RECRUITMENT

South Korea – South Korea is recruiting English teachers by the masses to prevent parents from sending their children abroad to study, according to the New Zealand Herald.

The South Korean Education Ministry has launched several programmes in recent months to recruit foreign graduates, including New Zealanders, to become English teachers in the country.

This measure was taken due to the fact that Korean parents spent an estimated sum of US$7 billion (S$9.8 billion) yearly to send their children, as young as five, abroad to learn the English language, to Korean Consul Kwak Tae-yeol’s chagrin, who described this trend as an "unhealthy social phenomenon".

The anxiety of Korean parents to ensure their children are well schooled is no secret to the world. The country is one of New Zealand's largest student market, second only to China, with over 10,000 student permits approved last year.

Offering an attractive allowance of approximately US$3,000 (S$4200) to pay for accommodation and flight tickets on top of a good remuneration package, it is an excellent career prospect for unemployed Kiwi graduates.

Even for Chris Richardson, who decided to go on a different career path and become a teacher after losing his finance executive job in the recession, it was a god-sent opportunity.

The results have been so overwhelming since the launch of the foreign teachers’ recruitment programme that New Zealand’s Institute of Education in Takapuna, which has been contracted to train graduates to teach in South Korea, is struggling to get enough Kiwi graduates to fill the positions.

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