Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Whistleblower]

Before, I created a post about "How To Recruit Teachers" written by a Korean who thought he knew best. Anyway, the editorial of the Korea Times received a reply about it. Please read below:

Teaching Qualifications

By Michael A. Stevens

I would like to reply to a May 12 article in the Letters to the Editor section, ``How to Recruit English Teachers,'' as we all know the hagwon (private language institutes) system of employment is its own worse enemy.

There is nothing much the Korean government can do to either force private institutes not to hire who they believe will make them the most money, even if they are not the best qualified to teach, or to force mothers to change their attitudes toward the belief that white male or females from Canada or America are the best speakers of English.

However, the government does have the power to enforce the public school system and private foreign schools to only hire teachers who are both qualified and have the experience in teaching, and the Korean Teacher's Union (KTU) should demand it.

Nevertheless, with qualifications such as teaching degrees and experience comes a need to adequately compensate teachers so that they see a reason to continue to teach in a foreign country.

With years of service comes dedication and an understanding of the principles required to teach Korean students. The writer of the letter, Han Ji-hui, is right to say that four to six weeks of orientation is not enough time to learn how to teach Korean students.

However, it is a good starting point and must not be phased out. What is truly needed is the retention of good teachers and the best way to retain these qualified teachers is for them to find a home in Korea. They do this by being able to support a family and feel as if they are respected as an educator.

In addition Korea should enable foreign teachers to have the opportunity to have permit resident status if they so desire.

Korean teachers should not be forced to work alongside foreign teachers who have a substandard education themselves. The KTU would never permit a Korean teacher to work in a public school if they did not have at least a basic teacher's degree from an accredited university.

So why do they let foreign teachers do so. This is outrageous and Korean parents should demand that these teachers either continue their education or withdraw into the private sector.

I know this will outrage many foreign teachers who are now currently working in the Korean public school system, but they must keep in mind that schools in America and Europe also require teachers to continue their education long after finding employment in a school.

This is not trying to force Korea to adopt Western type education this is just common sense. If Korea wants good teachers who happen to be foreigners, the nation must demand teachers to have the qualifications for employment in a school.

To conclude this article I would like to make a comment about what Han had to say about the increase number of ``foreign instructors who commit sexual crimes or take drugs.''

There will also be a very small number of teachers who are ethically or morally unqualified to teach. They include Korean teachers not just foreign teachers and to state such a thing is foolish because it makes all teachers look bad when this is clearly not the case.

It is wrong for Han to imply that background checks will solve this problem, as they do not necessarily resolve this dilemma.

The writer is a Christian teacher living in Guri, Gyeonggi Province. His email address is [email protected].

[Yu_Bum_suk]

But this gets back to the age-old problem of what qualifications. I'm sorry, but having qualifications to teach social studies to high school students in Saskatchewan does not 'qualify' you to teach EFL to young learners here any more than anyone else trying to figure out what they're doing as they're going along. What percentage of teachers here are qualified to teach ESL in the public school system of their own countries to students of the same age as they're teaching here? 10%? 5%? 2%? Of those how many even find teaching in Korea remotely similar to teaching ESL back home?

So what, then, are your standards of qualification? I can think of many possibilities:

- a TESOL or CELTA certificate (which likely hasn't addressed young learners very much).
- a BEd or MEd in ESL (but how many people with such a degree would want to come here?).
- a Korean government training programme (probably organised by people whose idea of 'training' involves getting herded on a bus and visiting Korean landmarks).
- a Korea-specific certificate for FTs (again, farcical possibilities abound; Thailand just scrapped a proposal to do this).

OP, what do you teach, what are your qualifications, and could you get a job teaching ESL in the public school system of your home country?

[stevieg4ever]

Its lunacy to expect any qualifications / requirements other than a basic BA or BSc degree and a clean criminal record.

The number of jobs in ESL is seemingly limitless. The only way they can fill these jobs is with graduates. If they start saying this qualification and that qualification is required then you would be left with fewer teachers then would require to fill gangnam.

This is monkey business simple as. Qualified people will not come to Korea to do shark and elephant impressions to elementary students. Look at this forum and what does it tell how about the general conditions in Korea: hardly sustainable. Nobody comes here to acquire new skills or to add to their experience: most jobs here aren't real jobs per'se. Many teachers figure out the deal after a few months and do what they have to survive or cut their loses at the earliest point.

This is the most unprofessional working environment ive been in. Qualified people who have invested years of their lives and paid thousands of dollars / pounds to be a qualified teacher will not stay here unless korea sharpens up its act, invests more money and training to teach natives and takes English seriously.

Plus if Korea starts working with professional teaching bodies they will be publically ridiculed for many of the things posted here: poor accommodation, contracts not met, working with Korean teachers who can't speak a word of English, working with offices of education and finding out that your supervisor can't speak a jot of English, constant racism etc etc.

You make your bed you lie in it!

[bogey666]

[Grab the Chickens Levi]

Best line I've read all day comes from Steviegforever

[Whistleblower]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Bagpipes11]

As Ricky from the Trailer Park boys would say...."It's all about supply and command!"

There are simply too many jobs in the ESL industry. To fill them all with 'qualified' teachers is impossible.

Let me ask an honest question to all those people who have their MA in TESOL (or similar unnecessary qualifications), what is the economic gain in obtaining a degree like this?

I mean, yes you are more qualified to teach English than Shakespeare...but all the money that you spent fine tuning your skills cannot possibly result in a higher paycheck at the end of the month. At least not in Korea.

Any thoughts?

[stevieg4ever]

Just reading other threads that are abound on this forum. Should Korea aim to attract real professionals and work with professional teaching bodies from the west I wonder how they would react to the following:

Maddog and Captain Marlow's incident of not being invited on a trip when all the other staff were.

Lekker's lovely extracurricular activity of having to clean phaeces outside of his bathroom.

Just 2 examples of the everyday rubbish that gets thrown in our faces. We all have our own stories. I have mine. Everyone knows what the deal is in this country and why professionals would never last. Threads like the 2 above and similar ones all get us riled. Then I walk into my 5th graders class ask them 8 of them what season they like and grin when only 2 out of 8 can respond with 'I like <favourite season>'.

[Whistleblower]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Whistleblower]

This is exactly the reason why I would like to study a CELTYL, a certificate much like the CELTA but is only aimed at young learners. I do have experience and this is the main advantage but what I do lack is professional qualifications to match for young learners.

[nateium]

Anyone can stammer on about qualifications or improving the rules, but it still comes down to supply and demand.

ESL is a business, and they just can't get enough teachers to actually come to this place and/or stick around.

A whole hell of a lot has to change in the world for there to be enough qualified native speaking teachers.

[moosehead]

[Yu_Bum_suk]