Korea recruits Kiwi teachers

Yoo Hee Shim is happy with the education her daughter Jean Kim, 7, gets in New Zealand. Photo / Greg Bowker

South Korea is employing Kiwi graduates to teach English back home in a bid to stop parents from sending their very young children abroad to study.

Korean parents are among the most anxious in the world to ensure their children are well schooled, bringing children as young as 5 to New Zealand to study - a practice which Korean Consul Kwak Tae-yeol describes as an "unhealthy social phenomenon".

South Korean mother Yoo Hee Shim, who brought her daughter Jean Kim to New Zealand when she was 5, said she believed it would be easier for her daughter to pick up English at a younger age.

"Acquiring good English skills is important for my daughter to have good opportunities in the future," Ms Shim, 39, said through a translator.

Jean, now 7, is a Year 3 pupil at Belmont Primary School in North Shore City.

"New Zealand is a very good place because the schools here offer a well-rounded and balanced curriculum," Ms Shim said.

The South Korean Education Ministry estimates that parents spend around $7 billion a year - nearly three times what the entire New Zealand export education industry is worth - to send their children abroad.

South Korea is New Zealand's second largest student market behind China, with 10,715 student permits approved last year. Since 2004, Immigration New Zealand has also issued 17,619 guardianship visas - nearly 14,000 went to South Korean parents or guardians.

But the South Korean Government has launched several programmes in recent months to recruit foreign graduates, including Kiwis, to become English teachers in the country.

Offering an "allowance" of around $3000, the teachers' housing and flight tickets are also paid for.

Chris Richardson, who signed up to become a teacher after losing his finance executive job in the recession, said this was a great job opportunity for unemployed Kiwi graduates.

The New Zealand Institute of Education in Takapuna, which has been contracted to train graduates to teach in South Korea, says the programme is so popular it is struggling to get enough Kiwi graduates.

"We have more positions offered to us by our agents in Korea, who have secured contracts from schools in Korea, than we have graduates enrolled in our course," said institute trainer Geoff Treanor.

It now has an arrangement with Winz to send unemployed graduates to fill the vacancies.

But while the programme is popular among New Zealanders seeking overseas employment, Education New Zealand says it does not think it will impact on the number of students coming to New Zealand.

"Our research shows that country selection is a primary driver for schooling and tertiary education, therefore we believe New Zealand will continue to attract international students who are concerned with getting the best possible education and experiencing living in New Zealand whilst they are studying," said chief executive Robert Stevens.

"The vast majority of international students coming to this country to study have come here because they want a New Zealand-based education."