Below I have listed my personal top five red flags to consider when applying for a teaching job in South Korea. I made a number of naive mistakes as a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed foreigner, so that you don’t have to!
1. They do not let you communicate with a current or past foreign teacher before accepting the contract
This is important because a reputable school with nothing to hide will allow you to reach out to a current or former foreign teacher for you to ask them any questions you might have and get an understanding of what to expect through another foreigners eyes. A school that treats its employees well will likely encourage communication as they are aware that it is reassuring for the prospective teacher to be able to do so. My first school did put me in contact with another foreign teacher, my second school did not. However, the situation at my second school was a little different as I did already know another foreigner who worked for the owner of my second school. But she did not work at the school I would be working at, and our personal experiences at the different schools owned by the same boss were quite different.
2. They are hiring for an immediate start at a random point in the school year
The Korean school year begins and ends in March, if a sudden job posting has just appeared for an immediate start it likely means that someone has felt unable to continue their contract there, for whatever reason. This does not mean a contract that starts in a month other than March should be avoided, it just means that those job postings should have already been advertised months prior. Both my contracts for the two schools I worked at began in August, but I was hired for them a number of months before that. Many foreigners will continue working out the remainder of their contract even if they despise their work environment because if they leave their contract early they will not receive their severance pay. Therefore, if a foreigner has decided their place of work is so bad that they can’t wait it out for their severance, chances are you won’t have much of a better time working there yourself. Of course some people may feel that they don’t care about that extra money and they just want to leave, perhaps they want to head back to their home country. However, if a foreigner wishes to stay in Korea but wants to work at a new school/job and they do not finish their current contract, they could have a hard time getting new employment as your current school has to provide you with a ‘Letter of Release’. Legally releasing you from their employment in order for you to become employed elsewhere. Depending on your reasons and relationship with your boss, this may or may not be difficult to obtain.
3. Your chosen contract provides housing but they never let you see the housing before you accept the contract
This is something that I already knew was a red flag when I found myself in this position, but it wasn’t enough to stop me accepting the contract because I was so desperate to just get out of England and run off into the sunset of my new life! Please, do not follow in my footsteps with this mistake! I spent my first year in Korea living very much in a ‘Harry Potter under the stairs’ situation! See here for more details. Look, I wasn’t expecting anything fancy or high class okay, I was just expecting that I might not be sleeping inches away from my fridge every night, or that I’d be able to open my bathroom door without it hitting into my sink! So yeah, be sure they send you some photos over email if you’re applying whilst not in the country, or even better if they can arrange a viewing for you if you are in the country already.
4. No teachers have been there longer than a year/ no teachers have ever renewed their contract with that school
Obviously this situation is not applicable to a brand new school! But, if a school has been up and running for a while and there isn’t one teacher who has been there longer than a year I would say watch out, since there must be a reason why no one ever wanted to stay on! Everybody is different and everyone’s experiences at the same school will be different, that’s just life, but most schools should have at least one teacher who chose to renew their contract for at least an extra year.
5. The contract has evasive language regarding what will be expected of you
Your prospective school should be able to provide you with basic information such as how many classes they will expect you to teach and the hours you will be expected to work. When looking at the hours (which can vary depending on what age you are teaching), if you see, for example 9-6 M-F – one might assume your working hours would be within that time frame. However, some schools may expect you to spend your time before classes, after classes, and during ‘breaks’ and lunch time doing ‘extra’ such as supervising the children eating/playing, writing reports, creating games or presentations, cleaning classrooms, even learning performances for parents!!! Yes really! My first school had us acting, singing and dancing for the parents???!!! I still don’t understand why!! They may also expect you to come in on weekends for events or, at one of my schools we even had to come in on the weekend to clean EVERYTHING. When I say everything, I mean it. We were individually scrubbing toy building blocks and even cleaning little lego pieces, yes it was absurd!! My point is, make sure you read everything and don’t glaze over any ambiguous language like ‘teachers may be expected to do extra work or activities that their supervisor decides on any day of the week’. Which is something similar to the wording I had in one of my contracts! Of course, make sure your agreed upon pay is in writing in your contract, and the date in which you will be paid. Never accept only verbal communication on any matter but especially this one.
Hope this was helpful!
These are just my personal views and I hope they can help anyone reading this who might be considering a teaching contract in Korea! I am very grateful for all my experiences in Korea, and don’t regret any of them, but if I can help you have a smoother journey there then that makes me happy! I will also be posting a blog about what kind of questions you should be asking prospective employers. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions for me!