It’s one thing for a sketchy hagwon (cram school) to behave like this, but it’s a whole different bag of cats when the Korean government behaves like this. Firing 100 out of 600 teachers, after they have already been assured a job overseas and gone through all the hassle that entails, just because you were disorganized is really, really not acceptable.
and earlier in the post:
Things like this are why I cannot in good faith recommend Korea as a place to teach, unless you’re willing to risk a huge amount of BS.
This crap by SMOE really ought to remind applicants that you're not necessarily safer going the public school route. I mentioned in a comment that this really cannot stand, but, well, what sort of power do teachers have to get retribution? It's worth noting that being "job slain" is nothing new in Korea, and it happened with enough regularity years ago that I remember the phrase from Dave's ESL Cafe. I myself was job slain twice in 2005, before I even came to Korea, though definitely not the day before I was to fly out. The first two contracts I signed were for new English Villages---the first in Seoul's Gwangjin-gu, the second in Incheon---that went belly-up before they even opened. Both schools were to be funded through the local governments, so I, too, and those other teachers were jilted by the government back in 2005.
It's worth repeating, though, that for some in this situation it's not just a matter of disappointment and annoyance. People have surely packed their things, quit their jobs, sold their cars, given away their pets, cancelled their phone contracts, vacated their apartments, said their good-byes, and, yeah, gotten themselves mentally ready for a year or more abroad. I'd like to hear from some of these jilted applicants---feel free to post a comment here*---and find out how many have decided not to give Korea a second chance.
Kang is on the English education and teacher beat, and has a reputation for being a pretty bad journalist, to the extent that even though I take interest in education-related issues, I often skip anything with his name on it. Thus, not only is this article very incomplete and inconclusive, but we also can't be guaranteed that anything quoted in the article was actually said by anyone; that said I found this quotation by someone at the office of education alarming:
An official from the education office said, "Many foreign teachers give up working with us at the last minute, perplexing schools that are supposed to have native English speakers, so we secure extra teaching hopefuls every year. For this semester, we selected enough applicants for a possible shortage as we recruit a large number of teachers."
She added some of the foreign teachers whose contracts were withdrawn had failed to submit necessary documents and skip mandatory orientation programs.
Is that true? Do "many foreign teachers" quit "at the last minute," or is this just some more liberal quoting from Kang Shin-woo? It's not uncommon to see public school openings advertised weeks after the start of semesters, demonstrating that school districts---though perhaps not SMOE or EPIK---can and do fill any vacancies that arise. Recruiting more teachers, and offering them jobs and telling them to come to Korea, is extremely irresponsible and should be a warning to anyone considering dealing with public schools in the future. The article continues:
SMOE also made it clear that almost all of the failed applicants agreed to the plan.
"We obtained consent from all of the teaching hopefuls on the job cancellation and we put some of them on the waiting list," said another official from the office, indicating that they didn't violate any contract agreements.
I'm curious to learn what choice they had when they got a phone call or an email days before they were scheduled to fly to Korea without a job in hand. The article said SMOE was at least able to help a few teachers:
The office, however, helped some 10 failed applicants who have already arrived in Seoul land jobs on the English Program in Korea (EPIK) organized by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
Indeed, that's the least it can do. The article doesn't say if there will be any further public statements or apologies, or if the office will refund all the airfare purchased in advance by those teachers. It should, that's for damn sure.
For what it's worth a recruiter, Ben Glickman, shared his experiences on Dave's ESL Cafe; an excerpt of his comments:
We were first informed that the SMOE was cutting candidates last minute on the evening of Wednesday the 19th. I would assume this is when the word went out to all the recruiters involved as well as teachers recruited directly by the SMOE. We were not given a reason initially - we were told that that the SMOE needed to cut 100 out of the 600 teachers recruited total [emphasis mine]. Later we were given the reason that schools came in Seoul came in with less job orders at the last minute due to budget cuts. That is all we know at this point.Each agency was given the directive to cut teachers, and at the same time the SMOE administration contacted teachers directly from all agencies to inform them they no longer had jobs. The selection was random from the SMOE - it was not related to nationality, race, salary level or anything else. Teachers from all countries, E-2 and F-4 candidates, and of all levels of experience and salary level were cut.
That contradicts the information presented in Kang's article, one that didn't provide any answers and didn't do much else than scroll through Dave's ESL Cafe.
* Feel free to share your thoughts as a comment here. The Korea Herald is also looking for people who want to their share experiences with this mess. Those with information or who would like to be interviewed can contact the "Expat Living" editor Matt Lamers at mattlamers [at] heraldm.com
11 comments:
Having spent my last 2 years in Korea teaching at public elementary schools, I personally wouldn't recommend working at public schools in Korea (unless it's an after-school program, but in that case you'd be hired by a private company, not by the public school itself). These job cancellations just strengthen my opinion. This is just an extreme example of something that happens all the time in public schools; unapologetic last-minute decision-making. To some extent that's a broad cultural issue, but I think it's far more pronounced in government-run workplaces than in the private sector. I'd say that, contrary to popular belief (certainly contrary to what I once assumed), high-end hagwons tend to be more organized than public schools.
So it finally makes the papers, and this is what we got. Typos, conflicting numbers, a couple voices from Dave's, and a couple 'officials'. I'm not sure which is worse - the half-arse reporting or the full-arse move of cutting such a large number of teachers.
To make things worse, I've been told by a current SMOE public school teacher that at some point along the way, you're sent a letter stating that if anything happens and you don't get the job, SMOE is not responsible for your expenses - thus they're off the hook. I don't expect any form of travel expenses reimbursement would be included in the contract.
SMOE should be embarassed, whether it's an accidental, human error sort of thing, or purely done for budgetary reasons. It's akin to getting the wrong leg amputated, and just about as harmful to that professional organization's reputation.
what pissed me off is that douchebag steve schertzer going after the teachers for this mess. that guy needs to back to whoring in se asia
how did anybody put up with him
Hey, know your "place," you uppity big-noses, and stop complaining!
Thanks for the extensive quoting, Brian!
This really is just amazing to me. For a long time I have told people that Korea is risky, but that public schools are a decent bet. Thanks to this, I can't even say that now.
I have a sneaking suspicion that this might have to do with the new labor laws.
Once you're hired here for more than 2 years on renewable contracts as a temp worker, your employment becomes permanent, and it's much harder to get rid of employees.
I checked with a lawyer about this, and he told me that an EPIK teacher who has worked more than 2 years is considered a continuing employee, not temporary.
godspace, you and your lawyer are mistaken.
That new labor law does not affect foreigners unless they are on an F5 visa.
"This is the National Labor Consultation Center.
Regarding your question, if you are a general foreign worker without the right of permant residence, Article 5 of the
the Act on the Protection, etc. of Fixed-term and Part-time workers(Conversion into workers under a contract without a Fixted term) does not apply to you, even if you has worked for 2 years or more.
For relevant information, refer to No 119 of FAQ of this home page, "Applicability of the Act on the Protection, etc. of Fixed-Term and Part-time Workers to Forein workers." and consult a person in charge of your school with your situation."
The thing about SMOE overbooking like an airline overbooks seats on a flight is quite believable. When they are getting 3000 applications for 500 positions, they choose extras expecting that there will be some no-shows. They probably didn't have any idea that the job situation for new graduates in the US and other countries was very bad and did not anticipate that all of the prospective teachers would show up.
Just like anything else in life you cannot generalize and say that ALL are bad. Any organization can drop the ball (and certainly SMOE did here).
Nothing is sure in life and one should always be on guard. One should always be ready for the unexpected.
I am in the GEPIK program and I am very pleased with my experience. I think it is one of the best teaching experiences I have had in my 10+ years of teaching. My Korean co-teachers are wonderful, my apartment is not a one room studio, but a real apartment. My students are wonderful. My principal and vice principal are supportive, generous persons. Yet, I must look at the possibility that things may change and change quickly. A sign of maturity is being able to roll with the punches.
I would recommend public school work over hagwon work any day. This incident with SMOE is unfortunate but I bet there are more positives than negatives out there. We just don't hear about them because they aren't newsworthy.
I know people who work for SMOE and they are having pleasant experiences. Maybe there are some, whom I don't know, who are not having the time of their lives but we must not be unrealistic. Work life no matter where you are is fraught with landmines.
I too agree that public school work is still better than hagwon work. Yes they screwed up this time. But those who did get through and work at the school's will still have more job security than at a hagwon.
I too work with GEPIK and am now working on finding a new school within the system. I think if you go the route of not putting yourself on the lottery system, which is SMOE and look for a school yourself then you have a better shot of getting off on the right foot.
In my opinion I don't think SMOE will make this mistake again. I think they have learned from this. Also I believe they are probably working on rearranging and reforming the program to fit the flux of new candidates due to the high unemployment rate in America.
I would advise those who plan on going with SMOE for the Spring term to have a 2nd or 3rd option on the table and work with recruiters who speak honestly with you. Talk to them about this situation and what their plan would be if it were take place again.
And if you do get screwed and were planning on coming out here anyways..you could come on a tourist visa and find a job here in person. You could live up to 90 days on a tourist visa.
All in all, any person thinking of coming to Korea should realize and accept the fact the workforce functions differently out here and unexpected things happen all the time. And most of it doesn't make sense and most of it doesn't reflect what is written in a contract.
Now that the outrage has died down and mostly mellowed out, some common reminders come into play. Never taking anything for granted, never assuming anything is an absolute done deal, and never assuming a Korean will actually give what they're expected to when it comes to a piece of paper.
For those looking to come over to Korea, remember that thanks to the recession it's quickly turning into a school's choice. For better or worse, that does mean playing a few more games. There's also no guarantees that the public school system is any safer or better than a private school. Whether this is a 'one-time' thing that they'll fix before the next hiring season, consider this a reminder that things don't always happen as expected
@Chris in South Korea
Very well put. I've heard it said that there's a kind of in-joke among recruiters in Korea, that the teacher hasn't "really" signed the contract until s/he gets off the plane in Incheon. Teachers have to remember that that works both ways; with a drawn-out, long-distance employment process like this, you don't necessarily "have" the job till your first day of work begins.
While I may have sounded overly harsh towards public schools in my earlier comment, I still contend that you should never assume that a public school in Korea will automatically deal with you more honorably than a hagwon will, or that they are immune to disorganization or carelessness.
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