Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Kyonggi Province to Directly Recruit English Teachers
Municipal governments have begun directly recruiting native English instructors in primary and secondary schools by increasing ties with foreign universities amid the rising demand for qualified instructors.

"We are facing difficulties dealing with these foreign teachers, many of whom breach contracts and provide low-quality lectures. So, we've decided to recruit qualified English instructors directly from universities in English-speaking countries," said an official at the Kyonggi office of education.

Private institutes normally pay native English speakers about 2.0-2.2 million won per month. But an English immersion camp in Paju, Kyonggi Province pays about 2.7-2.8 million won a month for foreign instructors.
By Lee Hyo-sik, Korea Times (May 7, 2006)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200605/kt2006050717455611960.htm

[crazylemongirl]

This is interesting:

[Hater Depot]

Considering how quickly they burned their bridges with the University of Wisconsin I don't expect too much success to come out of this.

[crazylemongirl]

[lastat06513]

Here are 2 people;


1. A college graduate who just landed in-country and gets easily manipulated by the system and when asked if the practice is normal, the excuse given to them is "This is the way we do things around here..." and once they get used to it and know the ropes, they would get cut- cold-turkey....

2. A guy who has been in the business for a while and knows the ropes based on his experience that he/she's had for a while. He/ she does a great job, but doesn't take any crap because they have seen their games coming from a mile away. They can't fire him because he knows the laws like the back of his/her hand. The only thing they can do is to fire him for some mundane reason.

I honestly think that the program will work well and it would bring alot of new blood into the ESL system in Korea, but it doesn't come without a cost;

1. College age people tend to experiment more with controlled substances than the people already in the country.

2. They will complain more about the conditions (IE, shared housing and lack of communication skills of the skills) more than people who have been overseas for some time and become alittle tolerant of such barriers.

3. Some graduates will become so uppity about the level of their education or where they graduated that they would get up and walk out faster than the average teacher already in country.

True, the education department can get by on paying smaller wages (1.9 to 2.0) with shared housing, but they won't get the true quality that comes with people already there.


Plus. Europeans are used to getting alittle more money than the average English speaking person because of the high per-capita income there, especially in Scandinavia (something Koreans haven't found yet)

I think it sounds good on paper, but it will ultimately fail in the long run.

[Hater Depot]

[itaewonguy]

[mmstyle]

Well, I am not in Korea yet, so take it for what it is worth. But, I have lived in Scandinavia (Sweden, visited all other countries except Iceland). I would say that while English is widely studied in these countries, the level of proficiency is not really high enough (in my experience at least) to consider Scandinavians as a viable labor alternative for English teachers.

And Lestat makes a very good point about the wages in Scandinavian countries. While some recent graduates may find (what would probably amount to) a paid cultural exchange interesting, it would almost certainly be short term. Since university tuition is not the student's responsibility in Sweden, swedes generally do not have the large debts that Americans (I have no idea what Canadians, Australians, NZers and others pay for their degrees) do for their education.

However, the cost of living and wages are so much higher at home that the money scandinavians could save while living in Korea would not go nearly as far once they return home. So, much less lucrative, which is clearly why many English speakers put up with job situations they might not otherwise consider. My two cents.

[matthews_world]

[mindmetoo]

I wonder what recruiting directly will accomplish? It's pretty much the same type of human being that wants or needs to come to Korea to teach.

I suppose in a way it's an unspoken indictment of the recruiters. The recruiters promise the world, lie, and the foreigner finds the conditions aren't what was promised. Naturally he/she breaks his contract...

If teachers are breaking their contracts, the schools should be looking at their working conditions, managers, not looking to recruit Finns.

[crazylemongirl]

Hater, I knew one guy who came through that prgoramme out in my neck of the woods. He hated it here, showed littlie interest in teaching (judging by the amount of time he spent drinking and how little he spent on his open class) and he left after his contract was up and he didn't get replaced. So I was curious.

MM style I wasn't saying the scandavians don't have good english, it's that the Korean system will not give them a visa under the current rules.

It never ceases to amaze me how JET will turn away hundreds of applicants, and has term limits because of the number of teachers. While Korea is always struggling to find teachers and retain them.

[animalbirdfish]

[Paji eh Wong]

Its just another balloon, kids. Schools will still be unable to fulfill their quotas and be left up to their own devices.

[lastat06513]

I think the only thing that the schools or the district offices can do if they cut the recruiters out is to be honest to the teaching candidate about the working, housing and monetary conditions involved.

But...wouldn't that turn the candidate off to the position?

And the latest poster is indeed right, the only way to get quality teachers to come is to raise the bar in the workload (by that, I mean lower the work involved in and out of class), offer better single housing and most of all, the salary. I mean, you might be able to induce a college graduate to come and work for a semester or so, but they would be leaving soon after.

And if they want to hire someone with a pretty face only, just add Russians to the list of people who can get an E2 visa (in some schools, they already do that). They would do the work of a Scandinavian, only at a fraction of the cost and they would be more incline to date or marry a
Korean if they truly want to stay (but, isn't that what Koreans are trying to do away with?....oh! I meant Russian Women marrying Korean men, not the other way around....my bad! oops!)

I think that if a person wants to go to an interesting place for an enriching cultural experience, I think most people would be inclined to go to China more than to go to Korea.