More Foreign Schools Planned
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Korea will take steps to allow the establishment of more foreign schools for international investors and elementary and secondary schools will continue to hire more native English-speaking teachers to upgrade English education, said the nation's top educator.
Education, Science and Technology Minister Ahn Byong-man said the government will spend more to increase the number of foreign English assistant teachers in line with the Lee Myung-bak administration's policy to help students cultivate practical English skills at public schools.
``Many Koreans have difficulty speaking English despite years of studying at schools. This shows a serious flaw in Korean English education,'' said Ahn in an interview with The Korea Times, on the occasion of its 58th anniversary, which falls on Saturday.
``I believe it's very important to give students opportunities to learn English from foreign teachers.''
The minister says native English speakers are very helpful for students to improve their conversation skills and boost self-confidence in speaking English, although many English education experts point out ``a native English speaker doesn't mean quality English educator.''
``As far as I know, native English-speaking teachers are drawing positive reactions from parents and students,'' he said. ``It's necessary to increase native English-speaking teachers for a while.''
The ministry first hired 59 native-English speakers in 2005 from seven countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and South Africa. Some 4,300 foreigners were placed as regular assistant teachers at elementary and secondary schools across the country in April. About 150 billion won ($120 million) was spent this year to hire those foreigners.
Ahn said the government plans to recruit assistant teachers from Singapore and other countries that adopt English as an official language as early as from December to meet the growing demands from parents for foreign English teachers.
At the same time, he said the government will open English teaching positions to other Koreans who don't have teaching licenses but can speak English fluently.
``There are some Koreans who have a better command of English than current English teachers,'' Ahn said. ``We will give them opportunities to contribute to the development of English education. Each regional education authority will decide the guidelines to recruit excellent English speakers for the teaching positions.''
Ahn also said the government will expand the budget for overseas training of existing English teachers.
On the possibility of introducing a teacher evaluation system, he said it is necessary to upgrade the quality of schooling. From 2010, it will link the results of evaluation to wages, promotion and other personnel management, Ahn said.
He said the government will take steps for the establishment of more foreign schools for the children of foreign investors. The government recently eased the rules governing the establishment of international schools. But he was not specific on how many new international schools will be established.
``We will continue to actively create an environment where foreigners can take the same quality of education as they have in their home countries,'' he said.
The minister made it clear that the government will not tolerate private cram schools overcharging students. ``We will strictly supervise private cram schools to cap further rises in private education costs.''