ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#46 | November 12, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036
Matthew Clark says, “We’ve seen teachers in Korea who swear by their public school jobs and we’ve seen teachers who say they’d never teach in anything other than a private school (hagwons/kindergartens) in Korea. For the public school positions, the bar has been raised in terms of the qualifications and experience of the teachers accepted. Because of this, most teachers coming to Korea for the first time don’t have the option of a public school job unless they have certifications and/or education degrees. It hasn’t been expressed by the Korean government, but one possible reason is public schools have experienced more success with teachers who’ve had teaching experience and a background in Education/English.
The teaching environment in a public school versus a private school is quite different. In public schools, the larger class size and Korean co-teacher can make the transition for a new, inexperienced teacher difficult. Another major difference lies in the teaching staff”.
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