Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wjf1]

I started teaching three weeks ago and I am surprised by how much scrutiny I have been put under. Since starting work (for a brand new school that is part of a hagwon chain) me and my fellow teachers have been under constant observation.

Every week our headteacher sits in one of our classes and films the whole lesson. He then gives us extensive feedback. We then have to watch the videos of our classes and make notes about our teaching.

Not only does the headteacher sit in our classes, but we also have to sit in each other's. Once a week I have to sit in another teacher's class and write feedback sheets on them. The favour is then returned by one of the teachers observing my classes.

If that was not enough there are also the CCTV cameras that are watched by the director without any prior warning. Today I was told by my headteacher that the director watched one of my Wednesday classes because a student pulled out. The reason being that I am a 'boring teacher'. I was then told I needed to start telling jokes.

How normal is this kind of constant observation when starting a new teaching job in Korea? I was hoping to gradually get more comfortable with the whole thing, but the supervision is relentless.

[J Rock]

My very first day I thought I was going to be taught how to "teach" but they just threw me in a class and i figured it out.

Since then 3 1/2 years I can count on one hand the amount of times my director has come in to monitor my class.

I will say this that she does try to give me constant advice like I should give vocab quizzes for every class, give them tons of homework, or even doing a phone call thing at the kids home. Other than that they pretty much leave me alone as long as kids don't start dropping out she seems fine.

I also did work Kindies for a while and they had a teacher in the room at all times with me to help and I actually liked it. But other than little kids I have never had a teacher come in unless I walked out to get them because the kids were being bad.

[Waluigi]

sounds pretty extreme! mine has been pretty much the opposite.

the director watched my first class 2 and a half months ago, and he hasn't been in one again since.

they have CCTV in our classrooms too, so I guess they watch that sometimes but... I was expecting more.

I guess somewhere between our two situations would be appropriate. yours sounds hellish though... keep your chin up!

[Waluigi]

forgot to say... do you get positive feedback too, or do you find they focus a lot on the negatives?

focusing on the negatives is what they do here, its part of the culture. just interested on how this differs in different hagwons. my director gave me praise, but it seemed forced and he wasn't comfortable giving it!

[Louis VI]

None whatsoever.

The lack of srutiny from day one has been a real sink or swim treat. It's scary as hell but the independence of it is what has kept me in hagwons for the better part of a decade. I'm a hard worker with personal initiative and I choose my own texts, march to the beat of my own drum. They give me the students and class times, and I am 100% in charge of what happens in the classroom. It's been like that at three of the four jobs I've had, two of them long term, one of them very short term because they tried to tell me how to do my job, which led me to my current position, much like my first two: all on me to do as I see fit. This job is rewarding beyond belief for those who like to get up each day and challenge oneself to be better, to try new things, to keep learning oneself.

[wjf1]

The headteacher and other English teachers give both positive and negative feedback because they have official feedback forms to fill in. Everything about the teacher is rated i.e. boardwork, attitude, discipline etc.

So far the Korean teachers have only told us complaints from parents (e.g. there is not enough speaking in class or the teacher likes a particular student too much). The feedback from the director (spoken through the headteacher) is always negative e.g. so and so were not paying attention in class or the boardwork wasn't clear enough.

I tried to mentally prepare for all scenarios before coming to Korea, but I had never read about this one. I thought I'd be left alone to do my own thing unless there were problems. Unfortunately so far it's been like a TEFL course with relentless observations. Even the headteacher has compared it to 'Big Brother'.

[captain kirk]

No scrutiny whatsoever, but here is my mentor:

http://movieclips.com/watch/the-sound-of-music-1965/do-re-mi/

[oldfatfarang]

You're lucky to get free tefl training, but I'd get the teachers together and politely tell the director that this constant evaluation is wearing you down and, importantly, is a distraction for your teaching (and students). Hopefully they'll ease up and let you develop your own style as a teacher.

Also, the big brother camera thing is really unnerving. However, if you look at this positively, you can use it as a classroom management tool. For example, "Min Suk, do you know that your mother is watching you misbehave in this very expensive class?"

Good luck.

[AsiaESLbound]

Lots from 2 co-teachers, but not CCTV nor any higher ups observing. OP, sounds like some toxic work culture for sure. Endure the special treatment, challenge them on it, or leave for greener pastures. Since the director is so worried, maybe the director needs to get out of the comfy office chair for some teaching.

[chellovek]

None. I didn't have a lesson for a month at this job. It took 4 months before they actually put me on a proper schedule.

[LeePDX]

Reminds me a lot of the Japanese Lesson Study Model, where teachers collaborate to plan, teach, observe, and analyze together (often time using video). It may sound extreme, but if you are getting negative and positive feedback and are genuinely interested in education pedagogy/improving your skills as an effective educator, collaboration such as this has proved very powerful in past research.
In my Masters education program we often did similar videos and groups reflections and it made me a more confident teacher. Sometimes you just need that extra perspective to really see what students are responding or not responding to; certain things are easy to miss when you are actively teaching.
Definitely better than no feedback in my opinion. P.S. I'm still a few days away from teaching in Korea, so I could be way off in terms of what you are experiencing...

[ED209]

A hagwon boss or manager has every right to see if their teachers can teach or need help. Peer observation is also useful to pick up little tips here and there even if you've been teaching for years. However, often I find the scrutiny some teachers face here is more a case of "We don't like you, and want to justify our distrust." Many observations degenerate into nitpicking which simply breeds resentment. How do your co-teachers feel about these observations?

[OiGirl]

Sounds like someone is on a power trip or collecting data for a PhD thesis.

[Ramen]

That's why headteachers get the big bucks.

[southernman]

When I was at a Hagwan I had the director sit in on one class, the kids behaved themselves heaps better

When we had CCTV installed it also helped to control the kids, any misbehaving and I'd just tell that student to smile and wave to the camera coz your moms gonna be asked down to have a look at your behaviour

Our CCTV Monitors were in the main reception, parents were welcome to look at them anytime they wanted, potential parents were encouraged to look at them.

I agree with other posters this seems extreme feedback in your case, way over the top... Maybe explain that its making you nervous and therefore seriously impeding your teaching ability and that you'd hate to loose any more students because of this monitoring