Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Job satisfaction among teachers hits all-time low
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By Jung Min-ho
An overwhelming majority of Korean teachers say they regret their choice of profession, as job satisfaction among educators hits an all-time low.
According to a survey released on Monday, only 19.7 percent of more than 11,000 teachers working at kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools as well as universities said that if they had a chance to start over, they would choose different careers.
The rate fell below 20 percent for the first time since 2012 when that question was included in the annual poll. The figure was the highest at 52.6 percent in 2016 and has fallen steadily since.
The survey was conducted by the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations, the country’s largest union of teachers, on the occasion of Teachers’ Day, which falls on May 15.
Asked if they were satisfied with their work, only 21.4 percent said they were, a major drop from nearly 68 percent in 2006.
When asked about their biggest difficulties, 31.7 percent said educating disruptive students, followed by handling complaints from the parents of students and maintaining a good relationship with them (24 percent), and dealing with too much administrative work that is seemingly irrelevant to education (22.4 percent).
Many teachers complained about a disturbing trend of secret recordings, with 26.9 percent saying they had seen students or parents recording conversations with them.
Concerned about possible litigation, 62.7 percent of teachers said they were willing to buy their own recording devices.
Amid an increase in political voices calling for a law to protect the welfare of students in response to regional education offices moving to scrap such ordinances, 79.1 percent of teachers said they disapprove of the idea.
The teachers’ union said such legislation would aggravate frustration among its members, many of whom are already struggling with “excessive” legal protections for unruly students.