First, it should be known that most teaching jobs are NOT 9 to 5. If you're in a public school, you're looking at 8 or 9 in the morning to 3 or 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Teaching hours and working hours are different. Teaching hours or classtime hours are the hours you are contracted to spend in the classroom teaching. Most contracts also have a provision for "working hours" which is often teaching hours plus prep hours or office hours. Often this is an extra 5 to 15 hours a week. Some schools require you to be there 40 hours a week even though you are only required to teach 30 hours a week. The extra 10 hours is for planning and administration. It could also be for calling parents or helping with an advertising campaign.
One other important consideration is that virtually all teachers take planning or marking or some form of work home with them. At some point in your "career" as a teacher you will do this. Some teachers will do this every day. It's important to note and realize that this is the type of profession you are choosing and that there is an element of personal dedication required to be successful.
Most contracts will state that you are required to teach a set number of hours per week, usually 25-30. For any additional scheduled teaching hours you will be paid overtime- usually Korean Won 15,000 to 20,000 per hour. Most contracts will state that the school can not force you to work more than a certain number of hours per week including overtime (usually 35-40). Your overtime will be added to your monthly paycheck, and taxed at the same rate.
Public schools and private schools handle overtime differently. In a public school it can be really difficult to get overtime. Often there is no budget for it and even if they want you to work an extra class the administrator may not be able to sort out a way to pay you for it. If you are keen to earn more than your base pay, private language schools or hogwans are likely your best place to tap out in terms of monthly income.
Most schools will be happy to provide you with extra classes if you wish. However, we suggest that you don’t let dollar signs blind you during your first few months in Korea - give yourself some time to adjust to living in a new culture, teaching ESL and eating kimchi (fermented cabbage) for breakfast before teaching 60 hours a week. Years down the road, you will remember the experiences you had and people you met abroad, not the amount of money you earned in a given month.
Overtime conditions vary from school to school, depending on the season, the reliability of your co-workers, and the intensity of the school owner's desire to make money. August and January are the two months when Korean public schools are closed and are always the busiest months for hakwons in Korea. Most schools schedule extra classes or special programs. Overtime is almost inevitable during these two months.
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