Contract teachers fail to gain regular status
Over 30,000 contract teachers including English and physical education instructors will not be given regular teacher status.
This is despite the Moon Jae-in administration’s drive to have irregular workers be given regular status.
The Ministry of Education made the announcement as part of its “comprehensive” measures for improving working conditions for irregular workers in the education sector Monday.
“We have determined that it will be difficult to provide regular teacher status to instructors, considering the issue of fairness in recruit- ment,” a ministry-affiliated review committee said in a statement.
Currently, aspiring teachers need to pass a certification exam in order to obtain a job as a regular teacher.
In addition to 32,734 irregular teachers, national and public schools have also employed 8,343 instructors in seven categories.
English conversation instructors accounted for the largest number, followed by those for physical education.
Although circumstances differ by school, many elementary schools hire English conversation and physical education instructors, and middle schools English instructors, as assistant teachers.
Both English speaking and physi- cal education instructors are disallowed from having regular teaching status.
The ministry said a shortage of English teachers should be resolved by hiring more regular teachers.
“If an English conversation instructor leaves his or her job, it would be best not to replace them with another one,” the committee said.
However, the ministry pledged to improve working conditions for both types of instructors.
Under current conditions, irregular teachers face low wages and job insecurity.
The ministry said it would provide a “welfare allowance” of 400,000 won a year to English instructors as part of measures to increase wages and simplify the process of extending their contracts.
It also promised to do the same for physical education teachers.
Instructors assisting multiracial students in the Korean language and their studies have also been denied regular teacher status.
The ministry said it will leave the status of these instructors up to regional education offices, as demand fluctuates and different regions have different ways of hiring and using these instructors.
Meanwhile, over 1,034 instructors at kindergartens who are in charge of after-class care, and extra-curricular activities will be guaranteed job security.