By Previously, the office offered housing to the foreign teachers along with a monthly salary of 2.5 million won ($2,130). But it told the teachers that from next year it will provide a housing allowance of 900,000 won per month, citing the burden of large housing deposits.
(I don’t think that salary quote is right. Someone at the education office must be fudging. Most teachers are newbies with no teaching degree or experience, and those guys start around 1.9. 2.5 is for around the MA level with 2 or 3 years teaching experience…)
“Although we will still continue to offer housing fees, the foreign teachers are apparently having problems in adjusting to a new contract,” said an official from the district office. (Korea Times)
I just caught this. I haven’t had the time to spend at Dave’s ESL Cafe, but I bet people are pissed, especially if they are making this change now for people who just came in.
0.9 is good for a monthly rate, but for the bulk of the TESOLers in Korea, it won’t matter: They aren’t going to have key money. The typical person is a newbie who won’t have 5.0 or 10.0 million Won in the bank to give for the deposit, and without that in Seoul, they won’t be coming over…
Most of the E-2s who sign up for a 2nd and 3rd year won’t have saved up key money like that. And I don’t know if alternative types of housing will satisfy them with the 0.9 bump in pay…???…
It seems the ESL industry in Korea, including the public school gigs that were providing some stability in a crappy industry, is adjusting to the down global economy, belt tightening, and the huge influx of fresh-faced college graduates from English speaking countries whose job markets have shrunk considerably over the past 12 months…
…and who can blame them for trying to adjust when the market has changed and the government’s budget has been hit by the downturn…?
But, it is renewing the long standing black eyes for a bad industry…
“A lot of people are really angry about this because it was forced on us very suddenly,” the insider said. “One day we got an e-mail and two days later the Korean liaison teacher came to us with the rewritten contract.”
If I didn’t know a 2nd year, certified teacher in Georgia who had to sign a new contract 2 or more times before this school year began because of budget cuts and shifting people around in the county he works for — this might upset me more – and it does upset me…
Another said, “The point is that we are being forced to sign a rewritten contract. That’s why we are getting the labor board involved.
“From the teachers’ perspective, we are pretty angry, but we can’t speak out as we may lose our jobs because the school could see it as disrespecting them. Everyone has a different contract, but basically we’re all being evicted.”
I get the feeling – if the Won just slides a slight but significant amount into the negative – we’ll see a pretty big exodus of TESOLers this year and a dramatic drop in that pool of expats next year (after the dramatic rise this year)…
3:09 pm on October 3rd, 2009 1
Hmmm, a couple things. First, this is just the Gangnam Office of Education. In all, this probably does not effect more than 50 public school English teachers in that whole province. There really is not that many people up there. And as far as I have heard, it is just that province that is being effected like this.
Also, the Won vs Dollar is it’s best now than it has been in a year. And will probably only get stronger as the United States moves towards hyper-inflation.
http://roksojourn.blogspot.com/2009/09/korean-won-vs-us-dollar-at-one-year.html
I also posted the pay levels for EPIK and for a person in Gangnam to be making 2.5 million won they would have to have 2 years of full-time teaching experience plus a master’s, or a TESOL cert, or an education degree. Some do, but most people who come here would be earning 2.2 or 2.1 a month.
http://roksojourn.blogspot.com/2009/10/march-2010-epik-positions-announced.html
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October 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Jacob, As a Gangnam teacher I can tell you that a fairly large majority – 70 out of about 120 elementary, middle and high school teachers in Gangnam, take provided housing so it effects a large number.
As for salary, I’m leaving the district shortly and was astounded to find a GEPIK teacher with 4 years experience (2 with GEPIK and two more) with a BA, TESOL and / or an MA only gets 2.5!
The starting rate at Gangnam for BA, TESOL and at least a year’s experience in country is more than that! (And yet again shows up Officials like the one quoted who doesn’t know his elbow from his a**hole!)
As for this article in The K-Times A significant number of Gangnam teachers are really upset at the unilateral change to their contracts – some of whom have only been here a month, however the article is misleading and a good number of teachers are annoyed at who ever went to the press. Currently signed teachers who took the housing option will have had their accommodation leased by the district and had the key money put up by them too. Teachers won’t have to find new accommodation until leases expire, though they will have to start paying monthly rent – and will be getting the 900000원 stipend as mentioned in the article.
In a rather inefficient turn Gangnam has made teachers the middle men between themselves and landlords. Why? Who knows? Belt tightening and not having Key money on the books is probably a good guess.
The unfortunate consequence of one or a couple of teachers going to the press is the now less than likely chance of stopping this.
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October 3rd, 2009 at 8:37 pm
The article says 100 teachers. Add to that the 100 that were dropped at the last minute by SMOE due to budget cuts and overbooking. Expand the pool out to the whole province? I have no idea how many that is. Expand it out to EPIK and the whole nation? No idea how many TESOLers that is. Does it minimize the Gangnam move? Not much for me. Does it spell certain doom? Not for me. It is something to be watched…
If such a large pool of potential TESOLers keeps showing interest in Korea as they have this year compared to the past – thanks to their native economies hitting the toilet – and the Korean economy continues to suffer like those others – then it would not be a shock to see the Korean government altering terms of the contracts —- for new people or those signing up for another tour – of course – would be the preference. Forcing new people to sign a new contract is the crappy, unreasonable part.
On the Won, in a bad global economy, if we could pick with confidence which way the Won is going to go, we’d be on Wall Street maken tens of millions a year.
The point is that any would-be TESOLer doing some research ahead of time will see that Korea gave the ESL industry yet another big black eye this year, and that negative press will be around for a year or two at least. And since most TESOLers dream of Seoul and a place like Gangnam, it will stand out, and if the contract terms seem horrible to them – and the Won slides – people will pick different options than Korea – just as they did last economic crisis in the late 1990s.
Lastly, I don’t know the housing options well enough. But – maybe veteran TESOLers would be happy with the 0.9 (if that level lasts), because they either have saved enough to afford key money and a better place than what is standard for free in hakwons and public schools, or, they don’t mind living in the alternative housing that 0.9 can pay for…
If the public schools in Seoul follow Gangnam and then drop the monthly allowance to 0.5 – which would put them in adult hakwon territory – then I’m less sure how veteran TESOLers will feel about it…
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October 3rd, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I tried to say this once in a proper way and failed. I don’t mean it to sound arrogant or presumptious, but it probably will.
The only real point is that veterans of the Korean ESL industry have seen some things, and though they can be dead wrong at times, and some can be dead wrong most of the time, as a group, they are worth listening to.
I thought about this when looking at Jacob’s blog – which seems like a good one to follow for the TESOL experience. I’m glad to see him getting out and about in Korea and getting more out of his time here. I’m also glad he seems to have hit a good spot in the industry in what I’m taking is his first go around.
But, if his experience with Korea begins at Feb. 2009, then I’d caution him a little on reading the tea leaves in today’s market…
The reason the Gangnam move stands out is not the number of people influenced, though I think that number is significant enough, but it is more significant for most people in the ESL industry in Korea, because we could see it ripple out.
Stafford, from a quick check of his blog, has been here since 2004. I have no experience with the public schools. That is new since the last time I was in the industry, but I remember the economic collpase of the 1990s.
Over at Dave’s ESLCafe, it’s a rough crowd, but there are a number of people who have been in Korea 5 to 10 to 15 years and paid attention to the industry. Gangnam deciding to drop housing key money and pushing it on people who already had contracts —- is not a good sign for the industry overall…
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October 3rd, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Yes – that’s another concern that has been raised – what happens when GEPIK adn EPIK look to Gangnam (and they do) and decide that Housing is too much of a burden for the public purse.
You watch – even teachers with 2 -3 years here will start to reconsider things (notwithstanding exchange rates).
The inclusion of housing has always been one of the “corner stones” of getting a teaching gig in Korea. Removing it will inevitably loosen up the market a bit. But at what expense – I see a number of difficulties with Gangnam filling positions in the coming months due to the set up costs for teachers moving to the district irrespective of their ability to pay key money or not.
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October 3rd, 2009 at 9:10 pm
My guess is that – once the Korean economy picks up – they’ll have to go back to offering housing. Korea’s reputation in the ESL is still just too bad to pull in people with degrees if the global economy isn’t in the tank with housing not being free.
I’d also say GEPIK and EPIK and SMOE overall might have to follow Gangnam even if they don’t want to. The bad global economy is hitting school districts in the US hard too. Tax revenue is down and school budgets are down and teachers are getting laid off. I’m sure it is that way around the world in the OECD nations.
I doubt seriously Gangnam’s move was simply or mostly in light of how much the pool of potential TESOLers have mushroomed this year. I bet budget concerns in the down economy is the primary factor.
8:49 pm on October 3rd, 2009 2
It’s nothing to get all worked up about. Don’t like the new contract, don’t sign it. You only need to get the Labor Board involved if there are repercussions to your refusal.
Is it really about contractual obligations or concerns about being left homeless? (After all, 900 000 won is more than enough to find adequate housing in Seoul, with or without a deposit).
I get the feeling that for many people, it’s because the simple act of signing a lease is just too much responsibility.
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October 3rd, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Sure no problem. I have the option of taking a new contract and resigning under the new terms. No biggie. I may or may not take it as I try and line some other stuff up.
The issue at hand (for a lot of us anyway) is not the change per se, but that the change is happening mid-contract, unilaterally and without consultation.
Couple with that the near impossibility of finding housing within Gangnam at a price even “veterans” can afford and you start to see it’s not a case of just “Don’t like the new contract, don’t sign it”.
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9:02 pm on October 3rd, 2009 3
This is an area I’d like to hear more about. I’m not that familiar enough with the alternative housing situations and their standards compared to the free officetel-type places typically given.
In my look around when I started the new job search, it seemed the best I could find in Seoul was 2.0 key money and 0.5 a month. Most every place I looked at the low end was 5.0 or 10.0 key money and 0.4-0.8 a month.
Overall, I wouldn’t call it something to get worked up about (except for those who signed a different contract), but I am wondering how it will influence the industry:
Will other public school systems follow this? SMOE inparticular. That is by far the most popular option to the TESOLer pool. And the vast majority of them won’t be able to or willing to swing key money. Most will not know enough about alternative housing avenues to take them.
Will that mean a boon to the other EPIK areas that have a hard time getting people? Will would-be TESOLers leave the idea of teaching in Korea altogether like a stampead?
Will this end up seeing the return of shared housing? Providing key money for a place with two bedrooms might make economic sense for big districts like SMOE more than losing teachers because of key money issues.
How long will the 0.9 remain? Will it drop to the adult-hakwon level of 0.5? Will children’s hakwons decide to follow Gangnam and adult hakwon’s lead and drop their free housing in Seoul?..
Time will tell…
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9:09 pm on October 3rd, 2009 4
The 2 apartments that Gangnam has provided me in the last 2 years the district has paid 900000원/mnth.
The key pint being that it has been for housing within Gangnam / Yeoksam and either within walking distance to one’s school or an easy commute. (presently just 4 stops on the Subway).
Sure you could look in Itaewon and probably make out on the deal and pocket and extra 2-300000원 tax free but certainly not without an inconvenient commute (relatively speaking) and you sure as hell won’t be getting the same size apartment/officetel
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October 3rd, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Can you get housing in Itaewon at 0.9 and no key money?
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9:39 pm on October 3rd, 2009 5
Yeah….more fake english teachers living in Itaewon….that is why Iteawon is a slum. Idiot Canadian english teachers making asses of themselves getting drunk and high. Yeah….no wonder Koreans hate english teachers!
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10:23 pm on October 3rd, 2009 6
I’ll leave off discussing this item more here.
There are several threads on it up at Dave’s ESLCafe, as you’d expect, and I’ll be watching it over there…
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12:42 am on October 4th, 2009 7
Deep breath.
For those of you who fear this will spill over to the hagwon industry…
Let’s take a look at this from the hagwon business end.
In most of Korea, if a hagwon owner has an extra 10 to 20 million lying around, he can put it into key money for his teacher and get an apartment or officetel for NO monthly rent… with the teacher willingly paying utilities and monthly “management/upkeep” fee.
Interest rates are low… so even if he could get a generous 5% return, he would be “losing” less than a million won per year in interest.
Even if the hagwon owner had to borrow the money from the bank at 10%, that’s only a million or two in interest per year… MUCH cheaper than paying teachers 900K/month.
Any business majors want to confirm that it is cheaper to not make one million won per year than to spend ten million?
Even in Seoul, where key money could be 2 or 3 times that of other cities, it still makes financial sense to use key money over the course of a year-long contract… not including the fact that next year’s teacher’s housing will be essentially free… and the one after that… etc.
That makes Gangnam’s past and present financial decisions even more interesting.
An optimist might think that maybe somebody in charge wants to crack down on the corruption you just know exists between the apartment landlords and the bureaucrat who chooses which ones gets a teacher and a fat monthly rent payment.
Any ideas?
Now, let’s look at the bright side.
“Most of the E-2s who sign up for a 2nd and 3rd year won’t have saved up key money like that.” (5 to 10 million).
If someone can’t save 10% to 20% of their paycheck working as an English teacher in Korea with their housing paid for, it says something.
Generally speaking, people who are financially responsible make better employees.
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October 4th, 2009 at 1:02 am
Agree completely
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October 5th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Sure… but some might have used that 10 or 20% to travel, because they weren’t expecting to need it for housing.
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October 5th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I’ve had to apartment hunt several times over the past few years in Seoul, and I have to say that 10-20 for chonse would be a dream in Seoul. My officetel near Seoul Station was an 11 pyeong place for a 10 mil deposit and 600,000 a month, which I split with a friend. Next, I found a small, run-down one room near my research center in an inexpensive neighborhood for 5 mil in key money and 400 a month. I only had enough for the key money because my family was able to give me a loan, and I had to ask for more to put down key money on my new apartment. Even in an area where the rent is not particularly ridiculous, I still needed 20 mil for bojeunggum. 10-20 mil sitting around is enough for a key money deposit on a one or two bedroom place north of the river, but I’m betting it doesn’t even stretch that far in Gangnam. Chonse, near as I can tell, starts at 70 or 80 million in cheaper districts, and last time I wandered past a budangsan south of the river I know that I saw normal apartments posting for around 200 million won. On top of this, you usually have to pay matinence fees, fees to the realator, and utilities. In other words, if I were a regular college grad, I would need at least 5,000USD or so just to get set up in an apartment, if I was willing (or more accurately, had no choice but) to live in an inexpensive, out of the way neighborhood and face a substantial commute. I might be able to save up that much key money in a year of teaching, but that’s assuming I’m not also paying off student loans, etc. back home. In other words, people who don’t already have some financial resources won’t be able to find normal housing.
There are a few other options that could even help teachers save up money over the year for a substantial key money deposit the next, but who on earth would stay a second year if they lived their first in a goshiwon or hasukjip?
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6:32 am on October 4th, 2009 8
That’s what I don’t get, but I’m weak on business items…
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7:23 am on October 4th, 2009 9
OK. One more since there are 4 or 5 threads on this same topic at Dave’s – and I know some readers here have been in country 10 years or so or more and know more about housing and such…
If it makes more sense in terms of 1 year contracts to use key money, why haven’t these schools and/or districts set up longer term contracts with better condtions?
It isn’t like the schools are going to relocate….They aren’t going to go bankrupt. They are not hakwons. Why haven’t the public schools cut a deal with landlords for one or more apartments in buildings that are located convienently enough for the commute for different teachers working in different nearby-schools and used them year after year?
And I’m talking about what chickenhead said too – cutting a deal with no monthly rent – and just make it multiple years?
If teachers come and say they hate it and refuse to live in it, get a new one or give them the alternative housing deal (0.5 and no key money) and rent the apartment out. I’d think even if you left it empty until another TESOLer needs it, you’d be better off than shelling out 0.9 a month to all of them or having to find apartments all the time for new teachers.
Why do 1 year housing contracts if your a public school?
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October 5th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
The really confusing part is that if they’ve been arranging housing all this time, they obviously already have key money. It looks like they’re trying to get the key money they already have invested back to use for some other purpose.
In the case of the chonse, I’m guessing schools must have invested around 70 million or so to get an officetel or one room. If they’ve done it as a wolse, then let’s figure around 10-20 mil, plus another 600,000 or so a month, for a yearly output of 7.2 mil. If they’re just giving out a monthly rent of 9000,000, then they’re losing 10.8 mil a year.
In the end, the question is where did they chonse/bojeunggeum money come from, and why do they need it back? Because obviously they’ve been putting up the money for the deposits all along for all the teachers that took the housing option. Unless they have had some sudden need for a HUGE amount of cash, the new deal makes no financial sense for the schools, either.
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October 7th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Why they need the money is easy — budget cuts.
In Georgia, teachers have bene laid off, signed lower contracts, been shifted around in counties to avoid layoffs, and budget cuts on education have been in the news for the past year. Since this is a global economic crisis, I’m sure this is the same in all industrial nations (and beyond).
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9:10 pm on October 5th, 2009 10
Robosayo,
“Sure… but some might have used that 10 or 20% to travel, because they weren’t expecting to need it for housing.”
Uh-huh. And that is called “poor financial planning”, “short-term thinking” and “the trap of instant gratification”.
Get cancer? Parents about to lose their house? You have an excuse. Want to take a trip to the PI over Chusok. Too bad.
When life bends you over and tries to put it in your a$$, as it frequently does, you can block it with a wad of cash… or you can go out to the clubs every night and wonder why you can’t get ahead.
I was a starving student once. I have seen it and I have lived it… and, funny, I didn’t always have the latest car stereo but I always had cash in my pocket for things I found important.
Almost any defense of not saving a small percentage of money each month will be met with ridicule… especially when English teachers in Korea have housing paid for (the biggest paycheck-eater in America), are frequently treated to dinner and drinks (in exchange for English conversation), don’t have to maintain a car, sometimes don’t have to pay taxes, etc.
Wishing to pay off student loans might be an excuse… except I managed to go through 4 years without any student loans or asking money from my parents by a combination of scholarships, money I had saved through high school and ten hour workdays on Saturday and Sunday… while many friends used “free” student loan money as a crutch to be high-dollar party boys and slackers… despite me saying, “Dude… you know you are going to have to pay that back someday, right?” (“Yeah, but, I’ll be making mad cash when I get a job so it won’t matter.”) (“Uh-huh. Well, as long as you are buying, I guess I WILL have another double Tanguay and tonic with a splash of Roses.”) There is a place for student loans… but not the ridiculous sums that many students needlessly run up and then cry about.
To make a long story short… this well of pity is dry.
I think that is a mixed metaphor.
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October 7th, 2009 at 8:45 am
All this talk about TESOLers has had an affect on you lately…
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6:59 am on November 3rd, 2009 11
Yes, No doubt as more people aware about this , more chances of TESOL jobs worldwide.
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