"‘If I Were Reborn, I Would Not Choose Teaching’ - The Current State of Teachers' Day"

"Only 20% Would Choose Teaching Again"
Korea Teachers' Union: "Teachers' Self-Esteem Collapsed... Need to Restore Teachers' Authority"

Amid a significant increase in consultations related to violations of teacher authority, a survey revealed that only one in five teachers are satisfied with their teaching careers.

On the 14th, the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations (hereinafter KFTA) announced the results of a survey conducted to commemorate Teachers' Day. The survey was conducted from the 28th of last month to the 8th of this month, targeting 6,751 teachers nationwide from kindergartens, elementary, middle, high schools, and universities.

[Photo by Yonhap News]

When asked if they are satisfied with their current teaching career, 3.6% responded "strongly agree" and 20.0% responded "generally agree." This is the first time since the survey began in 2006 that satisfaction has dropped to the 20% range.

The biggest difficulties in teaching careers were identified as ▲guidance for students with behavioral problems and maladjustment (30.4%) ▲parent complaints and maintaining relationships (25.2%) ▲administrative and miscellaneous tasks unrelated to education and excessive workload (18.2%).

When asked how they think teacher morale has changed over the past 1-2 years, 87.5% responded that it has "declined."

Furthermore, when asked whether they think teacher authority is well protected in schools, 69.7% answered "no."

The problems arising from this decline in teacher authority and morale included ▲avoidance of student guidance and decreased interest (46.3%) ▲reduced passion for teaching leading to a decline in educational quality (17.4%) ▲hindrance to school development and deepening distrust in education (14.7%).

When asked if they would choose the teaching profession again if they were born again, only 20.0% responded "yes." This is the lowest figure since the question was included in the survey in 2012.

The KFTA stated, "There is no way to restrain problematic student behavior such as class disruption," adding, "Teacher authority, weakened by indiscriminate protests, malicious complaints, and only being subject to child abuse reports, is destroying teachers' self-esteem."

Additionally, the KFTA emphasized, "To allow teachers to focus on student instruction and guidance, it is necessary to restore teacher authority, grant immunity from complaints and lawsuits, and eliminate non-essential administrative tasks."

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