Footprints Recruiting

2010 Teacher Salaries - When considering teaching in a public school in South Korea it should be noted that salaries are NOT NEGOTIABLE.  Your salary is determined on a set of pre-determined criteria and there are no exceptions.  The following information shows you the breakdown of this criteria for the 2010 Ministry of Education teacher placements in South Korea.

In the last week of August 2009, Footprints was contacted by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) to let us know that they had over accepted and that almost 100 teachers who had been accepted for teaching jobs and who were in various states of departure readiness would not be required to teach with the SMOE.  They informed all the recruiters they were working with and required each recruiter to cut positions from teachers who had already been offered contracts, many of whom already had visas and some of whom already had plane tickets.

When our Footprints Placement Coordinator Dave Harvey first learned about this situation while he was in Korea receiving public school teachers at the Incheon airport he took immediate action to ensure Footprints teachers were best accomodated and re-situated as quickly as possible.  Footprints Korea General Manager Scott Kim immediately followed up with the Ministry of Education, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and with Ben Glickman, co-owner of Footprints Recruiting.  As the largest supplier of teachers to public school teaching opportunities in South Korea, this situation was to dramatically affect 26 Footprints teachers. 

Ever wondered what it was like in a country that has been closed to the world for 50 years?

A country that received a donation of 50 bicycles in 2001 from the Red Cross so that doctors could make house calls to patients and get to hospitals? A country where foreign movies have been banned for 50 years but the leader of the country has his own book written about his favorite blockbusters. I think Batman tops his list.

Can you guess what country I’m talking about?

North Korea is an amazing country if you look past the constant antagonistic government that threatens to sell nuclear weapons abroad or even to use them, you will see a remarkable country.

People that travel overseas to teach English are often a unique breed. This story about a teacher looking to do something different in the land where eating live octupus is not only accepted, it's encouraged.

Here is the story she has to tell of her adventures soaring over the Korean peninsula.

UIJEONGBU PRISON, Gyeonggi Province - It looks like a typical scene at thousands of hagwons in Korea; students sit around a foreign teacher, trying hard to express themselves in English, with laughter interrupting the flow of conversation every few minutes.

If not for the monotonous blue uniforms which all the students are wearing and an iron-barred window, it's easy to forget this classroom is set back from the rest of the world, behind layers of locked steel doors and towers and checkpoints manned by prison guards. 

Korea is one of the hidden treasures in Asia.  While Thailand, Japan and China and other countries have long been in the spotlight for tourism in Asia, Korea remarkably has hidden quietly in the shadows.  In most cases it isn't until work or a flight layover brings you to this amazing country that you begin to realise the incredible offerings that South Korea has to offer.

The Korea Tourism Organization offers insights into the amazing offerings of this warm culture whose culinary delights and barbeque treats will strike the fancy of most appetites and whose historical treasures and striking landscapes will amaze the most intrepid of travelers.

Learn more about the Korea Tourism Organization CLICK HERE

Teachers heading to South Korea are often unaware that North and South Korea are technically at war.  In many cases it is friends or family that start quizzing them and asking about safety and security in Korea that this "scary situation" becomes apparent... but is it scary... in a recent poll run on the Footprints Recruiting website, roughly 27% of people said the political situation in North Korea did negatively impact their decision to teach in South Korea.