Korean Job Discussion Forums

[CA-NA-DA-ABC]

I've looked through the various threads in FAQ's and tried doing searches, but still have some unanswered questions about working in public schools. I would appreciate some help from you experts.

1) do you get summer and winter breaks off? and if so, do you still get paid for those months?

2) if a job posting claims "xx days of paid vacation," are those on top of summer and winter breaks?


thanks.

[Norith]

I've never worked at a PS, so this answer definitely needs to be verified by other poster's personal experiences....but

1.) My understanding is that summer and winter breaks are often given as vacation, but are ultimately up to the PS itself. You could end up working camps (either 22hrs a week as normal, or if your contract states otherwise, you may work more than 22hrs for one or two weeks, and get the rest of the time as vacation.) I've heard lots of stories where foreign teachers are required to sit in their office for all of winter (not sure if that happens during summer).

2.) Yes. Again, -my understanding (which is limited)-, is that you get 14 or 20 work days (depending on your contract/whether your SMOE or GEPIK/EPIK/or a local Ministry of Education) as vacation. And depending on whether you have an acquiescent Principal/VP, you may get to choose the days you take off. You will almost definitely have more flexibility in when you take your vacation with a PS than you would with a hogwan.


However, as far as I know, since you aren't entitled to summer/winter breaks, a lot of schools will barter for you to take your vacation over summer.


I apologize if any of this info is incorrect...not trying to mislead you. That's how I understand things to be, and like most jobs in Korea...you get lucky or you don't.

[Aussiekimchi]

Public holidays are called Red days.
These include Xmas, Chinese new year, etc.
You get all of these off.
These total about 15 days a year.

School holidays total at least 21 days ( 3 working weeks ) a year. These are the days that there are no classes to teach as the school is closed.

If your school or district runs winter or summer camps, you may be required to work in these.
If not, you get the extra vacation.

Officially you are supposed to be at school preparing for next semester.

Good boss will allow you to do this "at home". This gives you more vacation time.
Bad boss will make you come into school to do it each day. This gives you less vacation.

There is no general rule. It is up to your location and your boss.

Remember, if there is a camp running, you ARE contracted to work it, so you may have no choice.

[ttompatz]

Just to add to the above...

Regular contracted vacation 14-26 WORKING days vacation. The variance will depend on who you work for and the possible addition of 5 extra working days vacation for a rural designated school. This vacation time does NOT include weekends or holidays (so effectively 3-5 weeks of paid vacation.

You must take the vacation time during the school's summer and winter breaks. There may be some flexibility as to the when - dependent on whether or not the school runs a day camp during the break.

You can be scheduled to work up to 20 hours per week of camp during the breaks when you are NOT on your contracted vacation.

IF you renew at the SAME SCHOOL you will get an additional 2 calendar weeks of paid vacation for your "home leave".

You will not be required to work on National holidays (red days) or other school designated off-days (like the school's foundation day). These are scattered throughout the year.

IF there is a day with no scheduled classes and you are NOT on a red day or your vacation time you may be required to come in and "warm your chair". If your school does not run a day camp this can run as long as 3 weeks during each break.

For specifics...
I get 2 weeks summer vacation time (the rest of the time I do day camp (20x40 min. classes per week)).
I get 2 weeks winter vacation plus red days like XMAS and new year and weekends works out to just about 3).
I get the last 2 weeks of Feb. for my home leave.
This year we (the whole school) got the "red days" + an additional 8 days of "principals discretionary days off".

So in the last 12 months I have had just about 11 weeks off with full pay.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[nomad-ish]

[newinseoul]

Holidays also depend on what school board you are with. The newer SMOE contracts have 21 days paid vacation, and the Gangnam-Riverside board new contract has 24 weeks of vacation.

You will get those days, but you don't usually have a choice when you can take those holiday. You will usually have to do one and/or two camps. You will be able to take your holidays either before or after those camps.

There are some camps where you will be paid extra for. Those camps are usually sleep over camps. Or if you work over your normal teaching hours, you can be paid extra.

[Rae]

This was something I was also curious about but never got an answer for. Please note that all schools vary (not just by location).

2008 Vacation Days:
March 12 - School Foundation Day
April 9 - Election Day
May 5 - Children's Day (supposed to be May 3 - 12 but cut short because of the new president)
May 12 - Buddah's Birthday
June 6 - Memorial Day
July 16 - Aug 20 - *Summer Vacation*
Sept 15 - 16 - Chuseok
Oct 3 - National Foundation day
Dec 25 - Christmas
Dec 30 - Feb 12 - *Winter Break*

First day of school was March 3rd, last day of school will be Dec 29th. I started teaching March 10th (I got 1 week of observation). Summer and winter camps are optional and with extra pay. They had 4 summer camps and 1 winter camp, but all during the school semester, on a Saturday, NOT during summer or winter break. My contract states 25 work days of vacation (divided into 12 and 13 days during summer and winter), that's to be taken during normal vacation time, this means you can take-off on a real vacation out of Korea, but you have to get official approval from your school.

Two weeks of vacation was cut this year because of Lee Myung-bak and parents electing to not have it. These dates were: May 3 - 12 and Nov 1 - 9. You're supposed to get paid year-round regardless of holidays.

There are some people that get more vacation time, if you work in the city, you get less. BTW, I'm in the boonies, but that's probably obvious.

[bogey666]

I'd say don't worry about the "public holidays", those are fairly standard throughout the public school system.

the real difference/KEY is what happens during your school's summer and winter vacations.

do you have to work a camp and how long? (typically 4 hours a day and they're usually a week long)

then.. on non camp days.. do you have to come in and warm your seat for 4-8 hours a day? (I can only imagine how much fun that would be in Korean August.. sitting in your school's teaching room that's like a f....king.. furnace.)

if I were you I'd fnd a school that doesn't require you to come in on those days (it depends on the school) and if you're really lucky.. you can even work something out about leaving the country outside your alloted official vacation time.