Korean Job Discussion Forums

crianp · Joined: 10 Oct 2008 Location: Incheon

Hi there, I have been teaching in Korea for over a year at a hogwon with only 11 vacation days. I heard about the increase for public schools and I was wondering how flexible is that increased vacation time?

dean_burrito · Joined: 12 Jun 2007

Most public school positions offer 21 days of vacation and there is no standard as to when or how you take them. Most of the time it would be between semesters or during exam weeks.

Also some schools will give you more than 21 days others will make it difficult or impossible for you take your 21 days. I imagine most just give you the 21. On Dave's you only hear about the extreme of the two. Folks celebrating extra time or folks bitching about not getting the time.

How do you know which schools will give you want? Answer is you can't. Principals and head teachers are always being shuffled from school to school and these are the people that decide NSET's fate.

halfmanhalfbiscuit · Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Location: Seoul

Any unused vacation during break...you just don't come. Problem solved, there's your holiday.

Why would you come to work when you know you are on holiday?

cruisemonkey · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:52 pm Post subject:

dean_burrito · Joined: 12 Jun 2007

cruisemonkey · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:17 pm Post subject:

pusky · Joined: 03 Jun 2009

my school said I had to take 10 days summer and 11 days in winter. Don't know if it is the actual rule or not and since it is in line with what I wanted to do anyways it seems OK. Basically they have camps and other stuff planned for you and you can request your vacation time in the days that they don't have that scheduled.

You only get 10 days for summer I think, but you can get a few more days than that if your lucky and your school doesn't make you come in and desk warm. They do seem kind of strict that you travel internationally only on official requested vacation days though.

cruisemonkey · Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 3:39 am Post subject:

ChinaBoy · Joined: 17 Feb 2007

BabaNaja · Joined: 12 Apr 2009

When are the exam periods and the "between semester" periods? I know that the school schedule is obviously different from at home, but I would like to know when their winter and summer "vacation" is.

dean_burrito · Joined: 12 Jun 2007

vonnegutjr · Joined: 24 Mar 2009

I think vacation kind of sucks these days. At the POE I work for in Daegu, and as I've heard in Busan, you don't find out the possible vacation schedule until the mid to late of June. Then you have to hope the camps they force you to work are, a) close to your house b) consecutive (so you can take a block period of vacation), and c) paid (but they're not). So you do charity work for 1 to 4 weeks and then try to work out a vacation in a mont and a half that hopefully lands in a block of days. Next year, there will be more unpaid camps because they're great money makers for the program. I have considered quitting and the P and VP gave me the extra days that are neither vacation nor camp days off, for a total of 5 days. I have friends who have to take their vacation one week and then work and then another week. As well, I have a friend who has more camp days than possible vacation, so he doesn't get to take it all. They consider the weekend at his school as a calender day. That said, camps will increase and the new contracts say "18 working days" of vacation instead of 21 calender days. I cannot stress how balls the PS system is becoming. It's almost the same as a hagwon but you work in the morning Smile

Epicurus · Joined: 18 Jun 2009

I don't want to sound snarky merely because I dont have to deal with this nonsense, but the contract should be fairly clear on how many vacation days you get and what constitutes a vacation day.

school trying to tell me a weekend counts as vacation day?
NO.

read the contract please.

school trying to tell me I can't take my vacation because they or POE has overscheduled camps?

NO.

read the contract please.

and I wouldn't budge an inch.

haopengyou · Joined: 10 Mar 2009

I think my contract said that I had national holidays off AND 21 days of vacation. How much time is there between semesters?

Zulethe · Joined: 04 Jul 2008

If you cultivate a good relationship with ALL the teachers at your school and don't point to your contract every other day, your vacation could grow considerably.

Case in point: I have 7 official vacation days this summer. I work at a public school.

My last day is July 17th and I have no camp and won't be back to school until the beginning of next semester.