Korean Job Discussion Forums

[creeper1]

Insane idea.

I know you want tenure and a career but the best thing to do for you is to become a teacher in your home country. Then work towards working in an international school.

[pikadoopoo]

I guess I underestimated the obstacles I'd have to face. I mean, I knew it was difficult, but not to this level. Heh.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I really appreciate it!

[pkang0202]

I think a lot of people here forgot to mention contract teachers.

Not all Korean teachers are "tenured". Many of them are on contract. Meaning they pretty much bounce from school to school until they find one that will "tenure" them.

[iggyb]

What is the nature of tenure track when each Korean public school teacher is rotated every 5 years?

[Squire]

[Grim Ja]

Is there not a reciprocal program that accepts teaching credentials from other countries so long as you pass language requirements and perhaps a cultural based test?

Korean teachers can get accredited in foreign school systems if they can speak the language and their degrees and experience is recognized.

You would think since the government wants kyopos to be teaching the brunt of English language classes at schools they would make it easy for them to become "regular teachers" with equal benefits. More than likely the teachers' unions feel threatened and would do everything they could to stop the outsiders from getting hired.

[pikadoopoo]

pkang0202

I'd actually be willing to work as a contract teacher until I find a school that can hire me as a regular. But then I think to myself... Is it really worth it? [Going on the contract teacher route.] Working as a NET, I get a 100,000won bump in pay every year + housing + other benefits. I'm not sure how much a tenured KET makes, but I heard it's pretty nice.

Grim Ja

Bilingual gyopo teachers [actual ones, not those who lived abroad for like 5 years] seem like the "perfect" candidates for English teachers, but I agree with your last sentence. Both KETs and NETs would be out of jobs if the government suddenly decided to strictly hire gyopos.

[alongway]

Unless you take Korean citizenship or at least have an F-series, no regular school could touch you to hire you on as a "regular" teacher.
With the huge amount of influx of Koreans applying for those jobs, they could never make the case that they needed to hire from outside the country. They would never be able to sponsor you for the E7 visa required.

Otherwise, you need an education degree, complete Korean fluency, and you'd need to study for a very long time to ace the test. There might be a certain demand for a NET who took citizenship and got on as a teacher. In the future, I expect to a certain degree that is the way you might see english education go. Foreigners marrying Koreans, applying to be real teachers and then getting hired on as Koreans to teach English without the need to bring in foreign workers.