National Education Council Recommends Ministry of Education to Reduce Scale of Secondary Teacher Training

Elementary School Teachers, Training Scale Must Be Managed According to Appointment Quotas

Jin-Kyung Kim, Chairperson of the National Education Council / Photo by Honam Moon munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The National Education Council has recommended to the Ministry of Education to manage the scale of elementary school teacher training and reduce the scale of secondary school teacher training.

On the 15th, the National Education Council, directly under the President, held a press conference at the government complex to announce the results of focused deliberations and recommendations on the policy direction for the development of the teacher training system. This recommendation was derived after focused deliberations among 31 key stakeholders including education offices, teachers and prospective teachers, teacher training institutions, and parents.

According to the recommendation, the National Education Council agreed that the government should manage the scale of elementary school teacher training according to the appointment scale, and that it is necessary to reduce the scale of secondary school teacher training. This is because an imbalance between the scale of teacher training and appointments is occurring. It added that the decrease in school-age population, improvement of classroom conditions, and regional characteristics should be reflected when managing and reducing the scale of training. It also proposed that in the case of secondary education, while reducing the scale of training, quality control and the reorganization of training pathways are necessary.

The recommendation to reduce the scale of secondary school teacher training is based on the results of an online deliberation by the review group. While 54% agreed with the question of reducing the scale of elementary school teacher training, 71% agreed with reducing the scale of secondary school teacher training. Regarding the need to reorganize the training pathways for secondary school teachers, 85% agreed.

The National Education Council also decided to recommend various system development plans considering the need for linked education between elementary and secondary levels. The plans include regional integration of teacher colleges and integration of teacher colleges with flagship national universities. A National Education Council official explained, "It does not mean integration of teacher to teacher, but among various development directions, regional integration of teacher colleges and integration of teacher colleges with flagship national universities emerged as one of the options."

They also reached an agreement on the development direction of the teacher training curriculum. The National Education Council emphasized that the goals and standards of education, which are the objectives of the teacher training curriculum, should be established and that field applicability should be strengthened. As demands such as interdisciplinary convergence and blended online-offline classes arise in the educational field, flexible responses to these are also necessary in the curriculum, according to the agreement document.

Furthermore, they suggested that extending the teacher training period or transitioning teacher training to a professional graduate school system should be discussed as a mid- to long-term agenda. They also emphasized the need for discussions on improving the teacher appointment system, continuous professional development of teachers, and the teacher training system for early childhood and special education teachers.

The Ministry of Education plans to present a phased implementation method and schedule next year based on the National Education Council’s recommendations. Kim Jin-kyung, Chairperson of the National Education Council, said, "This recommendation is significant as it was prepared for the first time in 20 years with broad participation from stakeholders and the general public," and added, "Policies that require mid- to long-term discussions, as agreed upon in this deliberation, will be transferred to the National Education Commission to continue social consensus."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.