Ahead of Teacher's Day, 78% of Teachers Say "Morale Has Dropped"

50.6% of Teachers Say "Teacher Rights Are Not Well Protected"
85.8% of Teachers Say "Educational Activities More Difficult Than Before COVID-19"

On May 15, 2020, a teacher is conducting a remote class in an elementary school classroom in Dongjak-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Ahead of Teachers' Day on May 15, 78% of teachers believed that teachers' morale has declined over the past 1 to 2 years.

On the 11th, the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) announced the results of a Teachers' Day commemorative survey conducted from April 26 to May 5, targeting 7,991 teachers from nationwide kindergartens, elementary, middle, high schools, and universities. 78% responded that teachers' morale has decreased, an increase of 22 percentage points compared to the 2009 survey results.

Regarding whether teacher authority is well protected, 50.6% answered "No." Only 18.9% responded that teacher authority is well maintained.

The problems caused by the decline in teacher authority and morale included ▲avoidance of student guidance and decreased interest (34.3%) ▲hindrance to school development and deepening distrust in education (20.8%) ▲weakening of a dedicated and cooperative teaching culture (19.8%) ▲decreased passion for teaching leading to reduced educational effectiveness (16.1%), in that order.

The biggest difficulty in teaching life was "handling complaints from parents and maintaining relationships" (20.8%), which was the most common answer. "Student behavioral problems and maladjustment guidance" (20.7%), which was the top concern last year, fell to second place. Following were ▲public distrust of the education sector (17.7%) ▲excessive unrelated administrative tasks (17.2%).

Teachers reported feeling a significant burden from remote classes and quarantine duties due to COVID-19. 85.8% of teachers said they experience more difficulties and stress in educational activities compared to before COVID-19. Teachers cited ▲efforts to address learning gaps caused by remote classes (20.9%) ▲increased workload for infectious disease prevention and school quarantine duties (19.0%) as sources of stress.

Teachers identified the problems facing public education due to COVID-19 as "deterioration of peer relationships among students and decline in social and community awareness" (35.1%). Additionally, a considerable number of teachers pointed to ▲learning deficits and widened educational gaps among vulnerable groups (27.7%) ▲decline in academic achievement and increase in students below basic proficiency levels (21.6%).

Ha Yun-su, president of KFTA, stated, "Since half of the teachers are most concerned about educational gaps and academic decline after COVID-19, fundamental measures such as establishing a national academic assessment system and enacting the Basic Academic Achievement Guarantee Act must be promptly pursued."

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