[Jeong Gyu-yeong's Presidential Election and College Entrance⑧] Teachers Must Leave Their Status as Public Officials

Published 10 Feb.2022 10:31(KST)

Proposal for Revision of Elementary, Middle, and High School Curricula

Editor's NoteWe are running a series of expert contributions aimed at improving the structural problems of education in the Republic of Korea and suggesting necessary policy directions. This is a proposal by Jung Kyu-young, chairman of the nonprofit organization 'Gongbuhaneun Seonsu Undonghaneun Haksaeng' (Students Who Study and Athletes Who Exercise). Chairman Jung studied at Stanford Graduate School in the United States and served as president of the university's fencing association. He analyzed the selection process of outstanding students from various countries overseas and the elementary, middle, and high school curricula these students completed. Based on this, since 2008, he has been promoting an educational system that combines study and sports, as well as scholarship projects, to establish the American education system and school sports system domestically. Drawing on his experience, he discusses stories worth referencing regarding domestic public education and university entrance examination systems.

☞Reference

① Speaking about education to the President of the Republic of Korea

② The College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) is not a bar exam

③ The CSAT should be a source of hope and opportunity for students

④ A selection method that cultivates students' 'HOOK' is necessary

⑤ 'Eummi-che' (Music, Art, Physical Education) is as important as Korean, English, and Math education

⑥ Reflect character education in university admissions

⑦ The policy of equalizing middle and high school education should be abolished

Jung Kyu-young, President of the Studying Athletes Exercising Students Association

There is a high school student who is very interested in Korean history and wants to learn more than what is taught in the school Korean history class. In particular, this student wants to know precisely about the history and changes of Gyeongbokgung Palace by era, how much larger the original intact Gyeongbokgung was compared to now, and how the buildings differed. The explanations about Gyeongbokgung provided on the Cultural Heritage Administration’s Gungneung Heritage Headquarters Gyeongbokgung Management Office website do not satisfy this student's intellectual curiosity. Can this student find a teacher at school who can help with research on Gyeongbokgung?

Most middle and high school teachers in Korea are public officials who have passed the Secondary Teacher Appointment Examination, commonly called the 'Imyonggosi' (teacher employment exam). This is different from the private education market, where teachers are evaluated and rewarded based on their teaching and research results. Nevertheless, it is hard to say that teachers who have passed the difficult Imyonggosi receive better evaluations than instructors in the private education market.

There are several reasons for this. First, there are limitations in the current 'teacher multi-faceted evaluation' system that evaluates and rewards public school teachers. Every year, public school teachers nationwide are rated S, A, or B through multi-faceted evaluations and receive incentives of about 1.5 to 1.8 million KRW depending on their grade. However, it is difficult for regular teachers to receive higher evaluations than senior department heads with longer tenure. Therefore, there is insufficient motivation for teachers who teach passionately, conduct research, and pursue self-development.

Of course, it is not easy for 'star instructors' who receive enormous pay like those in the private education market to exist in public education. However, there should at least be a way for current teachers to become well-known teachers. A well-known teacher is someone who teaches students well, possesses expertise in their subject area that satisfies students' intellectual curiosity, and can provide good motivation to students.

To this end, I propose freely hiring teachers from outside schools who can develop each student's unique talents and distinctiveness, called 'HOOK,' in middle and high schools. This is based on the judgment that public education will not be left behind only if the enormous household budgets currently spent on private education?because these things cannot be learned at school?are consumed within schools.

Why do students have to go to private academies to write papers, and why must they take expensive private lessons outside school to learn musical instruments? Why are students not given opportunities to experience various sports and learn sportsmanship at school? Why are passionate and good teachers not properly rewarded like those in the private education market?

To resolve these questions, I believe public school teachers should be freed from their status as public officials, guaranteed a minimum salary supported by the government, and receive treatment commensurate with their teaching ability, similar to the private education market. Thus, an environment should be created where even famous external instructors would willingly choose public school teaching positions.

Furthermore, character recommendation letters from applicants should be mandatorily reflected in the qualification criteria for public school teachers. The current system, where passing the Imyonggosi makes one a public school teacher, suits the policy of equalizing middle and high school education. It means that verifying an applicant’s ability to teach a specific major and their proper character through recommendations from university or graduate school professors is far more important than Imyonggosi scores.

Second, current middle and high school teachers lack time for research and self-development to teach students better. Apart from teaching hours, they are burdened with educational administrative tasks. They have no clear distinction between teaching and administrative work due to various data submission tasks from the Ministry of Education, statistical data requests from National Assembly members, and official document processing.

A middle school teacher I met complained, "I want to prepare good educational materials for students, but I cannot even start because of the various data submission tasks required by the Ministry of Education and the school." This teacher also introduced marine sports, in which they had official competition-level skills, to students lacking exercise and voluntarily led interested students on weekends at their own expense. Nevertheless, they received no support from the school or the Ministry of Education and eventually gave up on coaching marine sports.

If, as I previously suggested, university admissions in Korea gave as much weight to 'Eummi-che' (Music, Art, Physical Education) education as to 'Kugyeongsu' (Korean, English, Math), the value of such teachers would naturally rise. In the next installment, I will explain with examples how the curricula and teaching staff of elementary, middle, and high schools should change.