Korean Job Discussion Forums

[fiery101]

Between Jeonju National University and Jeonju National University of Education what is better and why?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

The latter has specialised teacher-training programmes and it's students graduate with degrees in education.

[fiery101]

I guess I should have specified more. What I meant is, by reputation, which seems to be better? More specifically, as an instructor, which would be better?

[PRagic]

Whichever one is offering the best employment conditions. Period. Just compare the two if they have offers on the table:

Primary considerations include:

Pay
Housing (if you want it)
Contact hours
Required overtime (never a plus in my book) and rate
Fully paid vacations (or mandatory camps or vacation teaching)
Term limits

Also, if employment conditions are alike:

Number of foreign teachers
Level of education of foreign teachers
Number of students per class
Number of different preps necessary

And if you're pretty motivated:

Opportunity to work in program development
Support for publishing/conferences for non-tenure track employees

[Pyongshin Sangja]

NU's and NUE's are both highly regarded; Seoul NUE is almost as hard to get into/prestigious as SNU, Yonsei and Korea (SKY). For teachers, that is. Ask yourself this: If I get a job at a NUE am I prepared to ONLY teach Education students how to teach in public schools or pass government interviews and possibly to re-train older, more experienced teachers in how to teach English in English?

Particularly if you aren't a trained teacher or Education/Applied Linguistics major yourself, a job teaching grammar and/or conversation to students from a variety of majors in compulsory English courses at a larger, comprehensive university might be a bit more practicable. These "English Factory" jobs teaching to a wide range of students from many different departments and faculties account for the majority of university jobs for foreigners in Korea.

It's not to say, though, that a person able to learn on the job couldn't function within a NUE. Many NUE students are there because it is seen as a stable job, not because they "love" teaching. Education students still need to learn the basics of English and it isn't written in stone that you have to be a real Teacher Trainer yourself to work at one of these schools at all.

Which job has a pinball machine in the staff room?