Korean Job Discussion Forums

[blunder1983]

I'd just like to comment on the amount of work the teachers in my school put into their kids.

Today is the day before an inspection so they've been running around since 7am manically, last week was a music festival and sports day and each class had original dances, songs and costumes.

I know the education system is fubar over here but I really think the teachers in schools are massively undervalued. If parents would just simply get off their high horses, make their kids be responsible for playing up in class instead of stupidly deflecting their kids bad behaviour and blaming the teachers and finally allowing the kids to be graded by ability then all of a sudden things will improve.

*sigh* but instead, we must appreciate that logic and common sense are not the "Korean way". I love being here, but working such a inefficient industry and seeing impact negatively on all the kids in my school does depress me.

[livinginkorea]

That's true but what about the bribes and teacher's day? It works for the teachers as well. korean teachers are masters at trying to look busy but also great at doing nothing at all. The relationship between the teachers and parents is a strange one, that's for sure. I've seen parents decorating and cleaning classrooms. I've seen parents cooking school lunchs in the canteen and doing the gardening. My parents never did that back home. Did yours?

[I_Am_Wrong]

our school has a parents committee. they do some cleaning and organizing when special events are near, they prepare snacks and stuff sometimes, they are involved in planning some events.

I've never heard of an elementary school in Canada not having a parents group that was involved in things like the sports day, hot dog days, school concerts etc.

The age old saying, just because you don't see something doesn't mean it isn't there.

[Doodly]

I work in an elementary school. I wouldn't call most of the Korean teachers I've worked with at the school or for other projects with the board of education hardworkers or undervalued. Only the head teacher ever works after 5pm. I know because I'm often the last to leave the school and I've only seen one teacher take work home. They do a lot of paperwork that seems to only be necessary in Korea. They don't spend even close to as much time lesson planning as Canadian teachers. They would have more grading to do because of the larger class sizes, but they don't test often or properly. They also let the TV do the teaching way too often. They play volleyball every Wednesday afternoon and have at least one social event during school hours each month. Some of them spend a great deal of time playing guitar, smoking, surfing the net, instant messaging or playing on their cell phones during their prep time. Co-teachers sometimes do those things during teaching time.

My current co-teacher has never requested that parents supply their child with a notebook for English class. In Canada, a list of supplies for all necessary subjects would have sent home with the students at the beginning of the year. Now he's also too lazy to call the parents of the students who still don't have notebooks. He'd rather just hit them as a reminder to bring a notebook next time. No, it doesn't work but it saves him from calling home. That's just one example of how I've found that the teachers I've worked with here are lazy and incompetant. He also used to teach English on his own and, like many Korean English teachers, he is not fluent enough to even be teaching English ("How many do you have dog?" "Who is it book?").

Undervalued? Maybe the odd teacher is undervalued. The two grade one teachers at my school (one is the head teacher) might fall into that category. The others don't. If Canadian education ever goes the way of Korean education, I'll definitately be homeschooling.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

At my school it so varies. The job I'd like is the PE teacher's. He gets the girls doing some activity and then sits down in the shade and has a smoke. Or, alternatively, he's out shooting hoops by himslef while all the girls are sitting around in the shade chatting. He must feel devestated on test days when he has to spend the whole day in classrooms invigilating.

On the other hand, there are some teachers who are really undervalued. As for the parents, I don't hear much about them, which is quite a different story from hogwan.

[The evil penguin]

[antoniothegreat]