Seeking employment as an Irish English-language teacher in South Korea

Abstract

‘Hello Katie, I am sorry to inform you that my client does not hire Irish people due to the alcoholism [sic] nature of your kind.’ (Fox News, November 10, 2014) The above message, sent to an Irish woman applying to teach English in South Korea in 2014 and shared widely in the media (Fox News, November 10, 2014; McCauley, 2014; Taylor, 2014) demonstrates that issues of nationality can shape the hiring of ‘foreign’ English teachers in East Asia. To better understand these issues, this study examines Irish English-language teachers’ experiences and understandings of seeking employment in Korea through interviews with six Irish English-language teachers who taught in Korea. Only one teacher explicitly stated he was discriminated against on the basis of being Irish, with three others discussing discrimination in ways which avoided explicitly taking a position regarding discrimination against Irish English-language teachers. Two participants explicitly stated they never experienced discrimination on the basis of being Irish, but surprisingly also discussed experiences in which their employment opportunities were limited due to being Irish. Additionally, certain aspects of Irish English and the desire in Korea for American English and American curriculum were identified as potential limitations on Irish English-language teachers’ employment opportunities in Korea.