18% of Foreign School Teachers Unlicensed
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
One out of every five foreign-school teachers in Korea has no teaching license.
Among the 1,218 teachers at 44 foreign schools, excluding French and German schools, across the country, 216, or 18 percent don't have teaching licenses, according to Rep. Kim Young-jin of the largest opposition Democratic Party, Sunday.
Thirty-four percent of Korean teachers at the schools are unlicensed. In Incheon and South Chungcheong Province, all teachers lacked teaching certificates. Korea's Education Law stipulates regular teachers should have a license.
Rep. Kim made public the data from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Since 1999, each city and provincial education office has been mandated to keep teachers' profiles but few have observed the rules so far.
``Lax visa regulations allowing unlicensed foreigners to teach at foreign schools here have lowered the quality of those schools. The government needs to tighten visa rules for foreign teachers,'' Rep. Kim said.
International schools in neighboring countries, where many Korean children are studying, have various teacher recruitment policies, but most of them require teachers to have educational qualifications.
``If you want to teach at our school, you need a valid teaching certificate and more than two years of teaching experience,'' said Claudie Kang, administrator of the Dalat International School that uses American curricula in Pennang, Malaysia. The Australian International School Singapore and International School Manila also require qualifications for teacher applicants.
International school associations or agencies require teaching credentials for all teachers.
``All teachers must have teaching certificates and normal 2-years experience before they can get a visa,'' said Keith Robertson of Council of the UK International Schools.
Another international organization providing teachers to international schools around the world, International School Service, says on its web site ``You must have teaching credentials from a state in the United States in order to qualify for a job overseas. The schools need this documentation to successfully obtain the appropriate visas. Even though we will not need it to make you an active candidate, this is a vital part of successfully obtaining a job overseas.''
In some countries, governments control teacher recruitment at international schools. Japan and Singapore do not give foreign teachers visas unless applicants possess credentials. However, Korean government issues E-7 visas to those who don't hold teaching certificates.
Some parents complain about the lack of supervision over qualifications. ``I think there should be a system to guarantee the qualification of teachers,'' said a parent of a child attending the Yongsan International School in Seoul. An Indian teacher who has worked at international schools here said he witnessed many unqualified teachers at the schools.
``The government has little knowledge about how these foreign schools are managed. But it is just easing regulations. It's a shortsighted measure favoring the children of wealthy families,'' Rep. Kim said.
Korea has recently relaxed rules governing foreign schools, clearing the way for the establishment of more of them.
Under the new regulations, nonprofit foreign corporations and Korean educational foundations can set up international schools eligible for financial support from the Korean government. Up to 50 percent of Korean nationals can enroll in the schools.
In addition, graduates from the schools can apply to Korean universities without any restrictions.
There are 46 foreign schools across the country with about 11,000 enrolled students. English-speaking schools charge parents over $20,000 a year.