Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jamiekarin]

I am at a public school in Gyeonggi-Do. My first paycheck was for 1 month and 9 days, yet they took off 2 months worth of pension fund and health benefits, when I said this was wrong they told me this is normal, you have to pay monthly even if I only was in Korea teaching for 9 of the days??? Is this true?

Second they are telling me that for my vacation time, I only have to do camps until the start of august. I thought to myself sweet 3 weeks off!.... Wrong. Even though they don't have work for me, if I want my salary I have to come into school everyday and play on the internet and basically F*&# off. If I want to go away I HAVE to use my 14 days paid vacation. Has anyone had this problem either?

[kat2]

1. not sure about.

2. yeah, you only get to stay away from school for your designated vacation time. You could try to butter up your VP and prinicpal though. They might let you have some extra vacation days. Don't mention it to them directly though, just see if they mention it to you. It might not work for this vacatoin, but keep buttering and you'll probably have some extra time off in winter. I'm supposed to get 4 weeks a year, but I've already had at least 6. Just bring in some DVDs, get yourself on videolemon.com, or bring a good book this summer.

[xCustomx]

[spliff]

[LuckyNomad]

No idea what your talking about. I've never had pay problems. As far as pension goes, you'll get it back when you leave Korea anyway.

2. Never had to come into school during vacation, other than for english camp. My contract says 2 weeks a year, but I get about 13 or 14 minus english camps.

[icnelly]

The pension does work that way. I'm pretty sure you can check it on the website, do a search on Dave's for pension threads: I'd get it for you, but not at my home computer, so my favorites are different.

I had the same issue, but don't make a fuss out of it, cuz it does work that way, and you get the money back anyways.

[ttompatz]

[JJJ]

Regarding the vacation times and sitting on your butt all day....I know all to well about this. And regardless about what others say about "oh, you know it's in the contract", it all depends on the principal. And that is what frustrates me and will severely screw up your brain this summer as well. Some of your "buddies" at other schools will do a week camp and won't have to come back 'till Sept. 3rd. Others will do a couple weeks camp and get 3 off...and be allowed to leave the country.

It's a roll of the dice here. I've got mates who had Dec. 23 to Jan. 31st off, the end of Feb. (2 weeks) off and do a 2 week camp in July and are free to do what ever until Sept. 3rd. Me, I sat at school after my winter camp, sat for 2 weeks in Feb. and luckily will leave early August after a camp. Can't do it anymore. I feel for ya.

[Mr Crowley]

I got an offer from GEPIK for a public high school. Is anyone here working for GEPIK in a high school? How does your summer vacation/camps work out?

[horang]

[ttompatz]

[icicle]

[Bear256]

For all of you public school teachers who get stuck sitting there all day with nothing to do (I am a public school elementary school teaches and teach all of the breaks except my vacation), why not use the time productively and take an online TEFL course if you aren't certified. This will raise your salary to a level 1 teacher in most contracts. That's what I decided to do as I am required to be here 7 1/2 hours a day. There is even a program based here in Korea that's only about $250.00. I have actually taken two courses just for the fun of it. My first was ITTT (http://www.teflcorp.com/) and my second was the one here in Korea, KEI-TEFL (http://www.koredinco.com ). I actually like the second one better as it was completely on-line and I could work at my own pace. The first one is not really on-line but rather an email correspondence course where they only allow you to have 2 units at a time.

The long and the short of it, why sit and be bored when you can improve your credentials, get a raise, and possibly become a better teacher?

[tob55]

Bear256 is right, the program from KEI is completely online...There are some good benefits for people who receive additional training to upgrade their credentials...The raise does actually exist for people who want to spend the money for the training, people who go through training programs generally come away with a better sense of how to do the work they are hired for...The KEI program is one that is fully registered with the Korean government, so there should be no worries about acceptance from your schools...

[crusher_of_heads]

What a novel idea...productivity.

I am guessing you are NOT from Nova Scotia