Ministry of Education Holds 'Field Trip' Roundtable... Elementary Teachers’ Group Says "We Weren't Even Invited" (Comprehensive)

After President Lee's Comment, "Should We Remove the Entire Jar Because of Maggots?"

On May 7, the Ministry of Education Holds a Community Roundtable for Safe Field Trips

Teachers' Organizations: "Not Invited as Panelists... Told to Sit in the Audience"

On May 7, the Ministry of Education held a roundtable discussion aimed at revitalizing school field trips. However, it has been pointed out that teachers' organizations, which have long expressed concerns about the issue, were excluded from the panel discussion. While the Ministry of Education stated that it had invited these organizations, representatives from the teachers' groups said they were only invited as audience members, not as panelists. Some teachers' organizations refused to attend as a result.

Yonhap News Agency

On this day, the Ministry of Education held a community roundtable discussion for safe field trips at the TP Tower in Yeouido, Seoul. This event was in response to President Lee Jaemyung’s directive on April 30, instructing the Ministry of Education to gather input from teachers, parents, experts, and various stakeholders through open debate regarding school field trips.

However, no teachers' organization was included among the main panelists to represent teachers. The panelists included Jeon Seonga, Director of Career Education at the Jeollanam-do Office of Education; teachers Choi Kiyoung (Incheon Nongok Elementary School) and Choi Bonggu (Ulsan Nongso Middle School); parent Lee Yoonji; student Lee Kyungjun from Yeouido High School in Seoul; and Professor Park Byungki from Korea National University of Education.

A representative from the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) said, "We did not receive an official invitation from the Ministry of Education for this roundtable." The representative added, "Normally, for such meetings, we are contacted directly at headquarters; this time, the request came through the Jeonnam chapter, which is unusual." The representative continued, "The invitation was as an 'audience member,' not as a 'panelist.' The suddenness of the meeting and the exclusion of teachers' organizations is puzzling. I question why it had to be done this way."

In response, a Ministry of Education official stated, "We made a formal request to the KTU headquarters and also asked the Korean Teachers' Union Federation, the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA), the New School Network, and the Practical Education Teachers' Association to attend as audience members."

A KTU representative further explained, "The first inquiry came from the Jeonnam chapter, asking if we could recommend a secondary school teacher to participate, and later, the Ministry of Education contacted us asking for recommendations for teachers to join the 'floor' as audience members." The representative said, "Teacher organizations have proposed various measures regarding the resumption of field trips, but although this was said to be an open public forum, teacher organizations were only invited to sit in the audience. I question whether that can be considered a proper invitation. It felt as though we were expected to raise our hands and request permission to speak from the floor, which raises doubts about whether this meeting was genuinely intended to gather teachers’ opinions or was just for show."

The Elementary School Teachers' Union (ESTU) stated that it was not even invited to this roundtable. Given that school field trips are primarily conducted at the elementary level, elementary school teachers are at the core of this issue. An ESTU representative said, "We are an organization with one-third of the 37,000 elementary school teachers as members, but we received no communication about this meeting." The representative added, "We only learned about the event through a notice from the Teachers' Union Federation, not the Ministry of Education, and we were told to attend as audience members, not as panelists." As a result, the ESTU boycotted the event and staged a one-person protest in front of the venue, but was removed partway through.

The Ministry of Education maintains that it made a formal request to the Teachers' Union Federation. An official stated, "The Elementary School Teachers' Union is included in the Teachers' Union Federation, and it is not standard practice to contact every affiliated union individually."

An ESTU representative responded, "The Elementary School Teachers' Union is a separate organization, and we did not receive any official document. Requesting through the Teachers' Union Federation is a separate matter." The representative also questioned, "It is doubtful whether the two teachers on the panel can be said to represent us, as they were not recommended by teachers' organizations." The Ministry of Education stated that both an elementary and a secondary school teacher participated as panelists to listen to teachers' perspectives.

School field trips have been scaled back since November 2022, when the homeroom teacher of a sixth grader who died after being hit by a reversing bus during a field trip at a theme park in Sokcho was convicted in court.

On April 28, President Lee commented during a cabinet meeting regarding the reduction of school field trips, "You should not remove the entire jar out of concern that maggots might appear," implying that such drastic measures are not the answer. However, teachers' organizations immediately protested, saying, "The reduction in field trips unfairly shifts the blame onto teachers."

In a statement, the KTU said, "The real factor behind the reduction of field trips is not teachers’ irresponsibility or the presence of safety personnel, but rather the lack of legal protection. Teachers should not be subject to occupational negligence charges for accidents that occur during educational activities." The KFTA also stated, "We must closely examine the root causes behind teachers’ avoidance of field trips and establish effective safety measures before anything else."

Following this, President Lee instructed the Ministry of Education to gather opinions from all sectors of society.

The Ministry of Education explained that this roundtable was organized "to allow not only teachers but also parents, students, and experts within the educational community to share their thoughts on field trips and to broadly discuss ways to address the challenges schools face in operating field trips and dealing with safety incidents." The Ministry added, "Based on the discussions held so far and the opinions presented at this roundtable, we plan to prepare 'support measures for field trips.'"

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