Education is a field in which the future minds of an entire nation are molded. Thus, attempts to undermine it can be a direct threat to the stability of the nation. It is thus vital that national educational policies be shielded from political influence, which can undermine the pure meaning of education and damage the prospects of innocent students. However, problematic new regulations in South Korea are posing a severe threat to the teacher recruitment process.
On September 22, the Ministry of Education (MOE) introduced newly revised regulations on the teacher recruitment process that will come into effect in 2023 once it passes the National Assembly. The new regulations grant educational superintendents in every city and province in South Korea the right to autonomously determine the teacher recruitment process. This means that educational superintendents have the total authority to change the process to whatever they see fit. These new regulations specify that superintendents can change the methods for the second step of the examination process for a teachers’ license and can even set their own standards for what constitutes “passing the test.”
Since the announcement, the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations (KFTA) has voiced strong opposition citing the issues of fairness and stability within the education system. It has claimed that teachers would be forced to be mere workers for their educational superintendents, violating their freedom and neutrality. KFTA has called the new decision “arbitrary,” adding that the MOE is neglecting other laws related to the teacher recruitment process. On the other hand, the MOE has claimed that each city and province might have different guidelines concerning teacher recruitment and thus might need autonomous rights in the selection process.
However, the need for different standards does not justify the high chance of unfairness in the recruitment process. No one can be certain that the autonomy given to each educational superintendents would not be used arbitrarily, rendering the recruitment process highly unfair to some. Moreover, different standards in teacher recruitment can result in educational disparities between different cities or provinces. Teachers of varying quality would be appointed, meaning that the quality of education can vary between regions, which can lead to possible social conflicts.
Educational superintendents are devoted to education, but it should not be forgotten that they also belong to a particular political party. Thus, they could be affected by its political ideology or behind-the-scenes calculations. In this respect, exclusive power in teacher recruitment can be swayed by the political calculations of the party, rather than being employed for the benefit of the students, as the MOE claims. This means that the entire education system of this nation can be tainted by political concerns, depriving the students of the right to be educated by teachers who were fairly selected by the nation.
South Korea, which has grown in size and economic power thanks to the power of a solid education system, should carefully re-examine these regulations, which could significantly erode education as a whole and cause social conflicts. If the MOE is truly devoted to bettering education in this nation, it is unreasonable to implement regulations that could lead to severe conflict and undermine the quality of that education.