[KS] EPIK

[David Scofield]

As with any English teaching position in Korea, EPIK is not without its
pitfalls. 

>From the US Embassy, Seoul website:

EPIK
"These fairly new, Korea-wide, government-sponsored programs place native
English speakers in every school district in Korea and present a unique
opportunity for the adventurous to live away from popular tourist centers. 
While recruiting and training appear to be performed quite professionally,
teachers’ living and working experiences vary considerably.  Some are welcomed
with open arms and treated extremely well.  Others, arriving in areas where the
program has been forced upon reluctant, under-funded schools, are greeted less
warmly and face significant challenges winning over ambivalent – or
antagonistic – Korean counterparts.  Housing, benefits, reliability of pay, and
access to ombudsmen are steadily improving, but still have a long way to go."

http://seoul.usembassy.gov/t_types.html

Two major issues in the EPIK program that seem to get flagged up most frequently
relate to class sizes and contact hours.

1) class size - teaching in the Korean public system often means teaching to a
regular sized Korean class - potentially 30-40+ students per "English
conversation" class, many with widely varying degrees of English competency.

The program indicates that teaching is conducted with the aid of a Korean
teacher, but this is not always as straight forward as it sounds. In many
schools the resident Korean English teacher may not speak English. 

2) contact hours: instructors are required to teach 22 hours; however, it is
important to note that this refers to in class instruction time and does not
include class prep (which can be formidable in classes with 30+ students). 

As well, the contract should be read extremely carefully as overtime, for
example, may be required and not necessarily voluntary. As well, you can be
asked to work at any location and this may include being 'farmed out' to a
private institute for evening work. The 'market value' of foreign native
English instructor is far greater than 20,000/hour ($16.40/hour) O/T pay
offered creating an arbitrage opportunity for school principals to broker the
foreign instructor to local private institutes. This is not necessarily a
regular occurence, but I did encounter EPIK instructors during my years in
Korea who spoke of this.

As well, while the work week is set as Monday to Friday, the contract also
states that if the total teaching hours are below 22, you may be required to
work beyond the scope of a normal work week (incl. Saturday/Sunday) -
remuneration for "non-instructional" overtime is set at the equivalent of
$4.95/hour (excluding tax).

The contract also stipulates that "training and orientation" are unpaid, but it
further indicates that training may not be limited to the initial
orientation... 

There is similar built in ambiguity concerning the housing provided. This, the
contract indicates, will be "as deemed sufficient" by the employer, with
furnishing limited to "bed, table, closet, range, fridge, washer, and tv."
Further, "the employee shall not request or demand any other appliances or
furniture..." The employee is also responsible for all utility and maintenance
fees and any other applicable taxes incurred during the residency.

Korea can be a wonderful place to teach, but the English teaching market is not
for the faint of heart. Any prospective teacher/instructor should do as much
background checking on schools/programs as possible before departing, including
reviewing the sometimes jaundiced views of the resident ex-pat blogging
community.