Korean Job Discussion Forums

[papa_geno]

Just a shot in the dark: does anyone here have/know of any solid resources where I could find out some basic information about the average Korean Public School? Important information would be average number of hours per week spent in school by students, number of days a year a student attends school, availability of extra classes within the school itself, resources for special needs children, average class size, required curriculum--this sort of thing. Ideally, these would be official stats and information.

Thanks for any help you can give.

p_g

[schwa]

Wikipedia's article on Education in South Korea might be a good starting point. Doesnt answer all your questions but does provide an accurate overview of the system & could lead you to other links.

[Big Mac]

Why don't you try contacting someone at the Ministry of Education? I don't know if they have an English number, but if not maybe you can get a Korean friend to call.

You could also try the Korea National Statistical Office.

I think if you are looking for solid and very accurate information, these are the places you have to go. It's better to get information from the horse's mouth rather than relying on secondary information.

Why do you need such accurate figures? Are you writing a book or something? If you are, then most government departments would have a media spokesperson who will give you such information (though here they may or may not speak English).

[ddeubel]

I have most of that info. handy. Mostly in ppt and articles. You'll have to search though. Start by clicking Resources and going to Korea. It will be there..... Also look in our mediafire under Korea http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=d69447247921c717b4e0c5efb3960d790ce7080d1981ef53

Here's a ppt that shows general stuff. But I have a ppt from a colleague I'll dig up that very well shows the breadth and depth of present English language education in Korea. http://www.slideshare.net/ddeubel/education-in-korea-ppt

KICE might have additional info for you. http://www.kice.re.kr/en/introduction/about.jsp

Cheers,

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

[wylies99]

OP, a lot depends on your location, program (SMOE, GEPIK, EPIK, etc...), and the individual school. Care to enlighten us about these? Then more accurate advice can be given.

[sojusucks]

[papa_geno]

First, thanks for the on-topic replies: I was a little apprehensive about asking here, because I've seen any number of threads dragged off topic by a few posters who had some personal gripe with Korea--not that we don't all have them, but it's good to see people providing solid information. All of the above have helped.

My query isn't really about a possible job, so I'm not looking into it for that reason...my query is more a matter of curiosity driven by recent remarks by President Obama re: education in America. I'm still looking around, but I know he's been citing places like China and S. Korea as reinforcement for recent statements that US schools should extend their hours, either through longer days or shortened vacations--this latter seems especially a focus, and I really can't fault the basic logic behind it, as the thought of trying to re-train students in basic classroom behavior every Autumn--after nearly 3 1/2 months off to forget it all--gives me a nasty case of the howling fantoids. That said, if anything, my own experience in Korea (limited to hagwon work) suggests that, if anything, the model used here would serve as reinforcement for further privatizing public education. Not that I'm for that...just that, from what I've been able to gather so far, most of the additional hours a Korean student spends in educational settings stems from attendance in hagwons or other for-pay educational circumstances.

Obviously, official stats are what I'm ultimately after, because I'd like to honestly compare the two--in whatever limited form that's possible. All of the above help with doing just that.

I am starting to think that I need to pull in a Korean friend, though, if I'm to stand a chance of getting solid stats. There are of course comparative studies to be found on the web, but so far, the ones I've accessed haven't had the level of citation I'd prefer.

Anyway, thanking everyone for the information they've provided thus far, and I appreciate any other information any of you might have. In the meantime, I'll work up what I can, and try to formulate more specific questions. One that springs immediately to mind for anyone who is working in Korean public schools: What is the schedule at your school--i.e., what hours are attendance for all students, and when, specifically, are vacations scheduled for?

[Big Mac]

At my public school the kids are in classes from 9:10 to 12:20 and then 1:20 to 3:00. I think the younger kids finish before 3:00, but I'm not sure about that.

The winter vacation was from December 26 to February 10. There were classes from February 11 to the 18th and then the kids were off again until March 2 for spring vacation.

I haven't worked the summer yet at this school, but I think the kids have almost the whole month of August off in the summer.

I found the long winter vacation was just as bad as the long summer vacation back home for the kids forgetting what they had learned. It was too much time off.

The public schools suck at teaching kids what they need to know, and Korean parents do not trust the public school system to teach their kids properly. That's why if the parents have money (and even if they don't, many parents have to make huge sacrifices to find the money) they send their kids to private academies in the late afternoon and evening.

Kids don't only just go to English academies, they also go to math, science, music, cooking, tae-kwon-do and homework academies. The main reason they do this is because of a quality issue with the public schools, but Korean parents also have a real zeal to make sure their kid does better than the other kids and to get them into the top university in Korea or into an ivy league university overseas.

I really don't think more is better, but Koreans like to waste a lot of time and create the "image" of studying or working hard. It doesn't necessarily mean quality.

[alinkorea]

The Korean education system is like a machine from the time of the industrial revolution. People gasp at the wonderment of it. It's size, the amount of fuel needed to power it, the raw materials it consumes and the workforce needed to staff it. An amazing amount of heat and noise is produced. After hours of frenetic 'work' the final product must incredible. Then it lamely spits out a keyring

[Jammer113]

[papa_geno]

Jammer 113, I can't find much to disagree with you about. Ignoring everything else, comparing a culture that springs from the Yangban tradition to one that early produced the story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (and the very respectful way in which intellectualism was treated within that story...)...obviously, in any attempt to lengthen the average American kids' time at school, some things will be lost in translation. I certainly hope what's lost are the less attractive aspects...you know, ritual humiliation, privatization, over-reliance on standardized tests, that sort of thing.

As I understand it, S. Korea's school system is centrally administered...also a big, big difference from the structure in the US--and probably more important, because of logistics, than the very real cultural differences on this particular subject.

Anyway, I'm mostly interested in gathering relatively solid facts for the purpose of making just this case...still batting information around, and appreciate the comments.