Last July 18th, an elementary school teacher in Seoul took her own life after suffering from conflicts between students and malicious complaints from parents. As this became known, many people expressed regret for the teacher who died young nationwide. Many teachers have continued to express their condolences, and despite the heat wave warning, teacher rallies have continued for several days at Gyeongbokgung Station. With the anger and mourning of many teachers, the issue of the fall of teachers’ authority in Korea remains a task to be solved. Therefore, the Dongguk Post finds out the current status of infringement of teaching rights in Korea, thinks about ways to protect teaching rights, and further ensure that both teaching rights and students’ human rights coexist.
The status of infringement of teachers’ authority
According to a survey by the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations(KFTA), in response to the questionnaire, “Did the Student Human Rights Ordinance affect the fall of teachers’ rights?,” 83.1% of all respondents said “agree (including strong agreement)” and 55.9% said “agree very much.” The Office of Education enacted the Student Human Rights Ordinance to ensure the human rights of students in the school curriculum, and it was first notified by the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education in 2010. The Student Human Rights Ordinance contains the rights of students not to be discriminated against, freedom of expression, and rights to educational welfare. It is argued that the purpose of guaranteeing students’ human rights caused the decline of teachers’ rights. However, since there is currently no significant correlation between the Student Human Rights Ordinance and the decrease in teachers’ authority, the Office of Education needs to examine the cause of the decline.
Related to the “degree of civil complaint stress”97.9% of teachers said it was “serious (including very serious)” and 79.8% said it was “very serious.” Furthermore, 39.3% of teachers said they had never seen the manual and 57.3% said it was not helpful (including not helping at all) to a survey on the effectiveness of the malicious complaint response manual provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.
If you go to the website of the KFTA, teachers can report cases of infringement of teachers’ authority through the bulletin board of “Protection of Teachers’ Rights, #With You.” On the bulletin board, “I got a text from student’s parent to let me know today’s notification again at midnight,” and “When I gave life guidance on the student’s rude words and actions, the student’s parents made malicious complaints for a month and a half, and gossiped about me among the other parents.” It contains examples such was this.
A high school teacher in Gangwon State said, “There are teachers whose privacy is violated more than people think about infringement of teachers’ rights. As a result, teachers are disturbed in educating students, and it makes it difficult to provide the best education.” Also, “However, the restoration of teachers’ rights does not come only when students’ human rights are lowered. I want to stand in a teacher’s podium where both the human rights of students and teachers are all respected,” he said.
What are the measures for the protection of teachers’ rights?
How can teachers’ rights be protected? The KFTA operates the “Protection of Teachers’ Rights, #With You” website, where teachers can share their experiences, such as verbal abuse, assault, and malicious complaints they have experienced. The Gyeonggi Teachers’ Union (GGTU) also operates a “students’ parents power abuse complaint website” and provides counseling services for the infringement of teachers’ rights.
The Dongguk Post finds out what efforts the government is making to protect falling teacher’s rights, and what systems and laws teachers need, as well as systems for protecting teaching rights overseas. President Yoon Suk-Yeol ordered the reorganization of the Student Human Rights Ordinance, cited as the most significant cause of the fall of the teachers’ authority. The People Power Party and the government said they will actively push for the passage of laws such as amendments to the Teachers' Status Improvement Act and the Child Abuse Punishment Act through the “Council on Measures to Protect and Restore Teachers’ Rights.”
According to a survey by the KFTA, 99.8% of teachers said they agreed (including very much) to “revision of laws that grant child abuse immunity for legitimate educational activities.” In addition, they argued that the Office of Education should take effective measures against parents who violate school rights and strongly respond to false or repeated complaints.
On the other hand, in the case of the United Kingdom (UK), student discipline and parents’ responsibilities are clearly defined through the Education Law and the Education and Supervision Law. In addition, if a teacher's disciplinary action is reasonable, is conducted by a school’s faculty member, and is conducted on campus, it is considered legal in principle, and the authority is deemed to depend on the teacher. These school rules can be seen as an example of giving responsibility and authority to all students, parents, and teachers.
The Ministry of Education said it plans to strengthen parent education. Despite the heat wave warning, the ongoing teachers’ rally at Gyeongbokgung Station and deep mourning for the teacher who made an extreme choice show the sad status of the infringement of teachers’ rights in Korea. Concern about the Office of Education’s response measures to protect educational rights and the government’s institutional efforts is expected to increase further in the future.
Park So-hyun, a student who dreams of becoming a teacher, said, “I think the protection of teachers’ rights is the protection of learning rights. Students’ right to learn can also be guaranteed only when teachers are protected from malicious complaints from parents and they can properly exercise their own rights in the space of school.” In addition, she said “the Ordinance on the Protection of Teachers’ Rights should be enacted,” urging the need to prepare practical guidelines and measures to protect teachers’ rights.
The Dongguk Post hopes that various measures will be prepared to prevent teachers’ rights from being violated for proactive prevention rather than post-prescription, and that a society where both students’ human rights and teaching rights coexist will be created.