Teachers Burdened by "Teacher's Day"... Proposals to Change It to "Education Day"

A first-year common science physics class is being conducted online at a high school in Songpa-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] As Teacher's Day approaches, a survey revealed that nearly half of teachers feel burdened by the occasion. Some voices are calling for replacing Teacher's Day with Education Day to reflect on the true value of education.

According to a survey conducted by the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) from the 4th to the 11th of this month targeting 1,787 union members, 44.6% responded negatively to Teacher's Day being a legal commemorative day. Among respondents, 32.9% (588 people) said they were "very negative," and 11.7% (209 people) said "negative."

The reason teachers themselves feel negatively about Teacher's Day appears to be due to a perception that they are not receiving respect. In a survey by the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA), more than half of the responding teachers (55.8%) answered "no" to the question of whether teachers' rights are well protected. Similarly, in the KTU survey, negative responses (43.4%) outnumbered positive ones (34.2%).

Typical forms of infringement on teachers' rights include malicious complaints and harassment. Beyond parents visiting schools to protest, there are cases where parents send calls or messages to teachers, or students who have been reprimanded post teachers' faces and insults on social networking services (SNS). Lawsuits against teachers are also frequently filed, increasing the difficulties teachers must endure.

The burden of cultural changes following the enforcement of the Act on the Prohibition of Improper Solicitation and Graft (Improper Solicitation and Graft Act) is also cited as a cause. Because even small gifts from children must be refused, some teachers feel uncomfortable simply being at school on Teacher's Day.

Consequently, skepticism about Teacher's Day itself is growing. Proposals to change Teacher's Day into Education Day, reflecting the changing times and focusing on the starting point, process, and public value of education, have been made annually. Since there is World Teachers' Day (October 5) designated by Education International (EI), it is suggested to honor teachers then and use that day to reconsider the purpose of education.

A survey conducted by the Practical Education Teachers' Group from the 8th to the 12th of this month targeting 333 teachers nationwide found that 80.7% of respondents supported changing Teacher's Day to Education Day.

Additionally, teacher job satisfaction appears to be declining. According to the "Teacher's Day Teacher Perception Survey" conducted by the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) from the 29th of last month to the 6th of this month targeting 8,431 male and female teachers nationwide, only 29.9% responded positively to the question "If you were born again, would you choose the teaching profession?" This is the first time the positive response rate has fallen below 30% in this annual survey question.

Job satisfaction was also at 33.6%, about half of what it was six years ago (70.2%). This question generally saw rates above 50% from 2006 to 2019 but has remained in the 30% range for three consecutive years since 2020. The perception survey results released by the KTU showed similar trends. Positive responses for job satisfaction were 23.1%, lower than negative responses (46.8%).

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