Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tokkibunni8]

I have a good relationship with my school. I am about to finish my contract and already signed a renewal form. While looking at the new contract, there is a change to the pay grade. Under this paygrade I am qualified for the 1 plus category, but talking with my school they don't have the budget to bump me up to 1 plus and says they can only renew my contract at 1.

My question is does gepik give every school in the province the same budget? How can some school afford to hire pple at the "s" category and some can't afford to give their teaachers a raise. Is each school given enough money to hire someone at an "s" category for the year. If not, why would such pay grade exist?

[BreakfastInBed]

Don't let them pull this. My school tried the same thing after my first contract (albeit I was going from level 2 to 1) and I had to sit there hemming and hawing over the new contract until they finally got on the phone with someone from GEPIK then and there. The look on my co-teacher's face was priceless. He was so cocksure when he got on the phone and completely crestfallen and humiliated when he hung up, and I got to sit there and soak up every delicious moment of his defeat (I did my best to help him save face though, and have waited 'til now to gloat).

If you satisfy the conditions for the next pay level that's that. Your school has no say in the matter, don't let them tell you otherwise. The money they didn't have magically appeared at my school after that phone call and they even wanted me back again this year.

[outkast_3000]

Make sure your school is a GEPIK school that is actually funded by the large GEPIK Program itself, and not an independent public school simply using the GEPIK contract.

My current high school was pretty forthright with me, and told me almost a month ago I wouldn't be renewed for the following school year. It had nothing to do with performance - I'm pretty sure they're telling the truth on that and not just letting me "save face" - and everything to do with budget cuts from the local education office. I looked at my co-teacher with surprise when she told me this, but explained that they weren't part of the GEPIK program per se, that they were administered differently by the local education office. The GEPIK contract itself is ubiquitous, meaning any public school probably uses the GEPIK contract, but it doesn't mean they're GEPIK. There's the possibility they're not trying to "screw" you in a malicious sense, but simply due to the fact they're not part of the bigger, well-funded GEPIK program at the highest level.

With that all being said, BreakfastInBed's situation is equally likely. Just find out if you're a real GEPIK school, if it is, then fight for it like BreakfastInBed. If not, you might be out of luck fighting this one. Granted, if you've got great co-teachers and a supportive principal like I had this past year, it'll be easy securing another job - they're literally calling everybody for me and have a few interviews for me lined up next week.

[yingwenlaoshi]

Doesn't make any sense that they "can't afford" to give you a 100 or 200,000 month raise. Sounds to me like they might get the raise and pay you the same and keep whatever raise you're entitled to for other things. Or for the principal's pocket.

I don't know.

[tokkibunni8]

The English budget can't be used for anything non English related. My first year at the school I was able to get a raised when I renewed (I was the only English teacher then). This is my second year at the school. We have 3 different English budgets, each with strict rules on how the money is spent. The school that i work for now has 4 English teachers. I get paid from two different budget accounts. My overtime pay comes from a different account for my afterschool classes. My regular pay comes from the "regular" english budget account, which one of the other 3 teachers gets paid from too. The other two teachers are part of the afterschool program, which has it's own budget.

Money from one account can not be moved to another account. I'm guessing my raise is screwed because of one too many English teachers at the same public school.

[kimchi girl]

This is likely a line of total crap they are trying to give you. But as the other poster said, make sure your school is part of GEPIK before calling them on their BS.

When I was teaching at a middle school the contract said 2 million to furnish the apartment. They gave me soiled linens from the school nurses office. They gave me a used camping/gas burner as my 'kitchen'. When I called them on it, they argued the contract said "up to 2 million won." And they wondered why I hated them!?

All kinds of schools pilfer from the Gepik program budgets for all kinds of things. Some are needed and genuinely help the school. In some cases you can be sure it's lining the pockets of the P and VP and going to buy cigarettes and soju and who knows what else.

Once you find out if you're GEPIK, you can challenge them and call their BS, but they will lose face and it might sour relations.

[tokkibunni8]

Yes, my school is part of GEPIK. They dealt with my raise last year. We have 4 teachers. One position will be eliminated in March because of budget cuts. The other 3 are at the bottom of the pay grade. I will probably be their first choice to let go if i insist on this raise.

They tried to compensate for the raise that I can't get by giving me a higher overtime wage (paid from a didfferent account), but when they called GEPIK, they were told the wage was not negotiable. There's always too much money left in that account at the end of the year that is returned to the office of education for redistribution next year, if unused.

I know for a fact because last year a month before school was to finished, the headteacher told me that there was about 10million left that I can use for my afterschool classes or else will need to be returned. So, we decided to take the 25 kids out on a two day trip to Seoul and Everland. About two weeks ago, I was told I had about 8 million won left. So, I decided that instead of doing winter camps for these students, I sent them to an English Village for three days with the headteacher, while I get to deskwarm at school (at a total cost for 20 students slightly under 7million won).

There is no transfer of funds and there is no way my school is going to get around it. I guess suck it up or find somewhere else or get rid of the other position, which they're not willing to.

Happy Early New Years Y'all. Hopefully they'll let me off at noon tomorrow so I won't be stuck in traffic going into Seoul!

[DomesticPelican]

This is probably a stupid question and I can probably do a search, but I am a little busy at the moment....

What is the difference between GEPIK and EPIK?

Is the pay scale the same?


I am just asking because I have a Master of Ed. (no TESOL certificate or anything like that though) and I've pretty much decided that I want to work with a private school. This is for a number of different reasons, but the pay is definitely one of them. I believe I am only qualified to earn like 2.1 with EPIK. Would GEPIK be the same?

[blackjack]