Crossposted at Chris in South Korea
From the ‘try-not-to-look-too-surprised’ column – Korean English teachers, nervous about upcoming government certification requirements, are going back to school to get their skills up to snuff. From the Korea Times (it’s not an exclusive as they claim; the Korea Herald has written briefly about it as well):
Ahead of the full implementation of English-only classes in 2012, many Korean English teachers are honing their language proficiency at private institutes.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said it has raised the budget to finance hagwon fees for 444 English primary and secondary schoolteachers in Seoul this year from about 200 in 2008.
Each teacher receives about 450,000 won ($350) in subsidy for three months. Of the 444 teachers, 204 are at elementary schools and 240 at secondary schools. Many other teachers are learning at hagwon without subsidy, and the number is expected to rise further.
Many teachers say they are feeling growing pressure to strengthen their proficiency, as they are required to conduct English-only classes by 2012 as part of government- led programs to boost English classes at public schools.
I can understand the “growing pressure to strengthen” your proficiency – especially if you’ll have to teach English in English. I doubt most teachers cheated their way through school as these Seoul National University students did, but I would be surprised if they would say their education was truly enough to prepare them to teach English. Are the blind leading the blind?
It reminds me that when foreign language teachers are hired for American public schools (and universities as well) a person is chosen for their language abilities. It might sound nice to be an English teacher in a public school (and certainly is regarded as a noble occupation) – it’s a fairly stable job with good social standing – and whether a teacher is truly ‘qualified’ to do their job is a fair question to ask.
“I can easily find other English teachers from public schools in my class (at the foreign language institute). Many English teachers are under pressure to study English, as they have to conduct English-only classes,’’ said Yoon, who has worked in education for about 25 years.
The education office will differentiate teachers according to their teaching ability by issuing a Teaching English in English (TEE) Certificate for teachers starting from the fall semester. Those who have the certificate will receive incentives in personnel management.
Overall, the education office has earmarked a budget of 5.5 billion won to train English teachers this year. It has 12 domestic and overseas English programs for 7,432 teachers, 4,772 at elementary schools and 2,710 at secondary schools.
“Incentives in personnel management”? Sounds like promotion, demotion, hiring, and firing to me. Don’t have the TEE certification? Sorry, no job for you at a public school – no matter your actual English language skills – that piece of paper may well be more important.
I should note that the Korea Herald story also mentions that a teacher’s certification status may be disclosed to the parents – fair enough, but how long will it take for over-zealous parents to try moving their kids from one class / teacher to another?
Seoul’s government has been on-record as stating the following desire: “Use all available means to cut private education costs for parents with schoolchildren and normalize public education.” Translation, in essence: run the hagwon out of business, despite a cultural urge for parents to provide the very best education possible to their little snowflakes. Public schools aren’t going to do that alone, and few parents are willing to admit that they don’t send their kid to a hagwon. The vast majority of kids (I don’t know any statistics, but anecdotally speaking I would submit between 80-95% of all elementary / middle school kids) go to at least one hagwon - not sending your kid to one or more schools is like failing to keep up with the Joneses’ (or are they the Kims’?).
I could go on, but I have other blogposts to write. While this TEE certification will have no direct effect on NET’s (Native English Teachers) in the short-term, it doesn’t bode well for our companions in teaching in the long-term.
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