Reapply to EPIKin the same city

If I were you adc821, I'd be contacting Sarah straight away, so she knows about your situation and you'll be in her mind.  You don't need to say anything bad about your school, but you can find how the land lies with regards to moving if it came to that.  She may know of teachers leaving their contracts soon, meaning there could be an opening for you to slide into if your school definitely doesn't want a teacher.  Coordinators generally know what's what jobwise in their area for the coming year.  If you can get in a word before they try advertising, then you're save yourself a load of hassle.  It's a shame how one person (the principal) can spoil things like this, especially after you've been there over two years and the students are comfortable with you and you enjoy it there.

Thank you for all the information. I was just worried about the process. Because if I need to reapply to stay in the same city then I would need to start getting all the required documents again. But I am in good standing with the teacher and the vice principal just not the new principal (only been working at the school since April) and he doesn't put much importance in English. He has told this to all the English teachers and cut pretty much all funding to the English department (we have like 120,000 or less for the full year).

Burt anyway this has been one of the only problems that I have come across in my 2.5 years of teaching at my school. So thanks for all the helpful information. I'll contact Sarah when my school reaches a decision.

I am sorry your school cut the budget. In that case, you can definitely renew your contract and stay in the city without having to apply again!

You could contact Sarah now just to get a feel of how the process goes, but because you still have half of your current contract left (at least that is what I am assuming because you said you have been there 2.5 years. Sorry if my assumption is wrong!) she might say she won't know how many schools will be available until the renewal season comes up next fall. Your school also might decide to keep the English program going with you. Heck, we don't even have students coming in full-time yet, so who knows what will happen then?!

In any case, to again answer your question, you shouldn't have to apply again to stay here. 

I'm not sure where you are getting your information but you are wrong. EPIK has nothing to do with renewals/transfers. It's down to your province/metropolitan office of education. I have twice requested a transfer on the renewal form and both times the request has been granted.

I'm not sure where you are getting your information but you are wrong. EPIK has nothing to do with renewals/transfers. It's down to your province/metropolitan office of education. I have twice requested a transfer on the renewal form and both times the request has been granted.

I'm not wrong.  The EPIK head coordinator of Seoul is wrong.    I was told specifically by the Head Epik position in Seoul that if you do not renew with your current school you can't just transfer to another school nearby.  That's for Gyeonggi OE.  Maybe you can still do this in Seoul or Incheon, but that is what I was told for GOE.  I thought that was ridiculous myself.  They said I would have to re-apply with EPIK a year later.  If I wanted to work right away the following school year, I'd have to apply to another Province of Education (so not GOE).  But the placement is also RANDOM.  You don't get to choose where you want to go as I was asking them to simply transfer me to the school 5 minutes away from me instead of having to play a guessing game with EPIK and get sent who knows where and then have to move all my stuff to another city.

They also told me if I re-applied and got accepted for another position but found out it was a far away city that I didn't want and decline the assignment, you would be blacklisted from ever working again with EPIK.  They said it's the same thing as breaking a contract.  So I wasn't able to choose my own school for transfer within the same city or province and for the next starting school year (which is only a couple months from that time). 

100% direct information from the Head dude at EPIK in Seoul...forgot his name...Jeff or something like that.

Sadly, his province or school didn't like him.  (Sorry to say that.)  Hence, why he had to go to another province or location. 

Don't act like you know anything.  You don't know.   The school and I had a great relationship for several years but with new principal and new CT, they don't know the situation and as usual the case, whenever there is a new principal or CT, changes often follow.  We completed the contract.   It has nothing to do with our personal differences and relationships. 

Not sure how you were hired but from my experience if you are hired via EPIK, your contract is with the provincial board, not the school. So, you can transfer easily within the province. It's completely up to the province to transfer you. You can request a transfer, but they can deny you one. I've transferred a few times within my province with no problems.

You re-apply if you want to change provinces.

That's what you used to be able to do.  They said they changed the rule in 2017 or 2018 (forgot) and said you can't transfer to another school within the same province.  Otherwise it would have been a very easy transfer for me since I already had another school lined up just 5 minutes away from my home and that school even told me they wanted to hire me.  But EPIK said can't do that.  I would have to re-apply and go randomly wherever they want to assign me (which means moving and all that).

I chose not to re-apply and found myself my own job within 2 weeks.

Thank you I a

Thank you. I am actually in great standing with the school. All my co-teacher are recommending that I change schools.  We got a new principal and he keeps asking me to do things that at technically illegal (like teaching grades below 3rd) and I (an my co-teacher) have explained that I can't. Soon after that I was told that the native teacher may be changed from me to another.  So I was worried that I would have to completely reapply to EPIK again. But it looks a lot simpler than I thought .

If they screw you on the renewal, make sure you note principal wanted you to teach under grades.  Though I did special class with the young kids at one school with the young kids during covid down time when most kids were staying home.  A few young ones had to come in due to parents not having daycare or sitters.  I met them.  Mostly gr 1 and 2.  No big deal for me.  They even paid me a little bit for it. 

Don't act like you know anything.  You don't know.   The school and I had a great relationship for several years but with new principal and new CT, they don't know the situation and as usual the case, whenever there is a new principal or CT, changes often follow.  We completed the contract.   It has nothing to do with our personal differences and relationships. 

Hyper sensitive much?  Anyways, the Principle doesn't like him and that's that.  Not sure what the school budget has to do with anything.  Nets aren't paid by the school.  They're paid by the education office. 

So for those of you that didn't understand all that ranting. People in EPIK schools in Gyeonggido, are not allowed to transfer to another school in GOE. They took the option out when GEPIK joined EPIK in 2018.  I repeat, in GOE, the renewal paper only has two options, continue or quit. That's it. The above poster was right in all they said. It obviously don't apply to all school districts. Also, as far as I remember, SMOE has a similar rule but in their case, they have to be in the same school for 3 (?) years before they can transfer to another school in the same city.

So for those of you that didn't understand all that ranting. People in EPIK schools in Gyeonggido, are not allowed to transfer to another school in GOE. They took the option out when GEPIK joined EPIK in 2018.  I repeat, in GOE, the renewal paper only has two options, continue or quit. That's it. The above poster was right in all they said. It obviously don't apply to all school districts. Also, as far as I remember, SMOE has a similar rule but in their case, they have to be in the same school for 3 (?) years before they can transfer to another school in the same city.

Sounds like whomever is running GEPIK are a bunch of assholes and really arrogant.  I hope they start having teacher shortages for their prick move.  There is no reason for them to behave like this.  If anything, it would be less work for them to fill the positions internally rather than having to interview and apply from the outside.  It seems someone wants to make more work or create more positions for hiring.  I think you should all call the office of education and complain non stop till they change it.  Every other province, you can transfer to where ever you want if there is an opening after a year or two.  IE Rural area to a bigger city.  But may have to accept another city if the city you want is filled already, though.  The city education office assigns you to the school.  So, you don't really get a choice there.  Also, you may not get a choice of doing elementary or middle schools.