A growing proportion of teachers are less satisfied with their work and more discouraged as they struggle to discipline students and clash with parents who do not recognize their authority, a survey showed Monday.
According to the poll by the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA), the nation's largest teachers' union, 81 percent of teachers said their satisfaction level or that of their colleagues had dropped in the past one year or two.
The online survey was conducted on 3,271 teachers nationwide between May 9 and May 12 to mark Teachers' Day on May 15.
The percentage of teachers expressing dissatisfaction with their jobs has increased each year from 55.3 percent in 2009 to 63.4 percent in 2010, and 79.5 percent last year, the KFTA said.
The difficulty of disciplining students was cited as the primary reason for the growing dissatisfaction by 29.8 percent of respondents, followed by the attitude of parents who do not recognize the authority of teachers at 22.6 percent, public criticism of teachers at 21.1 percent, and the difficulties of teaching and trivial work at 14 percent.
However, 56.3 percent of the respondents said they were generally satisfied or very satisfied with their work, while 18 percent replied they felt little or no satisfaction. The remaining 25.7 percent said their satisfaction level was "average."
The biggest problem for teachers was given as their lack of understanding of changes in society and in students at 35.8 percent, followed by their lack of ability to discipline and develop the character of students (32 percent).
The words teachers wanted to hear the most from students on Teachers' Day was "I respect you" at 28.2 percent, followed by "I want to become like you" (26.8 percent), and "I am happy because of you" (also 26.8 percent).
"You can do well!," "I love you," and "I believe in you" were the top phrases teachers wanted to say to students at 44.1 percent, 26 percent and 21.2 percent, respectively. (Yonhap)