Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics - IEA

PART 2: KOREA, REPUBLIC OF
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Korea, Republic of 13
Composition of the teacher labor force
Elementary schools have suffered from a teacher shortage in recent years, mainly
because a sudden reduction in the teacher retirement age in 1999 saw a large number
of teachers choosing to take a favorable early retirement package. Secondary schools,
however, have had the opposite problem of a very large oversupply of candidates vying
for a limited number of spots. There is close to a 5:1 ratio of candidates to positions
available, mostly because the government and teacher education institutions have failed
to control the number of students entering these institutions. In numerical terms, about
5,000 elementary school candidates are supplied every year by the national universities
of education, and about 25,000 secondary school candidates are supplied through other
institutions of education. Therefore, while a number of excellent students compete for
spots in elementary schools, highly qualified students shy away from secondary schools.
This oversupply of the secondary school teaching workforce has led to a weakening of
secondary school teacher education.
The total number of teachers in 2002 was 357,084. Of this number, nearly 21% were in
high schools, just over 11% in vocational schools, nearly 27% in middle schools, and
just over 41% in elementary schools. The ratio of female to male teachers has increased
rapidly over the last two decades, with female teachers comprising roughly 68% of the
teacher workforce in 2002. The proportion of female teachers in that year was 71% in
elementary schools, 61% in middle schools, and 32% in high schools. Females cite the
still high social status accorded to teachers and the favorable maternity leave policy as
their main reasons for choosing the teaching profession.
Rapid industrialization, economic growth, and many new, financially rewarding
employment options in the 1980s and 1990s lowered the aptitude of those choosing
to enter the teaching profession. Talented individuals who had graduated from
institutions of education moved into these newly opened sectors, and some teachers
left schools for better-paying jobs. This factor, along with those mentioned above,
contributed to the teacher shortages within the elementary schools. In the late 1990s,
however, South Korea’s economy went through a recession and individuals were once
again attracted to the stable nature of the elementary school teaching profession. High
school graduates with excellent achievement backgrounds began increasingly to enter
elementary school teacher education institutions because elementary schools offered
ready employment opportunities. Women, who still experience discrimination in other
job sectors, especially find the prospect of teaching in elementary schools attractive;
78% of the entrants into elementary teacher education institutions are females with
excellent academic records. If the government did not set a quota on the number of
female applicants, the proportion would be over 90%.
In contrast, the oversupply of secondary school teachers means that the number of
highly qualified applicants to secondary school teacher education institutions is
declining quickly. In like manner, scores on the university entrance examination that
applicants must pass in order to enter teacher education institutions have dropped in
recent years. Secondary school teacher quality has further declined because of potential
applicants being deterred by the more negative social image of teachers that has recently
13 Referred to as South Korea throughout this section.