Gov't issues YouTube guidelines for teachers
The Ministry of Education has decided to officially permit these online activities and has issued guidelines for teachers producing YouTube content, Tuesday. / Gettyimagebanks
By Kim Jae-heun
As a growing number of teachers in their 20s and 30s are becoming prominent on the YouTube scene, the Ministry of Education has decided to officially permit these online activities and has issued guidelines for teachers producing YouTube content.
Teachers will be encouraged make videos for YouTube and other online channels if they provide education-related content helpful to students, according to the ministry, Tuesday.
Content unrelated to education will also be permitted but with some restrictions. Teachers with a large number of subscribers who profit from advertisements will have to register their online activities as side jobs.
The current law allows school faculty members to work as writers, translators and even bloggers.
“We have decided to support teachers creating YouTube content for educational purposes and we will not regulate those who use YouTube as a hobby, either. The ministry will continue to improve the guidelines and make a final version in the near future,” a ministry official said.
The ministry said utilizing YouTube for educational purposes can be beneficial for students as some subjects can be taught better through videos than with textbooks.
Teachers producing content related to their personal interests or hobbies will also be permitted to use the platform so long as they do not do so during work hours.
However, their activities will be banned if the content produced is deemed to damage the “dignity” of teachers as public servants or if it disrupts them from providing a quality education to students.
Videos that include curse words, violent or suggestive clips, support for or opposition to specific political parties or politicians, as well as those infringing on the image rights of students are banned regardless of the video's purpose.
YouTubers can profit from advertisements when they gain more than 1,000 subscribers and produce over 4,000 hours of videos a year, according to the ministry.
The ministry decided not to ban advertisements in principle, but teachers who are able to monetize their channels will have to request approval from the principals of their schools for their “second job.” Principals can reject the request if they think holding two jobs lowers the faculty member's efficiency in the classroom.
Videos to be used during class cannot include advertisements.
The guidelines will be applied to not only public school teachers but also those at private schools and part-time teachers. They also apply to not only YouTube but also other similar online platforms.
According to the ministry's survey conducted in March and April, 934 teachers at elementary, middle and high schools across the country have each uploaded at least one video to their YouTube channels.
About 90 percent of those surveyed had fewer than 1,000 subscribers, but 97 of them had more than 1,000. An elementary school teacher, who is famous for rapping, had 282,000 subscribers.