By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

Only about half of native English speakers working at Seoul schools have renewed their contracts for 2009.

According to Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Tuesday, 144 of 273 foreign English teachers who were eligible for a renewal of their contract have signed to stay on another year.

Lee Young-chan, an education Ministry official in charge of native teachers said it was not necessary to renew every contract. ``They are neither regular teachers nor lecturers who can conduct classes independently. They are `assistant teachers,' hence their teaching experience doesn't matter much,'' he said. ``Rather, it's better for students to have more new teachers so that they can meet various kinds of foreigners,'' he added.

Last year, the city education office also saw about half of its foreign teachers renew their one-year contract, however, it had only 11 who had more than three years teaching experience.

``Some foreign teachers did not want to renew due to the devaluing of the won, while others cited worsening relations between South and North Korea,'' said Choi Chun-ok, a supervisor at the education office.

To secure more experienced teachers, the office plans to introduce incentive programs to keep foreigners at the same schools for longer terms.
``Foreign teachers with more experience will receive higher salaries and better working conditions,'' Choi said.

``Many native English teachers are young and return to their countries after a one- or two-year stay in Korea. Moreover many of them who work at schools in rural provinces seek jobs in Seoul,'' said Cho Jeong-im, a middle school teacher in Busan.

The city education authorities plan to hire more foreigners for English conversation classes next year.

A Canadian teacher trainer at a Busan university, pointed that the Korean immigration office better extend entitled residence periods for English teaching E-2 visas from the current one year to multiple years to encourage teachers not to change schools so often.

`` Of course, some employers don't want teachers to stay. In fact, with some it is an unstated policy not to employ teachers for more than a year, no matter how good the teachers are,'' he said. ``These employers are more concerned with managing their businesses than providing an education. New teachers often have lower expectations and are easier to manage.''

The total government budget for native English speakers has risen to 147 billion won this year from 105 billion won in 2007 and 69 billion won in 2006. This year, the government is expected to spend some 180 billion won to employ about 4,500 - 5,000 foreign teachers at elementary and secondary schools nationwide. A native English speaker who has just started to teach English in Korea can receive a salary equivalent to that paid to a Korean teacher with five years of experience, an official said.

Some education experts are skeptical about the effectiveness of the system.

``Native English speakers have to get through a certain period of training and need experience and know-how,'' said Jeon Byung-man, an English education professor at Chonbuk National University. ``I don't think native English speakers are helpful for our students. If they need native English speakers, they should hire those who have teaching licenses.''

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr