What is a Hagwon? Teaching at a Private School in South Korea

Schedule

In terms of flexibility, public schools adhere to a rigid curriculum and schedule set to typical school hours. There’s a sense of routine that doesn’t change, and you can fit in extra tasks—marking, class planning, and the like—around the set hours of the school day.

Hagwons are different. Though theoretically, you could be offered a more flexible schedule that fits around your life and pre-existing commitments, the demands of a Hagwon can mean very long days, a lot more prep and unsociable hours.

It depends on your contract and working hours when you work in a Hagwon. Public schools have a schedule that won’t change, which is advantageous in some ways and inflexible in others.

Curriculum and materials

This is straightforward: public schools will have a curriculum teachers must follow. Of course, teachers can be creative and flexible to some degree, but the learning outcomes don’t change. The school provides the materials, and that’s a relief in a financial sense, but it can be limiting in some ways.

Hagwons afford teachers some autonomy. While some cram schools will provide materials and instructions, others will be more hands-off. Ultimately, since students pay to be at Hagwons, they have more say in the learning experience. Teachers can use this to be creative and adaptable, but they must deliver. 

Class sizes and classroom experience

Hagwons typically limit class sizes to well under 20, which can lead to increased specialisation, better relationships with students, and a better-tailored learning environment. Public schools have larger class sizes in general, but talented TEFL teachers should see this as a challenge to rise to instead of an obstacle. 

Though hagwons has smaller class sizes, that doesn’t mean less pressure - far from it. There may be fewer students per class, but each student paid to be there or has expectant parents waiting to hear positive news about their child’s English abilities. 

Benefits and salaries

In general, hagwons can offer higher salaries compared to some state schools and tend to offer more for foreign teachers. As we covered, private education is a lucrative and highly competitive market, meaning there’s money to be made by schools with English-speaking teaching talent. The most lucrative hagwons are known to offer housing (or a stipend), flights, health insurance, pension contributions, paid sick leave, extensive holidays, and more, but they are highly variable. When hiring teachers from overseas, state schools typically include variations of those benefits as standard, even though wages are usually a touch lower. In both cases, the aim is clear: there’s a significant demand for high-quality English teachers. Some hagwons, alongside state schools, will go all-out where possible to attract those teachers.

Business practices

While state schools are heavily regulated by the government, ensuring strict labour standards and protections for employees, hagwons are very different. Of course, there are hagwons with excellent reputations, which are well-established and historical institutions. There are others which, to put it bluntly, are not.

Some hagwons may engage in unethical working practices and exploit teachers. Sometimes, the issues are with the work itself: poor working conditions, a lack of support, and excessive working hours are common. There can also be issues with contracts and wages, with salaries being delayed or unpaid, and unfair contract terms becoming apparent only after a teacher has signed with a hagwon.

In short, state schools are bound by very strict regulations. Hagwons are not, and some less scrupulous hagwons absolutely take advantage of that fact.