Korean Job Discussion Forums

[MollyBloom]

My co-teacher is an older woman, a contracted teacher. From what I understand, she is basically a subsitute teacher. I am curious as to how the other teachers look at her: is she looked down upon for being part-time? Is she just like them?

[BS.Dos.]

We've a youngish guy at my HS whose been here since the start of semester 1. Teaches art and music by all accounts, although I've yet to actually see any evidence of anthing remotely artistic in any of the classrooms nor have I had the pleasure of hearing any musical overtures drifting between the buildings of an afternoon.

I think his age probably has some bearing on his frequent gardening expeditions. I often see him looking distressed, head down, dragging his feet alongside a large pair of rusting secateurs as he heads off once again into the undergrowth. He's also usually one of the first out the door at 17:30 too. Whereas the other teachers always seem to linger on for an extra 20-minutes making absolutely sure that the VP notices them in the process.

For the most part, I think most of the older teachers ignore him, although he seems pretty pally with one or two of the permenant staff. I don't inagine that he'll be hanging around once his current contract expires. But there again, most of the teachers at my HS liken it to working in Colditz most of the time.

[MollyBloom]

That's interesting. So these teachers are outsiders?

[BS.Dos.]

Well, I'd say that they're outsiders in the sense that they've been drated in for a 1-year contract etc and aren't, to the best of my understanding, viewed as being part of that close knittedness one associates with the tenured teachers. I've also a young contracted CT at my MS, although I don't see as much evidence of the, for want of a better expression, subtle prejudices that I've witnessed at my HS, although this is partly because I'm not there as often. However, I do know that her workload is disproportionately higher than her tenured colleagues.

I suppose ultimately, I'd say that in my expericience, contracted teachers seem to be tolerated rather than accepted for the most part, but remain on the boudaries of full social inclusion. The absence on the part of the tenured teachers to integrate the contracted teachers into the wider scheme of things is noticable.

[cruisemonkey]

They're basically at the bottom of the totem pole (except for the foreign, English teacher).

[KYC]