Re: Re: GEPIK is Finished

Some people have mentioned that there are still public school jobs available at schools that do no receive funding from GEPIK.  Does anyone know how to find those jobs?  Where specifically would they be listed?  Or do you just apply to a recruiter and hope that they can find you something...?

Dear GEPIK Teachers,
Many of you may have read the recently published news article stating that
GEPIK has had their budget cut by the Gyeonggi Provincial Council and
that some contracts may be terminated before their term ends. We wanted
to address and clarify some of these issues:
Firstly, the news article stated that some contracts will be terminated
before their full term ends and that those with current contracts may not be
able to receive their salaries starting next month. There will be no early
contract terminations unless you break Article 11-1 of your contract. Your
schools will honor your full 365-day contract, which means your salaries,
airfare reimbursements; severance pay, etc. will be paid to you as stated
within your contracts. Contrary to the news article, your salaries will still be
paid until the end of your contracts.
Secondly, due to the recent budget cuts, schools will not renew or sign
new contracts starting from the month of October 2011(1
st
of October).
Hiring teachers will resume next year once the budget has become more
secure and stable. Once everything is set in place, schools will begin hiring
on March 1
st
.
Lastly, we want you to know that this sudden budget cut was a decision
made by the Gyeonggi Provincial Council. GEPIK was not aware of this
unexpected decision, and GPOE is now working to resolve this issue.
We hope this clears up any confusion that has been made due to recent
news in the media. As always, thank- you for your support


Ok.  Now back to work everyone!

By the sounds of it, my new job in September will be safe if that is indeed the case. My recruiter hasnt heard anything from the school about this either, so I'm hoping on that front, no news is good news

I recommend everyone working for Gyeonggi - and pretty much everybody else - start saving much of your pay each month.

My feeling is that schools in Gyeonggi are going to be scrambling to cover their current contractural obligations and nobody has much of a clue what is going to happen next year....

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/07/117_91436.html

Gyeonggi rules out cuts in foreign teacher jobs
By Yun Suh-young

A provincial education authority said Friday that it will maintain the number of foreign English teachers it employs at the current level of about 820 next year.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education (GPOE) said there will be no drastic cuts in jobs for foreign teachers at elementary, middle and high schools over the next couple of years.

The announcement came several days after the Gyeonggi Provincial Council (GPC) passed a supplementary budget bill that excluded the 15.6 billion won needed to pay for the foreign English teachers currently working in public schools.

“The council’s budget cut will not affect the plans for hiring English teachers next year,” said an official from the GPOE who declined to be named. “We’ve decided not to reduce the number below 819. This is the minimum required to continue our English education. We will make sure that the necessary budget is secured.”

The council’s budget cut drew criticism from the GPOE which claims it had to include the budget for teachers in a supplementary budget as the council had previously rejected it.

However, council members disagreed.

“We gave them everything they requested in the main budget and now they’re asking for more without properly explaining why they need it,” said an official from the council. “They didn’t give us specific reasons for needing the money. We can’t give out extra money without getting specific and detailed explanations of how it will be used.”

Council officials said hiring foreign teachers was quite costly.

“There is a long-term plan to reduce the number of foreign English teachers,” said Shin Jong-cheol, a member of the GPC. “In the past when English was difficult to learn, the role of foreign teachers was important. However, now students can interact with foreign teachers overseas through video, so their role here has significantly decreased.”

“Just having one foreign teacher per school doesn’t really have much of an effect,” he said, explaining the need for the reduction. “The GPOE knows this as well and this is a matter that has been agreed upon.”

It costs about 3.84 million won a month per foreign English teacher. The costs include salary, housing fee, pension and insurance contributions and flight costs.

“On average, their monthly income is 2.3 million won and the housing fees range from 500,000 to 800,000 won. This is about 3 million won on average. Of course the flight costs and other fees need to be added. If we only look at the monthly income, we pay more to Korean teachers, but overall, foreign teachers cost a lot more,” an official from the GPOE said.

With the unexpected budget cut, many foreign English teachers face losing their jobs. Although those contracting next year will secure work, those whose contracts are to expire within the next few months may have to wait longer to renew their contracts or find another job.

“Those whose contract expires within the next few months will have to wait until next year to renew their contracts if they wish to continue working. If not, schools will have to hire new teachers next year,” said the official from the GPOE.

“Between the gap from now and December, schools will have to do without foreign English teachers because we cannot afford to pay them due to the budget cut.”

The number of foreign English teachers in Gyeonggi Province who are employed by the GPOE steadily increased from 454 in 2008 to 1,119 in 2010. However, the number fell to 819 this year.

Where the hell are they pulling the housing fees figure from? Mines is around 200000 a month(though I'm in Gyeongsangnam-do, but thats irrelevant) and I pay for ALL utilities and also any repairs.

If housing is such a huge concern then the solution is simple: make NETs pay part of the rent. Easily solved. Its so damn simple which leads me to believe that this excuse is BS. And complaining about the Pensions and insurance is LULZY too. Newsflash: GPOE has to do the same for KETs.

Basically my point is, if costs are really the issue here, then there are a billion and a half ways to trim off extra costs without bleeding teachers left right and centre. Rural allowances, multiple school allowances,  housing etc. The fact that this isn't even considered means its not an issue at all. Poltical posturing is all it is

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/07/117_91436.html
Shin Jong-cheol, a member of the GPC. “In the past when English was difficult to learn, the role of foreign teachers was important. However, now students can interact with foreign teachers overseas through video, so their role here has significantly decreased.”

LOL... Maybe Jong-cheol should jump on a kimchie-powered time machine and zip himself into a future where English is even easier to learn (and I doubt the students' role in the learning process will significantly decrease).  ???  ::)

Can anyone interpret what "Although those contracting next year will secure work, those whose contracts are to expire within the next few months may have to wait longer to renew their contracts or find another job" means?  There's conflicting information here--but that makes sense because basically, this comes down to GPC versus GPOE/GEPIK.  Anyone who's been here awhile want to chime in on how that one's going to go down?  GPC basically looks like they want to cut the program altogether.

Can anyone interpret what "Although those contracting next year will secure work, those whose contracts are to expire within the next few months may have to wait longer to renew their contracts or find another job" means?  There's conflicting information here

It means no new contracts until next year.

Congratulations to the prestigious Korea Times for its accurate news reporting.  Once again, it proves itself to be of the highest journalistic integrity.  Its increased readership from this story and subsequent ad revenue is well-deserved.

Bravo.

Can anyone interpret what "Although those contracting next year will secure work, those whose contracts are to expire within the next few months may have to wait longer to renew their contracts or find another job" means?  There's conflicting information here

It means no new contracts until next year.

That contradicts the statement released in the Email from GEPIK though, stating there will be no new hires from October onwards through to March.

I think that 'no new contracts until next year' and 'no new hires from October through to March' aren't contradictory.

This sentence from the new article, "Although those contracting next year will secure work, those whose contracts are to expire within the next few months may have to wait longer to renew their contracts or find another job", is suggesting that people who have contracts that finish in the next few months, probably shouldn't expect to be re-signed straight away...they will probably have to wait until next March...which is something that I think most people had probably banked on anyway.  My contract is up next May...and I'm pretty sure that at the minimum I'll be out from May 5th until September 1st.

Does this help with your situation?  Not really.  Unfortunately you're gonna need your recruiter to pull their thumb out of their bottom and find out exactly what the go is with your September 1st gig.  It may be that the school you're signing with doesn't even get funded by the GPOE and it's not a problem...or maybe it's just not a problem anyway....but the we all have the same information as you at this stage...which mans we can't say either way if your September 1st gig is gonna happen.  I hope it does...but I don't know either way based on the information that's come out so far!

Can anyone interpret what "Although those contracting next year will secure work, those whose contracts are to expire within the next few months may have to wait longer to renew their contracts or find another job" means?

I'll try -
Gomeless noobs who sign a contract with a start date in 2012 will have a job (for at least as long as it takes the ink to dry), and those who's contracts end between now and some unspecified date in the future won't; unless they: are unemployed for an unspecified period, dumb enough to apply to GEPIK (again), leave the country and get a new visa... and start again at 'square one' (for their education and experience) according to the GEPIK pay scale; or, go away, don't come back, and get another job.

However, now students can interact with foreign teachers overseas through video, so their role here has significantly decreased.

I literally laughed out loud when I read this sentence.

However, now students can interact with foreign teachers overseas through video, so their role here has significantly decreased.

I literally laughed out loud when I read this sentence.

Me too! They could ship Isaac Durst out of the country to the Philippines from where he could broadcast over a live, interactive video satellite link to K-lassrooms full of 38 sleeping students - English utopia!

“There is a long-term plan to reduce the number of foreign English teachers,” said Shin Jong-cheol, a member of the GPC. “In the past when English was difficult to learn, the role of foreign teachers was important. However, now students can interact with foreign teachers overseas through video, so their role here has significantly decreased.”

...

“Just having one foreign teacher per school doesn’t really have much of an effect,”

my school was given the option in March 2011 for funding: 40% city,  40% gepik and 20% school. They (school) agreed to it but now gepik cant  give  their 40% funding.  So the school cant come up with 60% of the money. 

now gepik is telling the school that they never offered that option and that it is the school's fault to renewing the contract. there are 7 -8 school in my area in the same situation. gepik  cant admit they messed up.

“There is a long-term plan to reduce the number of foreign English teachers,” said Shin Jong-cheol, a member of the GPC. “In the past when English was difficult to learn, the role of foreign teachers was important. However, now students can interact with foreign teachers overseas through video, so their role here has significantly decreased.”

...

“Just having one foreign teacher per school doesn’t really have much of an effect,”

Sounds like it's time to buy shares in these amazing Englishee robot machines. Someone at the GPC has some serious wood for these things.

Mental note; remember the name Shin Jong-cheol, so that in 2yrs time after the widespread introduction, and in turn abysmal failure of said Englishee robots, I can send a "congratulations numb nutz" letter to the man himself.

However, now students can interact with foreign teachers overseas through video, so their role here has significantly decreased.

I literally laughed out loud when I read this sentence.

Me too! They could ship Isaac Durst out of the country to the Philippines from where he could broadcast over a live, interactive video satellite link to K-lassrooms full of 38 sleeping students - English utopia!

Therein lies the problem with ESL in Korea. They believe that technology is a legitimate substitute for real face-to-face interaction in English education. Communication is about so much more than just knowing a language but Korea doesn't see the value in this. Japan, at least in some ESl jobs, recognizes that hiring native English teachers is important for both teaching the language AND helping the students to become more comfortable interacting with non-Japanese and accepting cultural differences. This is the key for increasing international business and exchange. As far as I know Korea's main motivation in learning English is for economic reasons but apparently they want us NETs here to teach language only and then be gone. Eventually they want all NETs to leave their country. In many ways I see this as a very xenophobic gesture but it really doesn't surprise me at this point.

I think I'll have to set my personal time limit in Korea to a much shorter duration than I had originally planned. I enjoy myself here and it'll be tough to leave all the friends I've made but like they say the grass is always greener and all that nonsense. Its becoming more and more clear to me that the government and the people are both unsure of whether and why they want us NETs here. Fine, I say. I'll spend my time building up my qualifications and becoming a more experienced teacher so that I can go somewhere better eventually.

my school was given the option in March 2011 for funding: 40% city,  40% gepik and 20% school. They (school) agreed to it but now gepik cant  give  their 40% funding.  So the school cant come up with 60% of the money. 

now gepik is telling the school that they never offered that option and that it is the school's fault to renewing the contract. there are 7 -8 school in my area in the same situation. gepik  cant admit they messed up.

GEPIK didn't mess up.

Yes, they are wrong in trying to withdraw their offer.  But they didn't screw up like you're implying.