Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hardy Boy]

UPDATE: only 13/39 public schoolers voted they are "wholly satisfied" whereas 11/25 hagwoners indicated such.

[curlyhoward]

[dirving]

The public school where I worked was awful, and the housing was terrible.

[Illysook]

No poll here on Daves is going to be all that valid. If someone really needed to know what would make an expat teacher happy in his or her job, the questions would have to be more in-depth, and even then you would have to control for a lot of variables. Age, past work and travel experiences, marital status, the size of the school, and probably a ton of things that I've forgotten about.

Still, case studies do give us a lot of information. Mine would be that I was miserable my first year, while my co-workers were fine. They had more experience and more favor with the boss. They got there first and they did all that they could to stay in good standing with her. I was too miserable to care all that much what she thought of me. Now, in my second year, I follow in the footsteps of a first year teacher who had no idea how good he had it. My co-teacher says that he was grumpy all the time, and she was glad to see him go. The two of us are now getting along very well. I'm looking forward to a great year and I will do all that I can to make it a great year.

[jurassic82]

I don't know how much faith I would put in this poll. Most people that are going to reply are the one that had problems. Time has shown that the majority of people on Dave's are unsatisfied with their positions. Occassionally you get a post about tips on a job search or how to improve ones teaching. Usually though it is people complaining about their work situation (Both hogwon and PS).

I have worked at both a Public School and Hogwon. I worked at two hogwons. The first one was terrible and I partly blame myself for taking the job as I was desperate and didn't do enough research. I got cheated on health insurance and pension. My second hogwon job was at Avalon and had a fairly positive experience. Descent pay, good co-workers and supporting staff. My only complaint was the vacation time. I'm on my second contract with a Public School and am very satisfied. The work hours are good and I love the vacation time. The job can get a little boring at times but I like the fact that I havea lot of freedom in how I teach the material.

I do believe though it really is a crap shoot when it comes to getting a good public school. I don't know about EPIK or GEPIK but for SMOE they don't let you pick your school so there is no way of really researching or picking a good one. I was very nervous at first so on my first day I bought gifts for my principal and vice principal along with my co teahcers. Since then I have had a good working relationship with everyone at my school. I might be wrong but I believe a lot of the teachers that have problems here are the intraverts (I may have spelled that wrong). People who don't try and make a comfortable working situation. Korean culture often doesn't make sense but it is important to be patient and I don't think a lot of teachers are. A lot of teachers seem to blow up over every little thing that doesn't fit there way of how things should be done. Not to say I don't get pissed at times but it is how you deal with it that is important. So to sum it all up both have there ups and down and I guess it is a matter of what you are looking for. Cheers!!!!!!

[thegadfly]

Update: 2-year-old thread is two years old...and has gained almost 60 responses...in 18 months, we may have enough responses to do 1:1 teacher to percent....

[moosehead]

once more, for those of you who seem to be missing it -

there are private elementary schools (maybe even private middle ) where English teachers are given smaller classes, smaller camps, more individual teaching is allowed, etc etc. these schools are growing in number and popularity with the Korean mothers which of course, have the most to say about education choices.

ask around, look for them, they offer a good option between hakwons and ps

[Who's Your Daddy?]

Yes, introverts have problems, but different co-teachers/schools are night and day. I have seen teachers characterized as "bad teachers" one year, to be "great teachers" then next year. The POE says, "that teacher changed, he became good", but if you talk to the teacher he'll say the first school sucked, and the new school is good.

Sometimes it isn't the teacher, it's the school, but Korean managers would rather throw the foreign teacher under the bus than deal with it.

[TexasChicken]

I worked at a Public school through Gepik in Ilsan. Previous two teachers both quit before the 6 month mark. My Handler had a mental break down during an argument I had with her. She had been using my national holidays as part of my vacation days. We butted heads the entire time I worked for her. School cheated me out of my afterschool money weekly. I began to refuse to teach the classes all together. Apartment was fantastic. Modern Officetel in Hwajong, great facilities. Took me 3 months to get my severance pay after completing my contract. Called labor board repeatedly, was charged tax despite being tax exempted American. Received the money back after disputing it with the labor board. My experience working with GEPIK has made me never want to return to a public school again.

Im not saying everyone has problems like I did. In fact my friend is on his third public school gig and loving it. But if you troll this board enough you will find out not every public gig is great. I will never ever work for the Korean Government again. Sorry thats my rant. Im out and extremely happy it was the worst job ive ever had in my life.

T.C.

[nomad-ish]

[Weigookin74]

[The Gipkik]

The public school gig is pretty good, but I do agree that not knowing which school you are going to teach at until the END of orientation just shows a lack of respect. The first indication that you will not be considered a teacher in the public school system--even if you really are one. That and having to teach with a co-teacher is another indication of your lack of autonomy and professionalism. It all boils down to viewing the foreign teacher as a puppet and not a real human being.

Of course, there are many schools that will let you teach alone, that will give you extra vacation time, that will let you leave early, but these are in the minority. If you are a new teacher or just an early twenties kid, it's the way to go. If you want to play russian roulette with school assignments.

Personally, I find the public school job very easy and undemanding. It requires little effort to do a good job. My coteachers are fine and they treat me well. My principal loves me and my students are on the whole well-behaved and respectful. But it's such a baby job. I could have done this job straight out of high school. It's not a job for a grown man or woman.

[NYC_Gal]

I knew my public school before I even got my visa, back in the states.

[Ramen]

[discostu333]