Neulbom School Welcomes Second Semester... Ongoing On-Site Confusion

Neulbom Staff Deployment Started Last Month
Some Overlap with Existing 'Dolbom Jeondamsa' Duties
Opposition Voices Over Neulbom Support Director Position

The Neulbom School, which started for first graders in elementary school earlier this year, is entering a new turning point in the second semester. A dedicated 'Neulbom Administrative Staff' will be officially assigned, and each school will establish a 'Neulbom Support Office' responsible for Neulbom. However, there have been disruptions such as confusion in work processes on the ground. Although most of the hiring and organizational structuring phases have been completed, confusion remains regarding job roles.

According to the education sector on the 30th, most metropolitan and provincial offices of education have completed the hiring of Neulbom Administrative Staff (Neulbom Office Workers) who will be in charge of administrative tasks related to Neulbom School. They have either been assigned to each school this month or will be assigned by next month to start work from the second semester. In the first semester, when Neulbom School first began, temporary teachers were hired to handle administrative tasks and lectures, but from the second semester, dedicated administrative personnel will be in place.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, since this is a newly created position and there is some overlap with the duties of care specialists (Neulbom Care Specialists), many have expressed difficulty in understanding the job roles. Online, there are complaints such as "Are the administrative tasks previously handled by care specialists being transferred to the office workers?" and "I was hired as an office worker, but there is no one to ask about the work. I cannot receive a handover." Beyond mere difficulties in adapting to the work, if there are ambiguous areas between the existing care specialists and Neulbom office workers, it could become a seed of conflict in the future, according to field responses.

The Ministry of Education's policy change to assign fixed-term educational researchers to the position of 'Neulbom Support Office Manager,' which was originally expected to be held by vice principals or educational public officials, has also led to controversy. The Neulbom Support Office Manager is assigned to the school's Neulbom Support Office and is responsible for overseeing Neulbom School. This role corresponds to a 'management position' similar to vice principals or administrative directors. Fixed-term educational researchers are selected from current teachers, work as educational researchers for two years, and then return to their original teaching positions.

Teacher organizations criticize this plan, saying it breaks the principle of 'separating teachers from Neulbom duties.' The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union issued a statement last month, saying, "This effectively violates the policy of separating Neulbom duties, including after-school and care tasks, from teachers," and "The Ministry of Education is pushing the policy forward without considering educational losses or class reductions that may result."

The Ministry of Education states that it plans to compensate for the vacancies created by the selection of educational researchers by adjusting the scale of new teacher hires, but there are concerns that the number of teachers will become excessive when fixed-term researchers return. A representative from the education office labor union said, "Currently, teachers are not being appointed due to a decrease in student numbers, and there seems to be no plan from the Ministry of Education on how to handle surplus demand when researchers return to the field after two years."

In response, a Ministry of Education official explained, "The term of the Neulbom Support Office Manager is two years, and after the term ends, another teacher takes on the fixed-term position and works for two years, so selection continues. You can consider it a rotational assignment."

Regarding the criticism that the boundary of administrative tasks between care specialists and office workers within the Neulbom Support Office is unclear, the official said that there may be differences depending on the labor contracts by region. The official stated, "Care specialists have, depending on regional contracts, handled administrative tasks related to care or have been solely responsible for care. Office workers handle integrated administrative tasks for after-school and care programs, so if care specialists previously performed some administrative tasks, their contracts are respected first, and additional administrative tasks are handled by office workers." The official added, "As Neulbom School expands step by step, there are overlapping areas in work domains, and this is a process of organizing them."

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