KoreaToday KNUE Revitalizes Teacher Training Program
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
CHEONGWON, North Chungcheong ― The only university in the nation that exclusively trains students to teach kindergarten through high school in launching an innovative new program called "Classroom-friendly Teacher."
Kwon Jae-sool, president of the Korea National University of Education (KNUE) talked about the "Classroom-friendly Teacher" project, which aims to introduce practical education techniques and to revise curricula.
"If we want to advance public education, teachers will be the first target for change. During my term, I hope to set a new paradigm for teacher training," the 62-year-old president said in an interview with The Korea Times.
Kwon, a physics professor, taught students for some 15 years at the university that specializes in education and took office in March 2008.
"Our graduates took a lot of teaching methodology courses, but many of them have difficulty applying the knowledge," he said. "Teachers should not overload students with theory, but help them to exercise their knowledge.
"It is very hard for a university head to initiate a program to change teachers, who are themselves hesitant about change."
Under the "Classroom-friendly Teacher" project, professors are encouraged to offer courses that break boundaries, Kwon said.
"I believe that we cannot foster quality teachers with the curricula that have been used for a long time. Professors are now able to offer courses in whatever they want and they can even open a class that crosses over to other majors."
However, professors now face intense competition among themselves to attract students. Only quality lectures can be sustained and courses that fail to draw a minimum number of students are cancelled.
The school head has built a research center for professors so that they can reference overseas education curricula and will expand incentives for professors who open new courses.
Kwon also removed compulsory courses to enable students to freely study the subjects they want.
"If students have to register for mandatory courses formalized by a small group of professors, it is akin to salespeople forcing customers to buy products they don't want," Kwon said.
The school president stressed the importance of the teacher evaluation system at elementary and secondary schools, which is scheduled to be introduced in the spring semester.
Like Education Minister Ahn Byong-man, Kwon believes that the burden and heavy cost of private education shouldered by many Korean parents can be alleviated only when public education is upgraded.
In this regard, Korea will introduce a system where students, parents and fellow teachers will have access to the performance evaluations of teachers and principals. According to the results, those who have poor ratings will be required to attend training programs, while high performers will be offered incentives including a sabbatical year.
Kwon said that evaluations by students on professors should be respected. "Assessments by students are very important. It is groundless to say that students tend to favor professors who give higher grades. Whether they are excellent students or not, they can tell when teachers make extra efforts to provide them with a better education," he said.
However, he warned of the social trend that distrusts teachers and funnels those who have no teaching licenses into schools. "This is demoralizing for many teachers. I think the government should use the carrot and the stick at the same time."
He also called for the government to settle the question of an unbalanced supply and demand of teachers. "There is an over-supply of teachers ― only five percent of teaching hopefuls holding licenses can get a job. Appropriate competition is needed to provide quality among teachers but the current competition rate is too high."
He also noted that evaluation criteria are also important for the success of the new system. "Many universities have focused more on research achievements while quality of education has been neglected."
"For our university, the teaching ability of the staff is more important. When evaluating professors through their research achievements, we can just count how many thesis and papers they published. But it's not easy to gauge their teaching ability, so we need to create detailed and reasonable rubric for assessment."
Established in March 1984 as a unique and comprehensive state-run university for teacher education, the KNUE has aimed to disseminate models of teacher training in cooperation with the government and educational institutes.
The university also conducts comprehensive research, develops new material and examines feedback on their research results from school educators.
It has nearly 5,800 students and 508 faculty and staff members in 22 departments. Students are able to double major among the studies of kindergarten, primary, or secondary education.
KNUE issues credential certificates for highly qualified teachers and trains teachers who can foster students in extracurricular activities as well as in all-round education. Additionally, some 4000 to 5,000 school principal applicants receive training at the university.