The latest column is out and it’s rather long - two parts of 1000 words each. Part two is slated to be published on May 28th, though it is already completed. Some of the article is specifically directed at the Korean context, but I feel that most of what I’ve written can be used in any context - especially part two.

Part 1 has been edited in the newspaper, below is the original version as I wrote it.

Korea Herald Readers
Welcome. Feel free to comment and leave your thoughts on this weeks column. If you would like to learn more about me visit my bio page. I have also been blogging at this site for 4 years so there are a lot of entries if you care to look through the archives. Some of my favorite or more popular entries are available on the classic entries page.

Professional development is a term that many teachers in Korea scoff at as is evidenced by any number of threads on Dave’s ESL Café. This is not to suggest that Dave’s users are not interested in professional development, but that these threads tend to get derailed very quickly. A somewhat recent thread on ELT World Forums talked about this topic and hit both sides of the fence.

The thread on ELT world starts off by asking Are you professional? Emma quickly stated that “TEFL is like any profession in that some people are more professional than others and jargon is rarely understood outside of it’s assigned industry.” Spiral78 also said that “There are bad apples in every field, professional or not. The presence of bad apples in our field is no justification to claim that there is no such thing as a professional TEFL/TESL teacher.” I agree with both of these statements.

Four years ago I addressed this issue and there linked to three threads where teachers referred to themselves as slackers, losers (thread deleted), or prisoners. Recently a new thread came up titled Is ESL in Korea a “REAL JOB”? that is more positive than the title sounds. Join Me states that “What happens once you close the door to your classroom is up to you. You can either run a classroom or a zoo… When I hear people question if this is a real job, I think what they are usually saying is that they just aren’t comfortable doing it.” Zaria32 says that “It’s a complete joke only if you make it so…” There are of course a few people who took the negative slant, but essentially the response was to treat your position professionally.

The other side of the coin is the lack of professionalism that is directed at teachers by hagwons, public schools, and universities. Hagwons are notorious for not paying on time; public schools and universities often have limits on how many years foreign instructors are allowed to work (usually three years), lack of raises, experience does not count nor does performance for salary. Essentially a new teacher with zero experience will make the same as one with years of experience. It appears that employers think that all native speakers are equal.

Clearly not all native speakers are equal and if employers were willing to provide salaries and benefits that would attract and keep quality teachers, then the educational institutions and students would benefit. Unfortunately native speaker teachers are not perceived as assets but rather as expenses and are treated accordingly. Professionalism is a two way street but one that must initially be paved by the employer with salary based on experience, qualifications, and performance.

Employers also need to have the courage to non-renew contracts of teachers who display substandard professionalism. I have worked in several schools where teachers had a bad reputation amongst students and other instructors on staff – that administration was aware of – but had their contracts regularly renewed. These contracts were apparently renewed because of worries about replacing that teacher. In my opinion being short staffed is a much better situation than having the schools reputation go down due to poor teaching.

Due to the above issues, many instructors do not feel it is worth the effort to be professional thus creating a ‘catch 22’ situation, and the cycle cannot be broken by teachers. There have been many qualified professional teachers in Korea for years yet this situation continues. Employers must break the cycle and focus on hiring qualified professional instructors. Does this mean that I think teachers should give up on being professional and undertaking professional development? No.

I would recommend that all teachers pursue some form of professional development, with the end goal of becoming a better educator. The goal here is not to break the cycle mentioned above but rather to improve for one’s own sake. The benefits of professional development include better classroom management skills, better activities, and more efficient teaching to name a few.

Conferences are probably one of the best ways to learn more about teaching and how research is informing current teaching practice. In Korea there are a number of conferences held throughout the year with the largest and most well known being the annual KOTESOL International Conference held each October. The admission fee is cheap compared to international conferences in other countries and there are presentations for everyone with some of the leading researchers headlining each year presenting alongside local instructors.

A list of domestic conferences around Korea can be found at the KOTESOL web site (looks like the domain has expired). In addition, both Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press put on one day mini-conferences every fall, with announcements on their web sites. Attendance at these conferences is free and attendees always receive free materials as well as a 20% discount on books. Though these presentations clearly have a commercial slant, much of what is being presented can be applied to any textbook or classroom situation. If you live close to one of these venues it is definitely worth attending.

The final benefit to attending conferences is the ability to network with other teachers. Networking can provide instructors with leads on good jobs as well as opportunities for professional discussions after the conference. Major conferences, including the KOTESOL International conference, usually have a job room where applicants can apply and receive a preliminary interview while attending the conference.

This is part one of a two part series. The second part will continue with looking at active forms of professional development including reading books, journals, blogs, observations, self-reflection.