What to Ask For When Your Hagwon Contract Comes Up for Renewal
Most hagwons raise your pay a small amount at renewal and hope you don't ask for more. Confirm whether your severance clock resets, get any raise in writing, and check your pension and health insurance carry over before you sign anything.
Park English2026-09-203 min read
Somewhere around month ten or eleven, your director will mention renewal. Sometimes it's a real conversation. Sometimes it's a WeChat message with a new contract attached and a deadline of "this Friday." Either way, this is the one moment in the year where you actually have leverage, and most teachers let it slide by without asking for anything.
What usually happens. A director offers a renewal somewhere between 4 and 8 weeks before your current contract ends. Korean labour rules don't force a specific timeline for this, so it varies school to school — confirm your own school's habit rather than assuming. If you say yes, one of two things happens on paper: they extend your existing contract, or they issue a brand new one with a new start date. That distinction matters more than most teachers realise.
Why the "new contract" question matters. Severance in Korea is one month's pay for each full year worked, paid out when employment ends. If your renewal is written as a continuous extension of the same contract, your service is unbroken and severance keeps building toward year two, year three, and so on. If your school issues a fresh contract with a gap — even a nominal one-day gap on paper — some schools have tried to argue that resets the clock. Ask directly: "Is this an extension of my current contract, or a new one?" Get the answer in writing, not a verbal reassurance. If you're unsure how it reads, the local Ministry of Employment and Labour branch or your own contract wording is the place to check, not a forum thread.
What to actually negotiate. A raise is normal, but it's rarely automatic. Typical renewal raises we've seen sit somewhere in the 3–8% range, sometimes as a flat monthly bump (100,000–200,000 won), sometimes as a renewal bonus paid once. Either is fine, but get the number in the contract, not a promise for "next semester."
| Ask about | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Base pay increase | Often negotiable if you've taken on extra classes or gotten good parent feedback |
| Contract continuity wording | Affects whether severance resets |
| Pension and health insurance | Should continue automatically if you're staying with the same employer — confirm the deduction lines match your old payslip |
| Housing allowance vs apartment | If you're on allowance, ask whether it's reviewed at renewal too |
| Renewal bonus | Some schools pay one on signing instead of, or alongside, a raise |
A few schools also offer a re-entry bonus or a flight allowance at the two-year mark specifically, separate from the standard renewal raise. It's not universal, so ask rather than assume it's coming.
One thing worth admitting: there's no single national standard for what a "fair" renewal raise looks like, and it moves year to year with the minimum wage and with how tight hiring is in your area. Don't take a number from a forum post as gospel. Ask two or three teachers currently working in your city what they got, and use that as your baseline instead.