Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thomasdr]

I have been an EPIK teacher for over 3 years now and during this time I have learned a bit about the Korean education system and serving as an employee in it. We are considered government employees working in the education department - if this were not true, I would not have qualified for a car insurance discount offered to government education employees, and my visa wouldn�t be sponsored by the office of education. Because of this we are bound by certain rules that apply to almost every other government education employee. In regards to �vacation�, when school is not in session in the summer and winter, all government education employees are still technically working and not on vacation. Korean teachers sign a document and provide a schedule of their educational plan in order to not be present at school during this time. It may be thought of as a sort of home study or professional development period, but in reality it is what westerners deem vacation. As a government education employee I also fill out the same schedule and official document for the time I am not going to be at school during the winter and summer recess. During the recess while doing professional development, if I want to leave the country, then I have to use my vacation time. Again, this is the exact same for Korean teachers who also have to file a plan and make a copy of their passport showing the dates they were not working because they were out of the country. The exception to this is if you are doing professional development abroad �TEFL, class observation, training -, then it is not considered vacation.

I guess what I want to say to everyone out there that is confused about vacation is that not being at school during recess isn�t considered vacation if you are doing professional development from home, which is what all of your co-workers are doing. Vacation is only applied when leaving the country for non-educational purposes on recess or taking time off during the regular school schedule. Now if your school will not allow you to do professional development from home like all other Korean teachers during the recess then they either don�t respect you or don�t like you. My advice is to ask for an official paper to allow you to do home study on recess and have a Korean teacher help you fill it out and submit it with the other teachers at your school. Show that you should be treated as a professional like the rest of the staff. If for some reason the administration won�t approve your document, ask them to explain why. You deserve time away from school like everyone else to lesson plan effectively and improve your teaching skills. Show them that you are going to do a TEFL class or something similar.

Another issue that people seem to be confused about is doing camps during break. Unless it says you are responsible for doing camps in your contract (GEPIK?), you are not obligated to do it without payment. Again, there is an exception to this if your co-teacher is present in the classroom. You are bound contractually to teach no more than 22 classes a week. These classes legally must be co-taught because you are not licensed to teach in public schools. If there is no co-teacher present in the classroom, the class is considered an extracurricular class and is not part of your contracted teaching time. Payment should be given like it is for every Korean teacher who teaches extra curricular classes or you shouldn�t do it. I, like many other teachers in my city, make a large portion of my salary teaching extra classes and doing camps.

If you are in EPIK, you should be able to play by the rules outlined above. I wince when I read about people complaining about sitting alone at work when all of the other teachers are at home doing �professional development�. I cringe when I hear about people doing weeks of unpaid camp during recess. Become a professional and take action. Ask to read all official documents sent to your handler from the office of education- these directly concern you and your job after all. Ask to participate in meetings even though you won�t understand and make sure you have a copy of the school calendar to stay informed of coming events. Sit down with teachers and offer suggestions about the English curriculum and how it could be improved. Become active in planning and see what else you can do for your school � I have an area of the school to supervise when the students are cleaning. Most importantly, make sure you fill out official documents anytime you leave early or miss school for things like exams or meetings at the office of education. If your school says it isn�t necessary, they are absolutely wrong. Again, you are a government employee and should fill out the same paperwork as every other employee. This should help you when it comes time to fill out your plan for summer and winter recess.

[nomad-ish]

[Kimchieluver]

In my EPIK contract is says that sometimes we may be needed to teach alone. I also have the above posters clause.

[thomasdr]

Korean teachers are also asked to do camps and extra classes, which is in their contracts like ours. The difference for some foreign teachers is that they aren't being paid for these extra classes like the Korean teachers are. Unfortunately for these people an error is being made on the school's part and ELIs are working for free. The problem might be that the school doesnt understand the terms of the the EPIK contract or that they just don't think you deserve to be paid because they don't consider you a real teacher. If you don't put forth the effort to be part of the group, they won't treat you like a member. I don't know about your situation, but in in Busan we get almost the same rights and privledges as our Korean co-workers, except we don't work on Saturday. Paid camps and extra classes, plus we have the same recess time as the school does. Now we can't leave the country for all of recess, but that's why we have vacation time.

[pootle]

With all this 'professional development' going on, I wonder why so many Korean English teachers can't speak English? Signing a piece of paper is one thing, doing the work is another thing entirely.

[maingman]

or the feckin.. conference was it part of EPIK dunno??! my EX co teacher at high school,( i resigned from) who took me to - an overnight stay about two full days-
a hall full of korean and a few *korean. english lecturers and me, no other native teachers, WHY?

[Gusss]

I still cant get over this "work without being paid" thing ..........

[cruisemonkey]

OP,

Are you saying that during vacation if one teaches a two-week camp (Mon. - Fri.), at one's school: four, 45-minute lessons per day without a co-teacher, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. (and can leave for the day at 12:45), they deserve extra pay?

[thomasdr]

[Michael_75]

[afsjesse]

I have a similar situation that I'm unsure about.

My contract says I have to do camps during vacation. So far my school is saying that it will be 3 days.

Now we worked out my vacation dates, I get 7 days. For the other three weeks they expect me to come in and keep my chair warm. Well now I get word that the principal is forming a two week conversation class for parents and students to keep me "busy". My coteacher's said they will not be there and that I will be alone.

So the question: Do I ask to be paid for these classes during break outside of the camp? Are they illegal for me to teach because I will be doing it alone?

My contract states that I shall not ask for any renumeration other than that in my contract, so how do i bypass that?

[thomasdr]

[afsjesse]

This is how is went down.

My coteacher and I went to the Principals office and he beheaded her with how bad she was for the schools poor english grades and how she should be ashamed of herself etc..... Then she asked about what I was supposed to do during break. He said that because the "school" is responsible for me during vacation and because my contract states i only get 7 days off they cannot give me more. He said its unoffical and that if I got into trouble so would they.... total BS in my opinion. I told him other schools did it but he wouldn't budge. Then he said his grand idea about the "winter" conversation classes.

I don't know what to do honestly. I'll probably just go in ad teach, can't really fight the guy.

[afsjesse]

By any chance does anyone know where I can get these "laws" on paper via internet? The one with a coteacher in the classroom and compensation for camps etc....?

[jellobean]

Doesn't your contract state that you will have a co-teacher at all times? What are the camp requirements stated in your contract?