What Are Korean Private Schools?
There are many lucrative opportunities in South Korea’s vast Hagwon industry. These private schools are usually franchised institutions with different branches across the country. Most of these schools are managed independently although some branches and campus locations are owned and operated by the franchise head office.
Typical operating hours of Korean private schools
- Kindergarten & Elementary school students (example working hours: 9:00am – 6:00pm)
- Elementary & Junior High school students (example working hours: 1:00pm – 9:00pm)
- Kindergarten, Elementary and Junior High school students (Schools that offer lessons to all 3 age groups usually have two different work schedules available. Some teachers at the school would be working the morning – afternoon shift and the other teachers would be responsible for working the afternoon – evening shift)
- Adult students (example working hours: 7:00am – 10:00am, 6:00pm – 8:00pm) English institutes that offer adult level classes will usually require a split shift from their teachers. Unlike the younger age groups, adults have limited time and available hours to study English, due to this factor the schools must coordinate the operating hours with adult work schedules.
Student Age Groups
Kindergarten & elementary education is a huge deal in Korea with many private schools catering specifically to these two age groups. As such, a large portion of jobs – which are available to western teachers – are at K1 and Elementary level.
Schools that cater to middle school students are also common with relatively large job counts available annually. Unfortunately the private sector doesn’t have much to offer at the high school level. Korean parents tend to take their children out of private English schools once they reach high school; anticipating they’ll study harder and get accepted into the better universities.
Private schools that cater to adults are typically found in the big metropolitan cities. Generally speaking, adult language schools gravitate towards candidates who have previous TEFL teaching experience.