Korean Job Discussion Forums

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Someone recommended me going to night grad school to study education. Then I can either take the test and become a normal english teacher, or not take the test and get a private school to hire me as a permanent foreign teacher.

I've been researching and figuring out how the pay would work out. Teachers do not get paid much, actually less than what we get paid as FTs...much less if you add in the rent that would go out of your pay. The upside to being hired as a permanent teacher would be the huge bonuses and job stability. There are yearly raises...i'm guessing 2 ~ 10 million wons per.

Do you think it would be better to stay a FT and in the mean time figure out a private business or go full time?

I think it's important to note that I am a gyopo.

Thanks for any advice~

[yeremy]

I asked the wife of another FT, who is a Korean elementary school teacher how long it took a new teacher to make 2.0 mil, a common entry level salary in Korea for a total noob FT. She told me it takes five years but after that they start to leave us in the dust.

I wouldn't, personally, base a decision, like the one you've presented, soley on economic terms. You have to also factor in the social and cultural forces which will shape your career, too.

Socially and culturally, even though you are a gyopo, as is my wife, you will have to follow more strictly the Korean social norms and expectations in the public schools with the seniority stuff, politeness, language, hierarchical top-down orders, training during vacations, assignment to a singular province thus limited relocation mobility, etc. The Korean 1st year high school teachers I work with, for example, have to rotate staying at school until 10 pm nightly for two weeks a month with their grade level colleagues, while I get to go home. The third year teachers at my base high school are always tired and quietly stressed out, but they're great to work with. The military-ness of the Korean public school educational system is a bit hard for me to relate to all the time.

You would also have to deal with the parents of whatever level you teach, and I think you would be tracked into either middle school or high school because of your native level English ability and skills. Discipline can be tough in a high school, for example. It takes time for kids to mature and at the high school level, they're still kids at heart. Most of my co-teachers either carry the stick of love or they use their voice to keep their charges in line. One of my co-teachers put the smackdown on a 1st year guy like Ric Flair, the Nature Boy on the WWE. It was hard to take.

Frankly, I think getting your education degree is a great idea, but I would skip the Korean one and get a western one. If you're passionate about it, disciplined, diligent and fiscally tight with your money, you can do such a degree while you're working and pay it off, too. Take the GRE or the MAT and you'll have many more distance or on-line MA or MS Education options. Someone I know did and got into Indiana's distance program in CALL. If you like administration, think about getting a degree in Educational Leadership. That's the degree that you have to get to become a principal in the US. Teachers are just another type of a worker, but managers are the ones who usually make more money, unless you are in the NBA.

The private education sector in Korea, say, at Samsung or Hyundai teaching their managers and employees, pays pretty well. Another friend of mine worked at Samsung and he liked it very much. He had a MA or MS in Education and made 2.5 mil as a base. It's good for your resume, too. I would personally rather be a full-fledged employee of a Samsung type of company rather than a minion in the Educational Ministry as a public school teacher, where it will take you a couple of decades to really work your way to the top.

Sorry, I forgot to get into starting your own business. The EFL industry in Korea has a lot of money but it's paradoxical. It's relatively easy to simply start an unregistered tutoring business, where you go house-to-house and you don't register nor pay taxes. Many people in areas of Gyonggi-do and I'm sure Seoul have reportedly done this. To start an English related business here requires a lot more planning and preparation than just putting a sign on a telephone post. You have to jump through a number of legal hoops (facility size, type of biz, funding, furniture, curriculum & syllabus, etc). The English market in some parts of Gyonggi-do is saturated so the competition for students will be high to very high in some areas. Koreans, and gyopos like yourself, are leasing officetels to use as study rooms without registering with the local education office and with the national tax office. If you like risk and are prepared to put all on the line, starting a business could be for you. Personally, I like the idea of being my own boss, which I am not today. I hope this helps. Good luck.