Foreign Teachers as Civil Servant?? Plus...some fevers and snowstorms

So...as I write this and for many hours before that...Ottawa has been and is getting pummeled by a fierce winter storm, a.k.a. a blizzard. Looks like this could be the worst one of the season.

Them "meteorologist types" say that we should have about 25cm of snow in good ole' Ottawa by midnight, probably the biggest storm we can expect this season. Of course I had class all afternoon, but I think, shy of an dirty bomb being found on campus, the University of Ottawa would never cancel a class.
I was sick for most of the week. I love sitting through 8 hours of lectures with a fever, but that's the kind of fun Teacher's College provides! Mai is down for the count now with the flu. Our trip to the "exotic" Cornwall put on the backburner til next weekend...damn...I was sooo stoked about having some "Northend Pizza." I thik it's probably some of the finest pizza on Eart. It burned down last spring, just before I came back to Canada from Korea. I was craving it for so long and then....denied, BUT it reopend just a few weeks ago and is apparently as great as ever! Our chance to check out Winterlude tomorrow will have to be put off until Sunday when we are both feeling mobile and "un-flulike."

Oh yeah...the entire Rideau Canal is now open for iceskating as of today. The skating surface is 7km long and the world's longest.(that was my Winterlude/Rideau Canal plug!)

So...for the rest of the evening I will continue to plug away at some of the numerous assignments staring me in the face. This week coming up is a big one for the B.Ed folks with several big projects due. I'm in the midst of editing a group newspaper at the moment. Our theme was "The Changing Face of Education." I know, I really broad topic, but it gave us a lot of flexibility to write the different stories we wanted. My article focused on teachers intigrating WEB 2.0 tools into their classrooms. Weeeeeeeeeeeeee...load of fun!!! Well,if anything, the editing portion of the assignment has helped me get a firm grasp of Microsoft Publisher.

Here's a look at my little work area where my Teacher's College work is usually done...as well as some goofing off of course! To think...what a difference. When I first started teaching, I was babysitting rich Korean ankle-biters and just a few months ago I was teaching at an inner-city school in Canada...talk about night and day! Teaching here was certainly MUCH more difficult and MUCH more gratifying!



Now, back to a little ESL-style news...
New E-2 Regs Lead to Teacher Shortage, Unhappy Hagwon
Speaking of English teachers, the Kyunghyang Shinmun’s Newsmaker magazine ran a piece on how the new E-2 visa regulations are driving up the price of foreign English teachers in Korea.

That, of course, is making hagwon owners very unhappy.

“The number of foreign teacher applicants has dropped considerable. I understand there are also protests. In cases like the United States, it appears their position is, ‘Are we some sort of criminals?’ Also, the consular interviews are becoming a problem. Some places do them, others don’t. Do all consulates have to do them? Consuls don’t just give E-2 visa interviews, after all.”

So said Choe Chang-jin, the general director of the foreign language education council of the Korea Association of Hakwon, conveying the complaints of Korea’s hagwon. Some 1,200 hagwon are part of the foreign language committee council in Seoul alone, and 6,500 nationwide.

According to hagwon owners, since the measures were implemented, it’s become exceedingly difficult to find foreign teachers. Provincial hagwon are having the worst of it, with schools closing down. And the competition between hagwon for foreign teachers is growing fierce, something that has not gone unnoticed by recruiting agencies, which schools claim are busy stealing teachers by offering them better and better conditions to work elsewhere.

So what do the foreigners think about all this?

Well, Newsmaker says, according to one website dealing with employment in Korea, the opinion that was getting the most support was that Korean hagwon need only pay a reasonable wage, guarantee legal benefits like pensions and health insurance, give more vacation time and maybe boost pay. Another foreigner thought the new visa regulations would come to nothing, citing how measures to make child seats in cars mandatory were scrapped right away following protests. Read the rest at the Marmot's Hole...

Interesting how a country and government unites to regulate English teachers, but people run out into the streets in protest over the idea of making child car seats mandatory...btw, in more than 5 years living in Korea, I never saw one car seat!


I just read this in the Korea Times.
Will Foreign Teachers Become Civil Servants?
Korea Times
President-elect Lee Myung-bak’s transition team has announced a bold plan to bolster the pool of new teachers specialized for English-speaking classes. But a big question is left unanswered ― whether foreign nationals are entitled to the jobs or not?

The transition team announced Wednesday it will introduce the Teaching English in English (TEE) certificate and recruit 23,000 teachers with the TEE licenses by 2013.

Eligible applicants for the program are those who have completed English education courses including the Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certificates, obtained master’s or higher degrees in English-speaking countries, or have teaching licenses. Fluent English-speaking professionals will also be considered. The transition team also said that the TEE teachers will be entitled as public (education) servants under the 3-5 year renewable contract.

However, the team has failed to mention whether the foreigners are welcome or not for the program. Asked of the possibility of employment of foreigners, Lee Ju-ho in charge of education policy in the team was uncertain.

``We have not decided yet whether to recruit foreigners for TEE programs or not. It is the role of the incoming government to decide on the matter,’’ Lee told The Korea Times over the telephone.

Under the current education law, foreigners are not allowed a regular teacher position at Korean elementary and secondary schools. They are only allowed regular teaching positions at higher education institutes. For example, a foreign professor at a state-run university is entitled to be classed as a civil servant.

However, President-elect Lee hinted that he will open more civil servants positions to foreigners in a meeting with senior officials of the Democratic Party, last month.

Recruiting Qualified Teachers

According to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, nearly 4,000 native English-speaking teachers are working at elementary and secondary schools as assistant teachers. If foreigners are allowed to be TEE teachers, they can receive benefits set for civil servants.

The ministry official in charge of teacher recruitment said ``If the incoming government decides to open the teaching position to foreigners, we have to revise the education law. I doubt public opinion will be positive on it.’’

``Even though the job scope for TEE teachers is not yet decided, the position might require more than what foreign assistant teachers are doing,’’ she added.

Regarding the matter, foreign teachers groups in Korea expect the incoming government will be more flexible with the intensive English program.

``It would be good for Korea to open regular positions to foreign teachers as well. Different schools have different needs. Some schools need only native speaking teachers, some schools need English-speaking Korean teachers and some schools need co-teaching of the foreign and Korean teachers,’’ said Phil Owen, President of the Korea Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages(KOTESOL).

Mark Howard, Director English Language Service, British Council Korea, also supported employment of foreigners in the program. ``I guess one challenge is how they are going to get the number of qualified teachers,’’ he said.

Although, the status of teachers varies according to each country, many English speaking countries hire qualified foreigners as regular teachers.

Meanwhile, Korean teachers' groups oppose giving civil servant status to TEE teachers. ``All English teachers go through regular 4-year courses and pass employment examination. We cannot accept TEE teachers in regular positions just because they can speak English well,’’ said Kim Dong-seok, spokesperson of The Korean Federation of Teachers' Association.

``I doubt how we can cooperate with TEE teachers who are not from regular teacher courses. If the government will push the programs, it would be worse to work with native-speaking teachers,’’ said Yoo Gye-hyoung, an English teacher in Gyeonggi Province.