"Did I Become a Teacher for This?"... Lowest Education University Admission Cutoff in 4 Years

Declining Popularity Amidst the Crisis in Teachers' Authority

Recently, following the death of a teacher in their 20s at Seoi Elementary School in Seocho-gu, Seoul, discussions about the decline in teacher authority have emerged, and it has been revealed that the admission cutoff scores for education universities have been falling every year.

In the 2023 academic year college entrance exam results, the admission cutoff scores for education universities and elementary education departments that train elementary school teachers declined compared to the previous year. The internal school record and CSAT cutoff scores for 13 education universities nationwide also recorded the lowest levels ever.

With the decrease in the number of students significantly narrowing the opportunities for new teacher recruitment, and recent issues such as teacher authority violations arising, the preference for becoming a teacher is declining, and this trend is expected to accelerate.

Teachers are observing a moment of silence in memory of the late homeroom teacher of Seoi Elementary School.
Photo by Yonhap News

On the 1st, Jongno Academy analyzed the admission cutoff scores (top 70% 기준) for 10 education universities and 3 general university elementary education departments nationwide from the 2020 to 2023 academic years, as disclosed on the college entrance information portal ‘Eodiga’. The results showed that the 2023 academic year internal school record and CSAT cutoff scores were the lowest in four years.

The 2023 academic year early admission student record-based cutoff score for 13 education universities and elementary education departments was 2.1 grade, down from 1.8 in 2020, 2.0 in 2021, and 1.8 in 2022. The subject-based admission cutoff scores were 1.8 in 2020, 2.0 in 2021, and 1.8 in 2022.

The internal school record cutoff score for the comprehensive student record-based early admission at 13 universities in 2023 was also 2.1 grade. This is a 0.1 grade drop compared to 2.0 in 2022, and 0.4 grade lower than 1.7 in 2020, four years ago.

The regular admission cutoff scores fell even more sharply. The 2023 CSAT cutoff score for education universities (based on the average percentile of Korean, Math, and Inquiry subjects) was 82.9. This is 7.4 points lower than 90.3 in 2020.

In the 2023 academic year, CSAT cutoff scores decreased in 10 out of 13 universities compared to the previous year, while only 3 universities saw an increase.

Considering that the admission scores for general universities rose compared to the previous year, the decline in education universities and elementary education departments is notable.

In the 2023 early admission, the internal school record cutoff score for humanities subject-based admissions in Seoul-area universities was 2.3 grade, up from 2.5 grade the previous year. The comprehensive admission cutoff score also rose by 0.1 grade to 3.0 grade compared to the previous year.

The CSAT scores for humanities admissions in Seoul-area universities also increased to 86.8 points in the 2023 entrance exam, up from 84.2 points the previous year.

Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongno Academy, said, "Considering the current situation including teacher supply and demand policies, if there are no changes in teacher-related policies in the 2024 academic year, this downward trend is expected to continue."

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