2021 Ministry of Education work plan announced
“Providing a’educational safety net’ such as class expansion and cooperative classes”
Distance classes held at an elementary school. Joint Photo Report Group
The Ministry of Education has announced a plan to employ over 2,000 fixed-term teachers this year to support classes for overcrowded classes in the first and third grades of elementary school. This is an inevitable countermeasure in a situation where it is impossible to increase the number of regular teachers due to the problem of capacity. On the 26th, Deputy Prime Minister of Social Affairs and Education Minister Eun-hye Yoo announced the work plan for 2021, and cited’Expanding classes to school’ and’Reducing the learning gap’ as key initiatives. In addition, he said, “We will expand classes to school through flexible academic management, and consider social demands and developmental stages in a comprehensive manner so that early childhood, lower elementary school students, and special school (level) students can attend school with priority.” Last year It is pointed out that the prolonged distance class due to COVID-19 has created a gap not only in learning but also in comprehensive care.In the midst of this high, the head of the education authorities showed his willingness to expand the class this year. In particular, the Ministry of Education announced a plan to “add 2,000 teachers to overcrowded classes in the lower grades” as a way to simultaneously respond to quarantine and to reduce the learning gap. Over the years, it has been pointed out that the overcrowded educational environment, such as the dense concentration of students in one class, is the main reason that hinders the conduct of school classes and widens the learning gap in the Corona 19 situation. If additional teachers are added for overcrowded classes in the first to third grades of elementary school, it is possible to increase the class by division. Even if that doesn’t make sense, it is possible to reinforce the’learning safety net’ for students with insufficient basic academic skills, such as two teachers in charge of one class and taking cooperative classes. This year, the total number of classes with more than 30 students in the first to third grades of elementary school is estimated to be 2296. The problem is that it is difficult to hire additional regular teachers due to strict restrictions on the number of public officials. In response to this, the Ministry of Education announced that it will use “temporarily limited teachers”. To prevent the Office of Education from randomly hiring fixed-term teachers’out of the garden’, the Ministry of Education has not recognized the labor costs for this in local education finance grants. However, this year, only the overcrowded classes in the first and third grades of elementary school will be admitted temporarily. From the perspective of the Office of Education, labor costs for overcrowded classes will be recognized more than before, so there is a high possibility that they will actively seek employment for fixed-term teachers. Several controversies are expected over the hiring of such fixed-term teachers. In the education world, which has been advocating “reduction of the number of students per class”, the evaluation of this measure as “inevitable” is dominant. The problem of reducing the number of students per class is left to be a mid-to-long-term task, because the Corona 19 crisis has come to the fore. Hee-jeong Han, chairman of the group of practical education teachers, said, “It is not appropriate to increase the number of teachers with unstable status, but it seems to be an inevitable measure in an urgent situation to resolve the damage to students caused by Corona 19.” However, Park Hye-sung, chairman of the National Short-Term Teachers’ Labor Union, pointed out that “I understand that it is an urgent situation, but the story of fundamental improvement of the educational environment such as the expansion of regular teachers and the regularization of fixed-term teachers is missing.” He also pointed out that it is also important to prepare a specific operating method so that new fixed-term teachers can work without discrimination from regular teachers. In response, an official from the Ministry of Education said, “It is not different from a regular full-time, fixed-term teacher in terms of status and treatment.” In addition, he said, “There is a possibility that the results of this temporary teacher recruitment will have an effect on the preparation of the supply and demand plan for regular elementary school teachers.” If the positive effect of the expansion of teachers on solving the problem of overcrowded classes and basic education is confirmed, the arguments of the education world, such as expansion of teachers and reduction of the number of students per class, can be strengthened. In addition, the Ministry of Education said, “To prevent school quarantine and guarantee the right to learn, we will reestablish student placement plans around overcrowded areas to eliminate overcrowded classes and improve the school environment in stages.” In addition, he said, “From the first semester of 2021, it is possible to conduct flexible curriculum management and conduct evaluations through videos that show students performing on all subjects.” ‘Restoration of daily life in school’,’improving the quality of remote classes’,’a great shift towards future education’, and’realization of a warm hopeful society’ are the direction of the Ministry of Education’s work this year. By Choi Won-hyung, staff reporter [email protected]