English teacher careers

By Akli Hadid

I spent the last three years surveying and interviewing foreign English teachers in Korea. I did so out of pure curiosity, as I was concerned by the fact there were a lot of complaints in online forums.

The finding was that there needs to be perfect harmony between four elements in order to have successful teaching careers: happy teachers tend to be those who have stable emotional lives, stable personal lives, work for a stable organization or school and who know how to perform the task of teaching.

The first five years tend to be a training phase, where themes are divided between happy themes and sad themes. The first year especially, many experience a lot of difficulties.

However as the years progress, teachers tend to find jobs at more stable organizations and tend to have more stable personal lives. They start enjoying teaching and the rewards the job brings.

Job satisfaction peaks at around 20 years before it starts slowly dropping. After teaching for 20 years, some teachers start finding their jobs tedious and repetitive. Still, they try hard not to make it boring by constantly innovating in the classroom.

Most teachers came to Korea immediately after getting their university degrees and have less than one year of full-time work experience before coming to Korea. However, there are a few who came to Korea with teacher licenses and experience teaching in their home countries, while others worked in sectors such as banking or owned private businesses but thought a teaching career would be more rewarding.

Usually after teaching for about five years, teachers find perfect harmony between their personal life, emotional life, organizational life and teaching life. Satisfaction levels go up from a little less than 50 percent to more than 80 percent within that time frame.

I did notice many teachers were anxious around this time in Korea. Many think their future is uncertain and many wanted more job stability. Many expressed their wish to stay in Korea longer.

I terms of regrets, many expressed their regret of not spending enough time learning Korean, although many specified that their heavy teaching loads and preparation time prevented them from spending enough time learning Korean.

Teacher hobbies included hiking, riding bicycles and several sports. There was a very high concern with health and fitness among teachers.

Their community often revolves around foreign friends, Korean friends and many mentioned places of worship such as the local church as their main circle.

Relationships with co-workers tended to be good, as well as with students. After five years of experience, most teachers don’t find behavioral problems with their students and find that most of their students are well-disciplined.

Some policy recommendations for foreign English teachers in Korea could include providing them with Korean classes, cultural awareness tips and some help with teaching methodology. There are several organizations such as KATE, MEESO, KOTESOL, ETAK, and many others that provide such training.

Another policy recommendation would be more flexible hiring practices and procedures and more stable contracts. A lot of teachers, including me, were banned from teaching at the university level because we did not have the required experience, some had to leave Korea while others had to settle for teaching at private schools or public schools.

English teachers have successfully taught Koreans English and in the last 20 years, the English level of the Korean population has risen dramatically. There is now a significant bilingual workforce available. Teachers did note that over the years, students seem to be less motivated to learn English. Many teachers told me that in the past, Korean students thought of having a foreign teacher as a wonderful opportunity but take them for granted these days and don’t study very hard.

Overall, foreign English teachers in Korea enjoy their working lives and life in Korea, and many want to stay permanently. Let’s hope that Korea can accommodate them for a long time.

Akli Hadid is a Ph.D. candidate at the Academy of Korean Studies. His email address is hadid.akli@gmail.com.