By Jason Cresswell
Contributing Writer
The announcement that E2 visa applicants will be required to submit medical checks, criminal background checks, drug tests, and perhaps even have an interview with a South Korean consular official in the native teacher's home country is causing quite a stir in the English teaching community.
Most people agree that this will certainly deter many new teachers from making the move to Korea in favor of countries that have less stringent and expensive application procedures.
While at first glance, this may be a bit alarming to school directors, in fact, it is the perfect time to make a few changes in the hiring of native teachers that will more than offset the potential decrease in applicants.
The solution coincides with the reasons for the recent changes to the application procedure. The claim is that the new regulations are being put in place in order to help improve the quality of teachers coming to South Korea and to eliminate some of the undesirable applicants.
In fact, there is another approach to this issue that has nothing to do with these additional regulations that will only help solve a very small percentage of the problem. Instead of regulations, what is needed is a renewed focus on the quality of the applicant as opposed to their physical appearance, race and age.
I will say from the start that the issue is more pronounced in the private academy industry than it is in the public school area. I will commend the public school officials for being more concerned with teacher quality and less with appearances.
However, private English academies have a long way to go. Except for a very select few schools, the majority of the academies in Korea base their choice of teacher on the nationality, race, appearance and age of the teacher.
This is no surprise to anyone who has been in South Korea for any length of time. What would surprise most is just how far this goes.
In almost all cases, a young Caucasian teacher with a B.A. in history will be hired over a young African-American with a bachelors of education and teaching experience in their home country. The same goes for a Caucasian teacher versus an Asian applicant. In terms of quality of education, this makes absolutely no sense.
The schools shift the blame from themselves to the mothers of students, saying that it is the mothers who expect young Caucasian teachers to be teaching their children English. Having a staff full of nice-looking, young Caucasians is the way to profitability as a school owner it would seem.
As the owner of a recruiting company, my single biggest frustration is the inability to help fully qualified, and in many cases, overly-qualified applicants find positions because they fall into the category of being non-Caucasian or over the ripe old age of 35.
It is time for Koreans to erase the idea that a Caucasian teacher can do any better than a black teacher or an Asian teacher. Let's start focusing on the accomplishments of the applicant. Let's start looking at the resume before the picture and not vice versa.
It saddens and embarrasses me to say it, but I really can't even count the number of excellent applicants that our company has had apply, yet not been able to find a place for, due to factors not at all related to their teaching ability.
So, if the demand is now there for quality teachers, we've got them in abundance. They are applying to us, they are applying to other recruiting companies and they are applying directly to schools. Now, let's get them over here.
The demand has to come from several sources. I am not a believer in forcing anyone to make hiring decisions based on rules that are forced upon them, such as equal opportunity legislation. I believe that the demand has to come from the market.
This has to start with the parents of students who pay tuition. Tell the director of your children's academies that you don't care whether the teacher is Caucasian, black, Asian, young, or older, but that they are genuine about wanting to teach your kids.
School owners, be pioneers and tell your clients that you are now going to put more emphasis on the quality of teacher and not solely on appearance.
Let them know that in the next few months and years to come, they will be exposed to a more diverse faculty of teachers. Stress to them that in order to provide the best education at your school, you are going to focus first on the education, experience, and attitude of the teacher, and that the way the teacher looks will no longer be a factor in your hiring decisions.
This can start with the bigger chains as well as with small, family-owned schools. Spread the word amongst fellow school owners and directors. It is for your own benefit.
You will have a wider selection of applicants to choose from and thus you will increase the likelihood of making the right choice of teacher.
To those working at Korean Immigration, encourage the hiring of teachers based on personality and the quality of the person and not on appearance alone. You are taking steps to improve the quality of education in Korea, and this is one area that can make a significant impact.
To my Korean friends in general, please try to open yourself up to a variety of people. Start talking about it and encourage whomever you too can to do the same.
It has been a long-time goal of mine to see these changes take place in Korea, but I thought it would take several more years before anything would happen.
However, with all the changes coming up in the next few months and the demand for accountability and safe classrooms, it is my hope that the landscape of the native English teacher scene will change over the next few months and years. Let's start to focus on the individual and their merits.
Jason Cresswell is co-owner of ASK Now Inc. (www.asknow.ca), who has been enjoying Korea since 1999.