By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

A group of native English teachers are organizing themselves to come up with a blacklist of schools that they say don't treat teachers fairly.

According to the Web site of the Independent Registry of Schools in Korea (IRSK), the organization was created by Charles Hill and some other foreign teachers working in public schools here to rate schools in Korea.

The Web site says, "If you are considering employment in Korea at a public school, please visit our 'Watch List' page first before accepting any offers, to ensure you won't end up working for a school that has earned a negative reputation for acts done to foreigners previously employed at that school."

Membership is free and members can post reviews on schools that they have worked for. So far, no reviews have been posted.

Earlier, the government moved to make a black list of native English teachers and track schools that have violated labor laws or contracts. Currently, the IRSK does not track "hagwon," or private learning institutes, but it plans to create a section to do so.

The site is not only to report "bad" schools, but also to share positive experiences among the native teachers.

Education authorities have showed no reaction to the Website. "I have no idea about the blacklist of schools but we are here to help schools work with native English speakers for better classes," said Keum Yong-han, an official dealing with foreign teachers at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

Early this week, the ministry announced a plan to form an association of officials from city and provincial education offices nationwide to chart policy regarding native English speakers. The group will report "incompetent" foreign teachers and ask immigration authorities not to reissue English-teaching or E-2 visas to them.

They will also help schools share information regarding individual evaluations of foreign teachers. About 23,000 foreign English instructors are working in Korea, and among them some 8,000 are at public schools, according to the ministry.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr