Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thomas pars]

A few months ago at the GEPIK PLUS conference it was made known that GEPIK was in some budget trouble. Obviously the natural recourse would
be to trim the fat. The rumor was that higher level teachers would not be
renewed so they could bring in less experienced, less expensive teachers.

I didn't pay it much mind. That is until 4 of my friends have each had their
renewals declined. They had been working at the same school for 2-3 years.
When they tried to renew their contracts they were each told there isn't enough money to keep them on.

And today I was told there might not be enough money in the budget to renew my contract. This would be my 3rd year teaching at the school.
Is this happening to anyone else out there? Thoughts? Thanks.

[Radius]

i don't get it. Why wouldn't GEPIK at least offer a lower salary to the experienced teachers rather than dropping them without a choice? I'm sure some of them would take a drop in pay or stay at the same pay rate? No?

[Cerulean]

This is my plan if I'm confronted with this situation this year. I'm only looking to stay 1 more year and I have no interest in changing schools.

Totally sucks though if this is true.

[Ninjaniki]

Yes. I'm in the middle of my 3rd contract and was told they can't afford to pay me even now. This year they will be bringing in someone on the lowest payscale (2 million). I don't mind. I need a change anyway.

[Junior]

This has been ongoing for the past year at least.

What i don't understand is that if saving money is their aim, why has Gyeonggi just announced that each school will hire two new guards at the cost of 2.6M per month?

Is the nation overrun by an epidemic of child molesters?

Or is this just about making more uneccessary jobs for Koreans?

[jrwhite82]

I noticed they just setup all new guard stations at our school too. Maybe the guards will be effective in keeping the kids from playing near my car and breaking my mirror again!

And we got over 20 new water fountains! So psyched for those.

What else did Santa leave us over vacation?!?! So excited!

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

You know, they COULD just offer to cut pay a tad and give us long vacations...

[tokkibunni8]

rumors are true. experienced teachers will be replaced with newbies. this is my fourth and last year and i made it clear to my school that i will not be coming back in september when everyoe was asking me if i wanted to do another year. god thing i didnt because today i found out from the headteacher, who is a good friend that even if i wanted to renew, i couldnt have because a document came from the office about being unable to renew me. then she proceeded to on why the four teachers i recommended werent evn considered because they too were too costly. so, thats why there will be a newbie at my school, the gyopo niece of a current korean teacer.

typing from m ipod so dont go bashing my spelling errors, grammar, cas and wat not.


oh yeah we ave a new guard as of today with is own "guard" house haha... great way to spend their resources

[Junior]

[jrabernethy]

wow, I've heard things about how they don't think of English teaching as a "profession" but to get rid of your experienced teachers that easily?

I think this will backfire on them...

Anyways, I see now why people are saying don't start up in Korea if you want to be an English teacher. I don't know why I've been trying so hard to get trained as a good teacher when they will take anybody willing to take a low salary and a lot of BS.

[bobbybigfoot]

The future of ESL in Korea is not good at all.

[thomas pars]

What gets me is that they asked me if I wanted to do a 3rd year sometime
in November. And they come to me yesterday and said that it cannot be
guaranteed. My current contract ends in March. So when will the
decision come? February!

A month's notice! Thanks! In the mean time I can't exactly look for a new job. Or plan for the vacation I was supposed to get for renewing the
contract.

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

This is why ESL in Korea can never be a career. It doesn't matter where you work because you will always be a foreigner and foreigners eventually leave.

[Vagabundo]

I'm a bit skeptical.

the "savings" would be what.. 1.2 million won, 2.4 million won out of a total package that costs them close to 50?

I suppose it'll be interesting to hear what happens when my renewal comes up. I was warned last year they might not get funding, but they did wind up getting it so I stayed on for another year.

[blonde researcher]

double post