Teaching in Korea with Kids

Exploring Korea with your family. What a great experience! But... there are many factors, challenges and contingencies to consider here. Here are a couple considerations:

• for single parents, who takes care of the kids while you are working.
• what happens with their education.
• what about language barriers.
• what about inoculations.
• what about socialization factors.
• what if they hate it.
• what about family back home.

Schools are often not too keen to hire teachers who have non-working spouses or children accompanying them because of a number of factors but probably most important to them is the pressure and stress that acclimation and acculturation that can factor into you breaking your contract and heading home - leaving the school without a teacher and in serious chaos.

Other challenges come with the housing that the school supplies for you. Teaching contracts in Korea generally state that the school will provide housing for the teacher. This regularly comes in the form of single housing (either one bedroom or bachelor type apartments) or shared housing (two bedroom apartments shared with another teacher). It is likely that neither of these situations would be suitable for someone living with a child or a spouse who is not working at the school.

Option For Teachers Travelling with Families

• Be prepared to pay extra for a larger place - the school can provide the 2 bedroom to you or perhaps get a larger accommodation and you pay the difference from what it would have cost them for the smaller place.
• Ask about getting a stipend for housing and source your own housing once you arrive. This can be more expensive and it can be challenging. If this is angle you wish to pursue you may want to arrive there first to sort this out before your family or spouse join you as it could get expensive to stay in a hotel.

The second difficulty lies in schooling and the adjustment of the child to life in a different country and culture. International schools (i.e. schools that teach in English) are extraordinarily expensive and it likely wouldn’t be feasible based on the salary you will be making. If you were going over with someone else then home schooling would be an option but unfortunately as a single parent this would be a very difficult undertaking.

Aside from schooling there is the issue of childcare. Most schools will not let your son or daughter spend the day at the school with you. This is something that doesn’t only apply to the foreign teachers but to all the teachers at the school. Teachers are not usually allowed to even enroll their children in the same school that they are employed at as teachers.

There is also the issue of getting the appropriate legal documentation for your dependent(s) (i.e. Dependent visa(s) for the child/children). This is something that you would have to research and take care of on your own.

Some schools will offer a pay out instead of a provided apartment thus allowing the teacher to find their own housing. The other option would be schools that offer home stays instead of a provided apartment. It is feasible to bring your family, but can be very complicated.

These and more should be considered when thinking about bringing your kid's with you to teach in Korea.