Korean Job Discussion Forums

nyenglish · Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Location: the small peninsula

GEPIKers: (Newbie question)

Got here in the middle of summer camp, so I'm a little confused:

We have 20 vacation days according to the contract that can be taken anytime when school is not in session...

Right?

My co-teacher told me she would "give me" my vacation 3 days here, 2 days here...etc...

I told her I don't want to take vacation then, but she said, "You have to, because school is closed."

I've lost 5 vacation days because of this, and I wanna know if this is normal...any advice?

romano812 · Joined: 09 Dec 2008

My GEPIK contract was 40 days, yes that's right 40 days! It said 20 formal and 20 informal. I took that to mean 20 the school chooses and 20 I choose. What it meant was 20 holidays the school chooses a vacation and 20 other inservice days without children. Those days may or may not involve going to school, workshops etc...
As for the 20 the school chooses as vacation they changed mine around 5 or 6 times before settling on final dates. In the end they gave me 2 weeks in a row during summer which was nice.
I think the GEPIK contracts are just as messed up as hagwon contracts because there seem to be many different versions floating around. You would think everybody would have the same contract.

andrewchon · Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:29 am Post subject:

Yes, that happened because you've arrived during the summer break. Unfortunate, but it happens.
Vacations works like this: Vacations are for students, not teachers. 20 days, sounds like you are in a rural school, students probably didn't sign up for any vacation activities, so there aren't any formal activities. However, teachers are required to come to school despite that (referred to as desk warming). During these times teachers take their paid vacation. First choice goes to who wants it more. You, having just arrived, missed out on the bidding process that occurred in early July. That's why you're getting drips and draps now. You'll do better when the winter vacation comes around.

lifeinkorea · Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Location: somewhere in China

Well, the 20 days are hard to string together if that's what you were hoping for. Figure 10 for winter and 10 for summer. This way you aren't actually losing "5" days or however many they want you to take.

When you teach in 2010, you won't be able to use those days before summer camp, so you might as well use them now.

I have the inverse problem you do. Instead of starting, I am ending my year with the school. They want me to use up 5 days next week, but I want to save them for interviews for another school.

I would look at your schedule and see if you can negotiate and have a light day to be used for vacation instead. For example, at my school they arranged mon-thu summer camp days. So, if I want a vacation day, they asked to have it scheduled on a Friday so I could still teach. On Tuesdays, we aren't real busy in the afternoon, so I could take 2 half-days I guess.

Check your schedule, maybe you can do something similar. But it won't be 20 or 10 days back to back.

Epicurus · Joined: 18 Jun 2009

nyenglish · Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Location: the small peninsula

thanks...y'all...

so if i take all of my vaca before the Feb. closing, what happens then?

will i get extra time off for the Feb. break that doesn't eat into my vaca?

it seems like it's better to take all my vaca now so that any school closings will just be extra time off, is this true?

highdials5 · Joined: 13 Oct 2008

Epicurus · Joined: 18 Jun 2009

nyenglish · Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Location: the small peninsula

that helps clear it up a bit...thanks

by Feb. closing, i meant the Feb. spring break...

so if i use all my vaca during the Jan. recess, then i will just have to show up at school during spring break and sit there?

because if they are going to give me the Feb spring break off anyway, i don't want to waste vaca days on it...

thanks

D.D. · Joined: 29 May 2008

andrewchon · Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 4:16 am Post subject: stupid quote

D.D.:
You're right. It needs more explanation. I think for the most NETs the school vacation means: the front gate is padlocked and remains locked until the vacation is over. That was the case for me when I was a student. (later I learnt that teachers come back a week early) I rarely saw a teacher at my school during the vacation. I, like everybody else, snuck in to play ball. Therefore, vacation must be same for the teachers, four weeks of free time. (Which leads to perception that teachers are overpaid comparably with them long holidays)
In Korea, the school is always open. (except Sat. afternoon and Sun, public holidays) During the vacations the school remains open. This is due to the culture of Korean pedagogy that a teacher is a teacher 24/7, 365 days a year. There is no separation of school and home life for teachers. That is what I mean when I say vacation is not for the teachers. Students get the vacation because they need down time. There's nothing preventing them to come to school during the vacation and continue their learning. Korea introduced paid vacation (non-teaching) for teachers so as to come in line with Western labour practices. So now the practice is slowly changing. How this vacation rule is interpreted depends on the principal. If he says desk warm, you do that, if not then what ever. Hence the case of some teachers coming in only two days while others are desk warming.
As for the distribution of the days: as I've said above the holiday schedule is done in early July. The OP wasn't there so the school didn't make any room for him in the schedule. When he got there, those were the days available. Unfortunate, but sometimes that's the way the ball bounces. If that is breaking something in the contract then it is.