border cause they ran a line across to help us out, and our primary source of protein was whale and caribou. They only started to get suspicous when i offered penguin recipes. Guess I took it too far.....ha ha ha.. |
Great stuff. I've admittedly pulled the same trick a few times 
Anyway, 10-15 million a month is possible, but 25? My first reaction is that's just crazy talk, since I know how much I have to work if I want 10-15. If you taught only groups that paid premium, I suppose it could be done, but difficult to set up and maintain over the long run.
Anyway, I think their just messin' with ya. If it were true, why aren't they still doing it? |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 5:21 am Post subject: |
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I think the very few who make anywhere close to that only do it for a few months. Not only are they physically unable to do it for very long.. but the market dries up pretty quick.
There is some serious money to be made if you're willing to teach prep courses and you have a good rep. 10-15 is possible... anything more than that and I'd have to see it.
Personally I think a solid maintainable 5 is respectable. |
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flotsam
Joined: 28 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 6:19 am Post subject: |
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Star instructors teach thousands, earn millions
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Mr. Cho makes $10 million a year by teaching 80,000 students online, writing workbooks and running h
January 11, 2006 ㅡ This attractive man is lavished with fan clubs and "guesses" he must be earning at least 10 billion won ($10 million) annually. He is not another Korean wave pop star, yet his influence among teenagers may be even greater.
Cho Dong-gi, teacher extraordinaire at a hagwon, a private cram school, gives classes to middle and high school students on Korean literature and essay writing in preparation for the national college admissions test. The 39 year-old is one of a handful of "star hagwon teachers," whose annual income is estimated in the billions of won. He teaches over 80,000 students (if you include those who log on to the Gangnam district office Web site to watch his lectures), writes workbooks and runs a giant chain of hagwons. At just the Seoul branches of his Cho Dong-gi Korean and Essay Institute, more than 3,000 students are listening to his advice on "how to write a good essay."
This time of the year is particularly hectic for Mr. Cho, as students prepare for the January college admissions essay tests. On a recent morning, this reporter followed him from a fitness center to a broadcast studio to one of his institutes in Daechi-dong, the heart of Seoul's private tutoring sector. No time to sit and talk for Mr. Cho.
He spends most of his day researching, teaching and counseling nervous students. He even has to calm down the occasional high school girl who insists he is her ideal man and must marry her.
"I tell them to come back after they get into college. But they seem to forget that later," he said chuckling.
Indeed, he is charming. In a low voice, he carefully chose his words to deliver the maximum impact. He gestured colorfully and drew diagrams when a long explanation was needed.
"It is a habit of mine to make everything look simple for students. That way, they can understand the logic," he said.
Despite his cool, relaxed demeanor, however, he took pains to follow Korea's frequently changing educational policy, he said. That is how he has stayed on top of this competitive market for 16 years.
In the early 1990s, when the key to getting high scores on the college entrance exam involved memorizing as much as possible, he taught by the hour in a giant lecture room. Now, he teaches smaller groups on debating and essay writing, which are important topics these days. As an expert on the tests, his reviews of the latest exam are closely watched on the Internet.
"As soon as the test's first section ends, we start analyzing it," using teachers dispatched to test centers, he said. "By the time second period begins, we are on the air with reviews for next year's test takers."
He knows well the criticism hagwons face. Many in the public say his job encourages students to depend on expensive private education instead of public schools.
"It shouldn't be the hagwon itself that is viewed negatively," he said. "Students enroll here to raise their grades and study in a helpful environment."
But he added that he could not deny the entrenched stereotype that many hagwon teachers are more like salesmen than respected teachers.
But as younger hagwon teachers enter the hagwon world and push out less competitive instructors, they are also replacing the notion that hagwon teaching is a short-term job. Many now plan to make careers of the work.
An example of this is Lee Ji-sun, an English hagwon teacher at Cedu (which stands for Comprehensive English Education). Ms. Lee says she never felt satisfied with her previous jobs ― she felt stifled by the bureaucracy of public schools she taught at, and was personally unfulfilled (although well-paid) working at the Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, and later as a banker.
But at Cedu she realized her true passion.
Now 31 years old, she has became a star teacher. Her employer, Kim Ki-hoon (see box above), says she "can easily fill her classes" in a few hours after registration begins.
During eight weeks of summer vacation, she earned 200 million won, which is a fixed percentage of total sales at the institute ―a large payment conditional on her attracting a certain number of students.
But Ms. Lee could not talk for long. Her students were waiting outside with questions.
"I sleep normally only every other day," she said. With many young teachers seeking stardom, the competition drives her to work into the wee hours.
In order to keep her act fresh, Ms. Lee makes extensive margin notes in her textbooks, even noting when to tell jokes. Staying fit and wearing sophisticated clothes and makeup is also essential to maintaining her popularity among teenagers. She runs personal blogs for high schoolers and sets aside midnight to 2 a.m. to exchange e-mails and text messages with her students, making sure she is always there for them.
"Teaching 10 students is easy," she said. "But when you teach more than 70 per class, you have to develop your own know-how to keep them alert."
She does everything she can, because if the students get bored, her star will wane.
"The number of students enrolled is the difference between a star teacher an an ordinary instructor," said Winnie Wee, a marketing manager at Cedu. "We don't have to evaluate our teachers. The students do. They know a good teacher when they see one."
Cultivating teachers, serenading students
They call him "Mr. 20 billion won." That's how much in sales Kim Ki-hoon, English teacher, thinks he can attract for MegaStudy, a company that distributes test prep lectures online. But MegaStudy is just a side job for Mr. Kim, who is also pursuing a the noble goal of rearing more star teachers like himself so more students have fun while learning quality English.
Mr. Kim, who also publishes books and teaches at his own offline hagwon, Cedu, recently started a new class designed to give systematic tips on becoming a celebrity teacher.
The program, dubbed "Project: Make Billions in a Year," seems to be attracting star teacher wannabes in droves. Teachers currently working at public schools and other hagwons have signed up alongside college graduates who dream of being successful hagwon teachers.
The curriculum includes "Becoming a teacher who can listen," "Making your own lecture guide," "Making active presentations" and "Building the image that suits you."
Mr. Kim explains that he films students giving presentations "so they know what bores the students. But applicants to the class have to pass a placement test to make sure they are qualified first, of course."
"It feels rewarding when I hear my high school students say they want to become a good hagwon teacher," said Mr. Kim. "The image [of hagwon instructors] was so bad in the past that working at a hagwon meant you were essentially jobless."
Mr. Kim, 36, started tutoring as a part-time job when he was a junior in college. He helped students get into their dream colleges. Word spread among students' mothers that he was competent, and he was hired at a bigger hagwon. There he discovered that he had the talent to teach Korean students to take English tests well.
He earned even bigger fame as students said his classes helped. Mr. Kim indeed has a record worth boasting about. Since 1995, 471 of his students have gone to top-ranked Seoul National University, while 2,410 students went on to study at Korea and Yonsei Universities.
He then began working for MegaStudy, which disclosed last year that it offered him stock options if he could bring in sales of at least 20 billion won in three years. If he cannot, he only gets half of the options.
He says he is confident about attracting that much business.
Aside from the MegaStudy lectures, he has so far published 30 workbooks, taught students online from his own hagwon's Web site and released rock singles of him singing Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law" and Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend."
The lyrics have been revised into cheers for test takers. "No matter how far the road to my dream college; You know I've always done my best; Aim high, your life will be soaring; Aim low, your life will be boring," he sings in his remake of the Loverboy tune.
"There are ways to get students interested in studying English," said Mr. Kim when asked how he manages to stay popular. "You cannot be a good English teacher simply because you are a good English speaker, just as a being funny would never make you a famous comedian." |
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200601/10/200601102140049509900091009101.html |
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poet13
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
Location: Just over there....throwing lemons.
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 2:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Wow. Big numbers flying around here. Well, regardless of what real or imagined claims are flying around with the posters, a korean teacher at 25 is just ridiculous. Think about it. Lets take nautilus at his or her word. 3.8M plus plus plus for a grand sum of 13M. He or she only works 12 hours a week allowing for the other. a korean teacher is at his or her workplace for most of the day, leaving little time for privates, at whatever price per hour and however little sleep he or she needs. Say a korean teacher gets 4M (base plus that bonues every couple of months)(and I know 4.0 is not correct, just a number on the high side). So where does the other 1 million won a day for every M-F left in the month come from? |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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Top salespeople make big money in the west too. They get commission.
That kind of job is by no means easy. |
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mack the knife
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: standing right behind you...
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 4:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Korean teachers may not be pulling tens of thousands per month, but they're doing just fine. They receive a bonus, roughly equivalent to their salary, every other month. My wife's father and brother: both teachers. Ask your coworkers about this if you really want to start something in the office. |
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jaykimf
Joined: 24 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Real Reality wrote: |
Annual statutory teachers' salaries
Korea: US$26,983 - US$74,671
New Zealand: US$18,109 - US$35,034
United States: US$29,513- US$52,104
Source: Education at a Glance 2004, Education Statistics and Indicators, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
http://www.oecd.org/document/11/0,2340,en_2649_34515_33712011_1_1_1_1,00.html
OECD Data: Indicator D3: Teachers' Salaries (Excel Format)
URL: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/61/34/33671263.xls
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RealReality; Stop lying. That is incorrect and you know it is incorrect because I pointed it out to you in another thread. While those numbers do come from the OECD report, they are not what you say they are in your post. Those are not "Annual statutory teachers' salaries ". Those are purchasing power parity equivalents. According to OECD, the purchasing power parity was 778.774 while the exchange rate was 1251.045. http://stats.oecd.org/WBOS/ViewHTML.aspx?QueryName=189&QueryType=View&Lang=en
Therefore Annual statutory teachers' salaries were 21,013,658 - 58,151,833 in Korean Won and US$16,796-US$46,482. |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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An experienced teacher can expect 4m I think. That's what my experienced co-teachers told me. That's about the same as an experienced teacher back in my country.
The folks that tickle me are the ones that say "we (foreign teachers) are being paid more than the Korean teachers and this causes resentment".
Comedians. |
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Aussiekimchi
Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Location: SYDNEY
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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The point that was being made to me was that some teachers were receiving huge kickbacks from students or student parents for extra tuition or bribes to look after their kids more so than the others.
I should not have said salaries. Like all teachers around the world, I would imagine most are under paid and overworked, but as this country is somewhat "flexible" with the law, some teachers are receiving cash outside of their salaries.
Now I knew this already. There was a huge stink in Apgujeong and Gangnam schools a few years back about it. Teachers were found to be receiving huge amounts of money from parents to give special treatment to their kids. I am told this is why teachers in Apgujeong and Gangnam are forced to leave after a few years of working in the area or the school.
Now, the thing that shocked me, and I am not saying I believe it yet, is the amounts that these teachers were pulling in.
Like all of you I argued becoz the thought of that much money I was not getting, made me angry. And it is such a high amount, that it seems ludicrous. But you never know...
Next topic please. |
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juicyhumdinger
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
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| Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 7:44 am Post subject: |
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| I am told this is why teachers in Apgujeong and Gangnam are forced to leave after a few years of working in the area or the school |
Actually, all teachers country-wide are rotated every few years, no matter where they are, specifically for this reason. Or so say my coworkers at the middle school. I think they said it was every 3 years then move. Usually the same province or even county. |
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Angelus
Joined: 10 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 8:11 am Post subject: |
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| I think a better title for this post would be, "Jealous because of Korean teachers' salaries." If there is any merit to your stats, I know I am. |
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