Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ballerina2012]

Hi,

Does anyone know of any international /foreign schools in Korea that have special education teachers on the faculty?

TY

[ttompatz]

The largest majority of people in Korea won't be paying in excess of US$24,000 per year to send a spec-ed kid to an international school just so they can study in English.

There are schools with Spec-ed teachers and schools who specialize in spec-ed students but I do not know of any positions at the major "international" schools and none are dealt with in English. How's your Korean (rhetorical question) ?

As you have been advised before, internationally accredited schools don't hire on EFL boards, their staff largely don't hang out on EFL boards and EFL teachers can't afford to send their kids to them (EFL teachers usually don't earn salaries that high never mind have the ability to pay that much just for tuition).

If you want to confirm then a simple google search for the international schools in Korea would have given your answer (no positions listed and no programs offered at any of them).

Busan International Foreign School
Busan Foreign School
Japanese School in Seoul
Korea International School
Korea International School Jeju
Korea Kent Foreign School
Seoul American High School
Seoul Foreign School
Seoul International School
Chadwick International
Asia Pacific International School
Dwight School Seoul

.

[Ballerina2012]

Thank you..I was just curious bc not all students at international schools are Korean language as a mother tongue students. Some are kids of Americans/other who live in Korea, some might be spec ed or need special services.

[CentralCali]

[ttompatz]

[CentralCali]

In Korea, the special education teachers work in one of two places:

1. The few, very few, public schools that actually have a special education teacher assigned.
   
2. The school in the province/metropolitan city designated as a special education school.

You also have to remember that those two places are public schools, so the teaching staff, including the special education teachers, must rotate to another school after three to four years. There is absolutely no guarantee that a school with a special education teacher one semester will have that teacher the next semester.

Private schools, as ttompatz mentioned, are not designed or even set up for special education students. Heck, the schools are barely starting to grasp the concept of guaranteeing physical access! Korea is not years behind what you're used to--it's decades behind.

Oh, another fun note: even the public schools aren't free in Korea.

I'm sorry, and I hope you don't take this as being mean, but there's absolutely no way I'd subject my child to Korea's education system if the child has any special needs. Korea's not set up for it and I'd just go broke. I seriously doubt any other foreigner would bring their non-Korean speaking, non-Korean citizen, special needs child to Korea either and for the same reasons: lack of special education facilities, expense involved, and absolutely no support network whatsoever.

Now, if you're looking to be hired in Korea as a Special Education teacher, well, it's simply never going to happen. First, you'll have to be a Korean citizen. Then, you'll have to get the appropriate degree from a Korean university, and finally you'll have to pass the licensing test for it. There are no Special Ed teachers at private schools in Korea. And the public schools will not hire a foreigner for anything other than teaching their native language. There's the whole licensing thing going on there. Again, Korea's not set up for that.