Teacher screening lax at foreign schools

The government has made efforts to set up more foreign schools as a means to create an environment friendly to foreign investors. However, these schools?accounting and other operations have not been supervised by the authorities. This is the fourth in a series of articles on the way foreign schools are run in Korea. ― ED.

By Kang Shin-who

Even if you did not major in math, you can teach the subject at an international school in Korea as long as your mother tongue is English.

If you don’t have a teaching license and want a teaching job at foreign schools here, the only requirement set by Korean immigration rules is the experience of teaching for two years whether it be at a private cram school or public school.

The Korea Immigration Service issues the E-7 visa to foreign school teachers, without requesting a teaching license, just documents proving two years of teaching experience.

Even though they are regular teachers at foreign schools, the education authorities do not supervise the process of hiring. Compared to the screening criteria of teachers for Korean schools, that of foreign schools is quite lax, according to experts.

Professor Ahn Mi-lee, who has conducted research on foreign schools here and overseas at the request of the government, pointed out that teachers at foreign schools are not properly screened and supervised in Korea, a factor that could undermine the quality of education.

“The quality of teachers is a very important ingredient determining the quality of schools. Teaching licenses are necessary to prove teachers’ specialty, but the government doesn’t require the certificates for foreign schools,” Ahn said.

According to data from the education ministry, nearly one out of every five foreign-school teachers in Korea has no teaching license. The Immigration Office is obligating foreign school teachers to present criminal and drug test results, just as native English teachers are obliged to for E-2 visas.

“Teaching without a license could be problematic, but we cannot intervene in the matter as it should be handled by the education ministry,” said an immigration official.

“We, as a law enforcement agency, are just checking drug and criminal records of teachers.”

At the same time, experts say the turnover rate for teachers is very high compared to those of Singapore and other nations. In the case of Singapore, many teachers at international schools stay for more than 10 years on average, but it comes down to two to five years for teachers at foreign schools here.

Ahn, majoring in education, said that the generally short stints by foreign-school teachers undermines the education quality at the schools.

“I even witnessed some schools hiring trainee teachers. Some schools see a large number of teachers leave every year. It could disturb the students,” she said.

Most international schools in neighboring countries including the Philippines require teachers to have teaching licenses.

Parents mostly pay tuition ranging between 25 million and 30 million won annually to foreign schools, but whether their children are receiving education worth the investment remains a big question.

Experts say that the screening to pick teachers for these “expensive” schools should be raised and the education authorities need to supervise the selection process and monitor the schools.

Under the Korean Education Law, foreign schools are required to disclose basic information about their teachers, but they are not required to make public whether they have licenses or not.

학교 교사 검증 허술 - 교사 자격증 없어도 외국인 학교 교사 가능 - 법무부, 학원 원어민 강사들과 동일하게 범죄, 마약 검사 시행

현행 비자 규정에 따르면 전공에 상관없이 2년의 교육경력만 있으면 외국인 학교 교사(E-7비자) 가 될 수 있고, 시도 교육청 등 교육당국은 이들 학교의 교사 채용에 관여하지 않고 있다.

전문가들은 연간 2천 만원이 넘는 등록금을 내야 하면서도 교육의 질을 결정하는 교사들에 대한 뚜렷한 검증절차가 없는 것은 문제라고 지적한다.

국내외 외국인 학교를 오랜 시간 연구한 한양대 안미리 교수는 “외국인 학교 교사의 자격은 최소한의 자격을 요구하고 있고 상당부분 교장의 재량에 맡겨져 있는 편”이라며 “교사의 전문성을 확인하기 위해서는 교원자격증이 필요하다”고 강조했다.

지난해 교과부에 통계에 따르면 외국인 학교 5명중 한명 꼴로 교사자격증을 소지하지 않고 있다. 지식경제부의 보고서에도 우리나라 외국인학교 교사들의 교직경력은 3-5년 정도로 조사되었다.

안 교수는 “수습교사들이 외국인학교에서 가르치는 경우도 있다”며 교사들의 높은 이직률도 문제로 지적했다. 그는 “얼마나 자주 교사들이 바뀌는지를 보면 학교에서 제공하는 교육의 질을 가늠할 수 있다” 며 “어떤 학교는 상당히 많은 수의 교사가 매년 바뀌고 있다”고 말했다.

이들 교사들이 새로운 학교에 적응하는데 많은 시간이 걸릴뿐더러 교사들이 자주 바뀌면 학생들도 피해를 본다는 것이다.

법무부는 외국인 학교 교사를 위한 비자 조건이 부실한 것을 인정하면서도 교사의 자질문제는 교육과학기술부에서 다루어야 될 부분이라는 입장이다. 다만 아이들의 안전문제가 있는 만큼 원어민강사 (E-2비자) 들을 대상으로 하는 범죄경력조회와 마약검사를 동일하게 부과하고 있다. 현행 규정상 외국인학교는 일반 학교와는 달리 교사들의 교원자격증 소지 현황을 공시할 의무도 없다.