39% of Teachers Say They Lose Time Due to Students Disrupting Class

10% Higher Than OECD Average
Seems Due to Lack of Means to Prevent Class Disruption

Four out of ten Korean teachers believe they lose a significant amount of time due to disruptive students in class, a figure approximately 10 percentage points higher than the average among OECD countries.

"Time lost due to disruptive students"... Ranked 11th among 48 surveyed countries

Last August, a video circulated online showing a male student lying on the podium in a classroom at a middle school in Chungnam, filming the teacher during class. In the same account, there was also footage of a male student taking off his shirt and talking to the teacher during class.
[Photo source=TikTok capture]

According to the OECD on the 27th, the 2018 results of the 'Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)' showed that 38.5% of domestic teachers felt they wasted a lot of time because of disruptive students. The proportion of teachers who responded that they lost a lot of time due to disruptive students ranked 11th among 48 countries surveyed.

Although this figure was lower than Brazil's highest rate (50.5%), it was 9.8 percentage points higher than the OECD average (28.7%) and 10.7 percentage points higher than the average of all surveyed countries (27.8%).

Started in 2008, TALIS is a survey conducted every five years under the leadership of the OECD. As of 2018, 48 countries, including OECD member countries, participated in the survey. In Korea, 6,533 respondents including elementary and middle school teachers and principals answered the survey.

The country with the lowest proportion was Georgia (Gruziya) at 7.1%. Japan followed with 8.1%.

In the previous survey in 2013, the proportion of Korean teachers who felt they wasted a lot of time due to disruptive students was 34.9%. This represents an increase of 3.6 percentage points over five years.

Considering that major countries such as Japan (9.3%→8.1%), Singapore (37.8%→32.9%), Australia (31.5%→29.0%), and the United Kingdom (28.0%→27.4%) showed a decline, Korea’s upward trend is notable.

In other areas, the classroom atmosphere perceived by Korean teachers also deteriorated.

The proportion of teachers who responded that it takes a long time for students to quiet down after class starts increased from 30.5% in the 2013 survey to 37.3% in 2018, a rise of 6.8 percentage points over five years.

The proportion of responses indicating that the class was very noisy also increased from 25.2% to 30.1%, a rise of 4.9 percentage points.

No means to restrain disruptive students... Ministry of Education to prepare countermeasures against infringement of teachers' rights next month

Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, is seen moving after paying tribute at the memorial altar for Teacher A, set up at the Gangnam Seocho Office of Education in Seoul on the 21st.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The perception among teachers that they lose a lot of time due to disruptive students is interpreted as being because disruptive behavior was not previously defined as an infringement on educational activities.

The Ministry of Education explicitly defined "acts that intentionally disrupt educational activities by refusing to comply with teachers' legitimate guidance" as infringements on educational activities only in March of this year.

It is also analyzed that the reason teachers lacked means to restrain disruptive students was due to the excessive emphasis on student rights aimed at changing the outdated school culture where teacher violence against students was rampant, alongside the strengthening of the Special Act on the Punishment of Child Abuse (Child Abuse Punishment Act).

Although new TALIS survey results have not yet been released, the classroom atmosphere has continued to deteriorate, and considering there have been no effective countermeasures so far, it is highly likely that the situation has worsened in the new results.

The Ministry of Education recently announced plans to prepare countermeasures against infringements on teachers' rights, including disruptive behavior, by next month, following the teacher death incident in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, stated at a recent meeting with field teachers, "We will improve systems for establishing teachers' rights, such as the student guidance regulations, and also prepare legal grounds to ensure enforceability."

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