Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kiwiduncan]

To the Kiwi teachers out there (and anyone else with a useful contribition):

One of my options wher I return to NZ in the future is training to be a primary or kindergarten teacher. How many of the kiwis here in Korea are former teachers from New Zealand? How does working in Korea compare to back home? Which work is less stressful? What pays more? What work is more satisfying?

Cheers,

Duncan

[ABC KID]

[kiwiduncan]

Thanks for the observations ABC Kid. I've PMed you in more detail.

Cheers,

Duncan

[Atavistic]

I'm also not a Kiwi, but compared to teaching at a high-rate poverty school in the States:

Teaching is less stressful.
Pay is less (even including housing) for less vacation, but taxes and health and pension are so different that I don't feel like I make less. I feel like I make more.
Both are satisfying in different ways.

Note that I taught 5th grade in the States for three years, and student taught in grades 4 and 2. I've been teaching 3-6 here.

[Genevieve]

I am an elementary school ESL teacher in the US. A lot of your job satisfaction back in NZ will depend on the school where you teach. I am fortunate enough to teach in a school with a supportive administration and generally respectful student body that enjoys learning. Moreover, as an ESL teacher, I don't get the hardcore oppositional defiance/ behaviorally challenged kids who are products of poor parenting.

I will probably buy a home in a couple years, something I could never manage in Korea on a teacher's salary.

[The Hierophant]

I taught in a Korean hagwon for a year and am now currently halfway through my graduate diploma in secondary teaching at Victoria University in Wellington (I'm a New Zealand national).

I've been out on placement at two New Zealand high schools so far (one single-sex boys' school, one single-sex girls') and from what I experienced the job of teaching in NZ is a lot more demanding than EFL teaching in Korea, but at the same time is much more satisfying.

You'll work longer hours and have less disposable income in New Zealand than you would in Korea. The pay for NZ teachers is poor for the amount of work that the job demands, and is certainly much less than in other Western nations like the UK or USA (especially after tax and rent/mortgage payments). So the argument that you'll make more money 'back home' sadly doesn't stick in your case.

The pay-off for teaching in NZ as opposed to Korea is that you are more likely to be a valued and supported member of staff (and society in general) with autonomy over your lessons rather than a clown/human tape recorder (not that all EFL jobs are like this in Korea, but many are, as I'm sure you know).

You will have more responsibility as a teacher in NZ (term reports, Parent-Teacher meetings, sports coaching, deaning etc), and thus have more stress in that sense, but you will also go without the day-to-day stress of being a tolerated alien (at best) as would by living the expat life in Korea. As I said, you will be valued in New Zealand.

Anyway, I'd highly recommend teaching as a long-term career path. Also, the NZ government is expanding its scholarship programmes for teacher trainees, so now might be the ideal time to get your diploma.

Good luck to you mate, whatever you choose to do!