Next Year’s Public Kindergarten Teacher Recruitment Halved… Kyochong Urges "Reduce Number of Students Per Class"

403 Hires Next Year... 64% Decrease from This Year
Kindergarten Teacher Survey Shows 53% Have More Than 20 Students Per Class
Kyotong: "Number of Children Per Class Should Be Reduced to 12-16 by Age Group"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] As the number of public kindergarten teacher recruitments for next year is set to drop to less than half, related organizations have called for a reduction in the number of students per class.

According to the "2022 Academic Year Public Kindergarten Teacher Candidate Preliminary Recruitment Numbers" announced by the Ministry of Education and 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education, the number of kindergarten teachers to be recruited next year is 403, a 64.7% decrease compared to this year (1,143).

On the 15th, the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations, the Korea Public and National Kindergarten Teachers' Association, and the Korea Early Childhood Education Administration Council stated regarding next year's kindergarten teacher recruitment scale, "They have ignored the reality of kindergarten teachers and young children struggling with overcrowded classes of more than 20 to 30 students per class, and must reduce the number of students per class by expanding the number of teachers to ensure child safety and high-quality education."

A survey conducted by the three organizations targeting 4,681 kindergarten teachers nationwide showed that 53% responded that the number of children per class is 20 or more. Responses indicating 25 or more reached 16.4%. Regarding the appropriate number of children per class, 77.4% answered 16 or fewer.

Ha Yun-su, president of the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations, emphasized, "To provide quality education in kindergartens, the number of children per class should be reduced to about 12 to 16 depending on age, and accordingly, more kindergarten teachers must be recruited."

According to the Federation, the current class size limits set by metropolitan and provincial offices of education average 16 for 3-year-olds, 22 for 4-year-olds, and 25 for 5-year-olds.

The Federation pointed out, "The Ministry of Education announced that it increased the number of kindergarten classes to raise the 'admission capacity rate for public kindergartens' to 39%. Ultimately, they are satisfied with nearly achieving the 40% public kindergarten enrollment rate goal and plan to stop recruiting more."

The Federation criticized, "These class size standards themselves encourage overcrowded classes, and if the admission capacity rate is calculated based on these standards to limit recruitment, it means they are giving up on resolving overcrowded classes."

The Federation is currently conducting collective bargaining with the Ministry of Education focusing on "reducing the number of students per kindergarten class and resolving overcrowded classes" for 2020?2021.

The Federation added, "We need to examine whether these standards are being applied to rural and fishing village kindergartens, where children are severely lacking, to calculate admission capacity rates, while turning a blind eye to overcrowded classes in urban and population influx areas."

The Federation stated, "If the Ministry of Education and metropolitan and provincial offices of education are not trying to regress early childhood education development, they must clearly explain why they announced such a drastic reduction in recruitment numbers and how they plan to resolve the existing overcrowded kindergarten classes."

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