韓國25萬教師要求教育部取消教師專業評鑑

Joint Counterplan Committee on Teacher Evaluation to Take Action
3 teacher groups, KFTA (Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations), KTU (Korean Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union) and KUT (Korea Union of Teaching and Educational Workers) organized ‘Joint Counterplan Committee (against hasty teacher evaluation and for better public education)’ on May 18. On May 23, Joint Committee held a press conference near central government buildings, presenting 3 organizations’ signatures campaign result (which 254,854 teachers participated) and objected to running a trial basis on teacher evaluation.

In a press release, KFTA president Mr. Yoon Jong-Gun criticized that Ro Moo-Hyun administration’s education policies which shifted all the responsibility about deteriorating quality of public education on teachers without any other effort to better education would drive schools into catastrophe. And they added that if the government enforced the hasty teacher evaluation unilaterally, they would block the evaluation strongly by all means. Joint Committee urged Education Ministry to withdrawal test school plan and to reach a consensus with education-related group including 3 teacher organizations. Teacher organizations worried that government’s forced teacher evaluation system will bring distrust and resistance against government.

The committee announced that it would have held national rally on June if the government continued to run test school plan which was planned to launch on June 1 in spite of teachers’ protest.

At present, teachers in Korea are evaluated by the efficiency rating system every year and are doing various learning encouragement activities voluntarily. And teachers use suggestions from students and parents into their classes for improving education quality.

KFTA agrees with the basic idea of teacher evaluation but points out the new plan of Education Ministry has a load of problems. Education Ministry’s new teacher evaluation plan allows parents to attend open class once a semester and grade teachers, deputy principals and principals. Teacher can grade their colleagues and student can also grade their teachers. As a evaluator, parents or students do not have professional knowledge about curriculum and educational skills and once a semester evaluation is no enough to judge everything about a teacher’s ability as a educator. Mr. Yoon, the KFTA president suggested, "The government’s teacher evaluation plan will worsen the confusion and conflict at school rather than increase teachers’ professionalism. We have to talk about the practical way to get teacher’s professionalism before forcing teacher evaluation which all the teachers disagree."
Joint Committee suggested guaranteeing 6% of GDP as education expense, obtaining sufficient teachers fixed by law, introducing chief teacher system for teachers’ professionalism and education quality.