According to the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, the budget allocated to hire foreign English teachers fell to 22.7 billion won ($20 million) for this year from 30 billion won in 2010.
Cho Young-min, senior supervisor of the education office, said the budget cut is in line with the plan to reduce the number of foreign teachers in phases in the years to come.
``We plan to cut about 200 teachers in 2011 from this month. We will also gradually cut the overall number in the coming years,’’ the supervisor said.
But he did not specify how many jobs will be shed at its GEPIK (Gyeonggi English Program in Korea.)
Arranged as a three-year project, the English program by the provincial office had hired more teachers over the past three years. In 2010, the number of teachers increased to some 2,252 in Gyeonggi, a 110 percent jump from 2008 when they first started out with some 1,000.
However, after reaching its peak last year, the number of foreign teachers is expected to slide over the next three years in the province surrounding Seoul.
Cho said the cut will be made upon requests from schools, with Korean English conversation teachers replacing them.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will also see a budget cut, though the number of teachers will increase this year.
[SMOE] also cut its budget for the recruitment of foreign teachers to 35.9 billion won from 37.4 billion won in 2010.
But the cut will not result in the fall in the number of foreign teachers, as districts in the capital will increase their share of spending.
“As a result, 37 more teachers will be added to the total count this year,” said Yoon Ho-sang, senior supervisor at the office’s English education department. “
The article twice addressed, and dismissed, the idea that these budget cuts are due to regions providing free school lunches to students. It closes by saying that, contradictory to the reporting of that and other media outlets over the past four years, a 2009 survey found done by SMOE found that 90 percent of teachers and students, and 93% of Korean teachers "were very satisfied with the foreign teachers’ qualifications and class performance."
There has been talk of cuts for about a year, with experienced teachers being the first victims because schools are unable and unwilling to pay the salaries they'd command based on their qualifications. All while local media and hate groups bemoan the lack of "qualifications" among imported foreign English teachers.
8 comments:
In other news, hagwon teachers find themselves with a wealth of options. You might get more vacation time from a public school, but don't ignore the hagwons either.
I would never consider a hagwon a realistic option, except for the newest of newbs. The day I left the hagwon BS behind me was the best decision I'd ever made.
Just take your fresh B.A. and go to China for a year or two.
Or, if you want to stay in Korea, get a CELTA or Master's degree and find a university job. Not sure if a "real" teacher wants to put up with the bullshit you get at both hagwon and, especially, public schools.
Although I have to chime in and say I enjoyed my hagwon experience.
On a related note, Canada is looking at blacklisting companies that abuse foreign workers.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/02/27/17426801.html
Fat chance Korea would ever move against a local company with this type of legislation.
You don't really need a masters for a university job, you just need experience. I started at a university, and now I'm back at one. I've got a friend who only has a B.A. in English, and his first job was at an education college, he then used that to leverage to get a job at Koryo university.
Uni salaries are lower, but there are a lot of chances to get overtime pay. I bet Hongik would be a pretty fun job.
Also I did a little side gig at a hagwon last January, and it was actually way easier than the public school. Although, the camp that I was running at the public school was a lot more fun because I could do whatever they hell I wanted, where the Hagwon was all by the text book. I enjoyed going by the book in the hagwon cuz all I had to do was show up, play a C.D. and go home. (Well I had to play the C.D. in an entertaining way.)
Oh and Brian, you'll find bullshit everywhere, even at university jobs...they might even be more full of shit.
I lucked into a kick-ass hagwon job, where I'm currently teaching. No place is free of BS - not unis, not public schools, and certainly not China. If that's your goal or expectation, stay unemployed. At least that way you'll never deal with BS at a job.
A friend of mine was told he won't be getting his contract renewed after working there for over four years - the budget cuts were blamed. He is the only foreign teacher in his school. I wonder how many teachers gepik are hiring next September. It would be interesting to compare the statistics of new and old teachers ....or something like that. Does anyone know who decides who stays and who goes?
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