Re: Re: GEPIK is Finished

A line by line break down of the news.

Budget cut puts foreign English teachers’ jobs at risk in Gyeonggi
By Na Jeong-ju, Yun Suh-young

A sudden and drastic budget cut will force more than 800 foreign English teachers out of their jobs at schools in Gyeonggi Province in the second half of the year.  So according to this sentence it sounds like we have until December at the most, or even sooner at the least

The Gyeonggi Provincial Council passed a supplementary budget bill submitted by the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education (GPOE) Tuesday, but excluded the 15.6 billion won needed to extend the contracts of foreign English teachers. So GPOE went asking for more money and the GPC said tough luck.

Officials from the council said that they cut the budget as part of long-term plans to eventually reduce the number of foreign teachers and replace them with Koreans. So the long term plan was to fire us all mid contract, creating a giant savings for the budget by now not having to pay us airfare or severance.  Also new teachers might have to return their airfare if they are under 6 months. 

With the budget cut, about 819 teachers will have to find new jobs in the coming months, officials said.  Good luck finding work!

Out of the 1,119 foreign English teachers in elementary, middle and high schools who receive their salary from the education office, 300 have already been laid off.  How'd that work out for you guys?

The budget cut is drawing criticism even from GPOE officials. Hopefully our superiors can come through for us.

“The situation is ridiculous. It’s not even a half reduction or one-third reduction, but a total reduction. We feel very uncomfortable with the decision right now,” said an official from the office. “The budget should not have been taken away. If we don’t receive this, we’re not even getting what we should be getting. This has never happened before.” Iis this anonymous official the only one willing to stick his necks out for the waygooks.  If so, I applaud you.

The contract for foreign English teachers in local schools is valid for one year. Those whose contract expires in October, November and December will not be able to renew them. Contracts for at least 196 teachers are to expire during those three months. What about those who end in August and September that were going to renew?

However, the remaining 623 teachers whose contracts are just underway are the ones facing immediate trouble because they may not be able to receive their salaries starting next month. I'm a little lost.  Why would teachers who are finishing in December not face this same loss of salary? 

“We’ll try to pay them as much as we can even if we have to use our own budget allocated for schools. We may be able to pay them for at least four to five months, but again, this is not finalized. We will try not to let go the 623 remaining teachers if possible,” the official said. Fighting!

The unstable job status of foreign teachers is not just an issue in Gyeonggi Province. Wake up SMOE and EPIK teachers!

An official of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said the recruitment of native speakers has helped improve the language skills of Korean teachers and enhance the quality of lessons for students.  Right, so that's a good reason to get rid of us....

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that schools will hire more native speakers. More is not always better.  I can agree with that.

Seoul educators are also hinting that schools will eventually hire a smaller number of native English teachers as Koreans will replace them. Didn't they just say they were going to increase hiring 10% a couple of months ago?  Looks like that ain't happening.  At least the students can all eat free lunch.

“One of the reasons schools have native teachers is to give Korean teachers opportunities to learn from them so that they can provide better English lessons to students,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “However, as Korean teachers’ language skills are getting better, there will be less need for native speakers at schools. That’s the reality.” So if our whole goal was to help the teachers learn English, why were we teaching the kids????

Currently, there are some 1,600 foreign teachers in public and private schools in Seoul. Some 1,240 teachers were hired by the educational authorities, while the rest are employed by some private schools or district offices in affluent neighborhoods. Rich kids have no fear!

This year, Seoul Metropolitan Government set aside a total of 56 billion won ($53 million) to cover the salaries and benefits for 1,240 teachers, according to the official. Well at least Seoul seems to have the foresight to put the money aside that they intend to use pay people's salaries that they promised.  GPC take a hint!

Officials from the education ministry said the quality of language lessons has improved significantly in schools nationwide since municipal governments began hiring native speakers.  Again, another great reason to fire us all.

But the cost of maintaining the system at the current level is too big, and it’s time to seek alternative ways to provide good lessons in a “more efficient” way, they said. Right like firing every Native teacher.  The robots have won!!!!  All your bomb games are belong to us.

“It’s likely that the country’s spending on native speakers will decrease steadily in the coming years as Korean teachers become more competent. That means there will be less job opportunities for foreign teachers here,” a ministry official said, declining to be named.  By steady we mean huge chopping blows that eliminate 800 jobs at a time.

“I don’t send my daughter to private academies so the only opportunity she can be exposed to real English is at school. Otherwise, she’ll have to go to a private academy which is very expensive,” said Oh Eun-ju, a parent of a student attending Kwangju Kwangmung Elementary School. “I’m sure many other parents will also oppose this decision.”  You tell 'em ajumma!!!!
 
The high-priced private education fees seemed to be the common dilemma for parents with older children. Wasn't that one of the reasons why they hired us?  To help even the playing field between the haves and have nots?  Again, rich kids, have no fear!

“I’m against the budget cut decision as well. If a native speaker teaches English at school, students won’t have to go to private academies. High school students, in particular, don’t go to private institutes just to improve their speaking because they have lots of other things to study. But if they can get the education in school, that’s great. The decision is very troubling for parents like us,” said Cha Suk-hee, a parent of a student attending Baekseok High School. Thanks for the support 엄마!

The Gyeonggi Provincial Council passed a supplementary budget bill submitted by the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education (GPOE) Tuesday, but excluded the 15.6 billion won needed to extend the contracts of foreign English teachers. So GPOE decided to cut us out.  And the GPC agreed.

I read this to mean that the GPC passed the budget that was requested by the GPOE...but didn't pass the 15.6 billion won needed to extend the contracts of foreign English teachers within the budget...meaning that the budget request included the money for the contract extensions...BUT... the GPC excluded that part of the budget.  So the GPC threw us under the bus not the GPOE. 

I'm sure I could have worded that better!

Yeah I noticed that after I just finished writing it.  I edited it already! 

"So if our whole goal was to help the teachers learn English, why were we teaching the kids"

I worked at a program that taught public school teachers for one semester of intensive English.

The government (not the school government but the main government) were trying to close the program down before I even arrived.  The program made sense to me (if the Korean teachers were more willing to adapt new methods and were willing to learn the way we wanted to teach them (which too many weren't).  More sense than hiring a foreign teacher for each school. 

But, they were trying to get rid of it for the past two years.

"So if our whole goal was to help the teachers learn English, why were we teaching the kids"

I worked at a program that taught public school teachers for one semester of intensive English.

The government (not the school government but the main government) were trying to close the program down before I even arrived.  The program made sense to me (if the Korean teachers were more willing to adapt new methods and were willing to learn the way we wanted to teach them (which too many weren't).  More sense than hiring a foreign teacher for each school. 

But, they were trying to get rid of it for the past two years.

I know about the program too.  I know the Korean people have a documented world's best ability to study more than anyone else.  But wow.  Learning to teach a foreign language in one semester.  That is ambitious.  I'm surprised it didn't work better.

The program was to improve their language ability  and also offer some course work in contempoary TESOL theory and practice.  It was a good program on paper, and it did provide some level of useful benefit, but it didn't come close to living up to its potential (or the expense put into it) for a variety of reasons I couldn't possibly cover here...

What happened in Gyeonggi Province last election?  Were the conservatives in power before and get voted out last election?

This is on topic for this post, because Pres. Lee (conservative) is the one who has been pushing for a foreign teacher in every school, TEE, and other measures like more observations and student feedback, and he is in his lame-duck period.

If the liberals get voted in next year, you can expect a lot of roll-back in educational policy.

With the economy the way it is, big, hard, difficult cuts in education budgets are to be expected. 

It a change in government leadership comes with it.......man-o-man.......

Everybody in a public school should be saving as much money as they can while they can.

I just sent an email to a long-term expat who knows a whole lot about national and local politics in Korea.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/author/flyingyangban/

I asked him about recent Gyeonggi elections and if he thought there was more than bad-economy-mandatory-budget-cuts involved here.  I'll let yall know what he thinks.

So I am leaving this Sept. I am worried that I won't get severance and flight allowance. I can't tell from the article if people leaving soon will have to worry about getting their money.  Has anyone asked their school?

A long term plan wouldn't include simply cutting the entire budget without official warning.

The long term plan also hasn't been around that long.

I also doubt the idea that qualified teachers will have no problem. 

How many people here remember what it was like before public school jobs?  Putting native speakers in the public schools fundamentally changed the TESOL market in Korea.  Because it was government-funded and operated, it provided some stability in what was a cesspool of an industry. 

If the provincial governments are now deciding that foreign teachers are unnecessary or too expensive, where is the money going to come from to keep those qualified teachers?  How are they going to decide which schools get those qualified foreign teachers?  How big a stick are the people who make that decision going to need to keep off the mob of angry parents at other schools?  What politician in a place of power to make these decisions is going to run on a platform in which only some schools (likely those in wealthy areas) are going to get the qualified native speakers to give the students there a boost in English education that comes with having a native speaker who can actually teach?

If President Lee's party loses the next elections, there is now a good chance you will see this GEPIK move become official policy, and the job market for those qualified teachers will have shrunk dramatically. 

It will be like the days before Lee and the push for foreign teachers in public schools, and those times were not good.

Qualified teachers will be able to get college jobs - especially if they are already in country.

Some will be able to find adequate jobs in the small number of speciality private secondary and elementary schools.

But, in the old days, the ESL industry in Korea was not peaches-and-cream for qualified teachers.  Qualified teachers generally got fed up and left Korea....

So I am leaving this Sept. I am worried that I won't get severance and flight allowance. I can't tell from the article if people leaving soon will have to worry about getting their money.  Has anyone asked their school?

You stand to lose out on quite a bit.  I'd get the ball rolling.

I spoke with my labor attorney today.  (Oh the joys of having a Korean spouse with many friends!)

So he said basically anyone can get laid off at any time in Korea.  But they have to pay you a months salary if you've worked there longer than 3 or 6 months (i forget which) and it isn't your fault (like what's happening to us). 

So if you show up tomorrow and they say don't come in on Monday they have to pay you an entire months salary. On top of what they owe you for what you've done so far this pay period.

If they say your going to be let go on September first, you work until September 1st, they pay you your money and that's it.  No severance, no airfare because you didn't complete your contract.  And they gave you proper notice to find other employment so you wont get extra 30 days pay.   But he said if I want to go to court over this, I have a shot because its so late into the contract (for me and the girl quitting at the beginning of September it'll be a 12th month termination), and they are obviously only doing it to save money at the financial detriment of the employee.

If you have already applied for severance and flight ticket, you are probably ok.  (my guess only)

Right, the long term plan was not to hire a bunch of teachers and fire them mid contract.  Someone screwed up big time.

I'm pretty sure GEPIK and GPOE is pretty pissed about this too.  We should be directing our ire at Gyeonngi Province Council.

If you have Korean friends tell them what's happening to you.  Especially if they are parents with school aged kids.

If you know any media sources (Radio stations, newspapers) tell them what's happening, and how its going to screw Korean kids, Korean families, our coworkers and us.

No severance, no airfare because you didn't complete your contract.

Of course, a Korean labor lawyer is going to know better than me, but I do believe this is only true if you have not completed a previous contract...

If you are on your 2nd or higher contract, and you get terminated midway through your latest, they still owe you severance for the amount of time you have worked, including how ever many months you have done under the latest contract, I believe.

I am guessing that the lawyer was talking about people who have been in Korea working for the school district for under a year.

I do wonder what Gyeonggi schools are going to do about severance and airfare for instructors who have completed 1 or more years already......They are obligated to pay them.  If there is zero money in the budget for them???

I guess they could use the key money from closing out apartment contracts...

What happened in Gyeonggi Province last election?  Were the conservatives in power before and get voted out last election?

This is on topic for this post, because Pres. Lee (conservative) is the one who has been pushing for a foreign teacher in every school, TEE, and other measures like more observations and student feedback, and he is in his lame-duck period.

If the liberals get voted in next year, you can expect a lot of roll-back in educational policy.

With the economy the way it is, big, hard, difficult cuts in education budgets are to be expected. 

It a change in government leadership comes with it.......man-o-man.......

Everybody in a public school should be saving as much money as they can while they can.

Actually.......The man in charge, Kim Moon Soo, is from President Lees party.

If he has major sway over the educational budget, then --- things still look like crap....

If Lee's own party is rolling back his policies like this in Gyeonggi Province......

I'm glad my bags have been half-packed and waiting for March anyway....

I'm still waiting to hear back from my recruiter on the status of my new job. Its been a day now and I've had no reply which makes me think that they aren't too sure either. The school hasn't contacted me yet to deliver any bad news, but I'm thinking they may have forseen this as they did add a second school onto the contract at the last minute, when the teacher I will be replacing seems to have only taught at one school. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I'm hoping the reason was so they could pull their resources for a NET in light of budget cuts, which does make sense....but I wont know until I'm told of the situation...

No severance, no airfare because you didn't complete your contract.

Of course, a Korean labor lawyer is going to know better than me, but I do believe this is only true if you have not completed a previous contract...

If you are on your 2nd or higher contract, and you get terminated midway through your latest, they still owe you severance for the amount of time you have worked, including how ever many months you have done under the latest contract, I believe.

I am guessing that the lawyer was talking about people who have been in Korea working for the school district for under a year.

I do wonder what Gyeonggi schools are going to do about severance and airfare for instructors who have completed 1 or more years already......They are obligated to pay them.  If there is zero money in the budget for them???

I guess they could use the key money from closing out apartment contracts...

iggyb welcome to waygook.  Glad you are coming over here from the daves thread.

You are right about what you said.  I was referring to those who have not finished one contract.  Everyone who has completed their contract and previously renewed and are in their 2nd 3rd or 4th year, they are obligated to pay severance if it was deferred and airfare.  If you cashed out severance at the end of each contract, I'm not sure if they owe you a fraction of a months pay or not.

If you took airfare/airfare credit and renewed but havent finished 6 months on your latest contract you might have to return it.

If you cashed out severance at the end of each contract, I'm not sure if they owe you a fraction of a months pay or not.

If the employee has been paid 'severance' at the end of each contract, the employer owes no severance on the current contract, assuming the contract is not completed (for whatever reason). If severance has been deferred, the employee is owed an average of the last three months pay, per year of the for the entire period of employment and a partial year is pro-rated on a monthly basis.

So I am leaving this Sept. I am worried that I won't get severance and flight allowance. I can't tell from the article if people leaving soon will have to worry about getting their money.  Has anyone asked their school?

You stand to lose out on quite a bit.  I'd get the ball rolling.

I spoke with my labor attorney today.  (Oh the joys of having a Korean spouse with many friends!)

So he said basically anyone can get laid off at any time in Korea.  But they have to pay you a months salary if you've worked there longer than 3 or 6 months (i forget which) and it isn't your fault (like what's happening to us). 

So if you show up tomorrow and they say don't come in on Monday they have to pay you an entire months salary. On top of what they owe you for what you've done so far this pay period.

If they say your going to be let go on September first, you work until September 1st, they pay you your money and that's it.  No severance, no airfare because you didn't complete your contract.  And they gave you proper notice to find other employment so you wont get extra 30 days pay.   But he said if I want to go to court over this, I have a shot because its so late into the contract (for me and the girl quitting at the beginning of September it'll be a 12th month termination), and they are obviously only doing it to save money at the financial detriment of the employee.

If you have already applied for severance and flight ticket, you are probably ok.  (my guess only)

I don''t understand  your answer. My contract ends August 31. So I am thinking that I should get my severance payment and flight allowance. We already talked about this with my school before. But with this situation happening now. i am worried.

Korea87

I don't think you have too much to worry about.

If this is your first contract, the school will not have to find too much money to cover your exit. 

I'm not even sure the school will have to juggle their budget to cover you.  This new budget just passed, and I am guessing that it will not take effect until down the road --- it seems December.  I am taking it that your pay and severance are part of the previous budget.