So it came to my attention today that me and many of my workmates are on the verge, if not already past the point of burnout. I don't think that this is an uncommon thing in the ESL world, and seems particular common here in the private language institutes here in Korea.
I believe that this is due to the way that these practices are run and the mentality of how Expat teachers are to be treated. Recently I came across this interesting post at Scribblings of the Metropolitican drawing comparisons between current Hagwon contracts/visa and a term of 17th-century European indentured servitude. There are some very scary comparisons between the two.
Here is an interesting little snippet talking about burnout from this Korean Herald article.
I think that most of the reason that I and my co-workers are feeling burned out is due to the hours that are expected of us. Given that even that if you are sick you are still expected to be at work. In fact before I arrived one of the current teachers slipped on the wet tiles in front of the toilets and came down hard on her arm. Her arm hurt but she went back to class. Come lunchtime the director took her down to the hospital, turns out her are arm was broken. Little later with new cast on she was led by the director to school and straight back into class. Not even a day off and didn't miss a lesson.Burnout is a risk in any profession, but especially in teaching. I suspect that the rate of burnout is higher still for people who are teaching in a foreign country. I can't help but look at the guys who are teaching week in and week out - the hagwon teachers who go not only without the four months of holiday enjoyed by university lecturers like myself, but also sometimes teach eight or more hours a day - and wonder how they stay sane after a couple years of it.
In fact, I suspect a lot of people don't, or cannot, and this might be one reason why they either leave so soon, or begin teaching as if they'd been hired off the set of a George Romero movie.
Time off helps prevent burnout. Being in a foreign country usually doesn't help, at least not in the long term, as the petty annoyances compound. Morgan was living in Britain for a lot (but not all) of his ESL career, but many expat teachers have done it all abroad, and have been doing it for years. I don't know that they complain more than teachers in similar situations in their home countries - though that would be hard to test; probably fewer teachers back home blog as publicly or as honestly as many expats do here, since it's riskier in the West. Still, judging by the mockery and ranting one sees in foreigner-hangouts, expats probably do whinge more both online and offline.
Why they choose to remain abroad when they are unhappy is an interesting question, and there are probably a bunch of issues at work there - economics, in some cases; lethargy or inertia; masochism in a few cases; perceived or real lack of opportunities in their home country; and almost certainly much more.
Most days the time between the start of our first class and the end of our last class is more than 10 hours. However because the actual teaching time ( even after the 5 min breaks between classes are removed ) comes to around 6 hours the managers think that is more than fair. Sure we sometimes get a class or two off during the day, but then when that time is filled with other activities such as phone teaching and writing evaluations it is hard to do anything but still be at work. I have tried lately to get out of the school for every break I can which mean that I no longer stick around for the free lunch with the kinder kiddies. But even that hasn't made a huge difference because I am unable to do anything really useful with that time because I always have to be back at work after that break.
I have bought these issues up with the managers previously after some nasty scheduling for their Summer Program however they did not see my point. The simply said that everyone else is doing similar schedules so it shouldn't be an issue. I was quick to point out that just because everyone was doing it doesn't make it right, but that didn't go down so well. Considering all of the teachers here have only stuck around due to factors outside of work i wonder what is going to happen when they get 3 brand new teachers at the end of the year as all the current expat teachers contracts are up and no one is going to renew.
Current they have asked me to stay on until the end of February. The have pitched it to me as the fact that then I can go strait from there to a school job at the start of the new school year in March, however i know that the reason is because it looks very bad for them if none of there current expat teachers are going to stay on until the kindergarten graduation. As of yet i have told them i cannot make a decision until some of the new job are posted after I get back from my trip to Australia at the end of October. But currently I don't think I want to work there past my contract. I just want to put off telling till after my holiday because that hope that I will say yes keeps them somewhat manageable at the moment.
All that I know though is that my next job is going to have to have some set working hours.
