Gyeonggi Schools Plagued by Outdated Customs... When Will They Improve?

Authoritarian management practices and institutional customs among school administrators (principals and vice principals) in Gyeonggi Province schools have been found to be damaging teacher morale.

In response, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education has been holding forums on "improving school customs" to promote changes in administrator awareness.

According to the Provincial Office of Education on the 12th, a survey of teachers' opinions on customs at schools in the first half of this year revealed that authoritarian management by administrators continues to persist.

At some schools, depending on administrator preference, staff gatherings start with drinking sessions and proceed to karaoke, causing serious grievances for teachers who do not wish to participate in "drinking and singing."

Administrators pressure staff by passing around drinks at gatherings, and some teachers become designated drivers for intoxicated administrators, personally driving principals' and vice principals' vehicles or providing rides in their own cars.

At schools in mid-sized cities or rural areas, teachers must visit the principal's office to greet administrators whenever they arrive or leave, and when administrators attend training sessions, charter buses are arranged to encourage attendance at training venues.

Additionally, when establishing school curricula, administrators conduct meetings centered around department heads rather than gathering opinions from all staff members, causing employee dissatisfaction.

Performance bonuses, which vary by school, are distributed differentially to department heads and senior teachers first, lowering teacher morale.

When a principal changes, characteristic projects are adjusted according to the new principal's intentions regardless of school community input, and administrative workload increases significantly for staff due to changes in report formats and additions of documents and ledgers.

In addition, teachers are found to be burdened with excessive administrative work through various surveys. School culture that inadvertently tolerates teacher sexual misconduct was also noted as a problem.

Teacher A at a middle school in the province criticized the situation, saying "Sexual harassment prevention education for teachers is mandated once annually by law, but sexual misconduct continues," and "Teachers' desire for promotion and administrators' authoritarian mindset are ruining school culture."

To change such school culture, the Provincial Office of Education recently held forums with principals in the Seongnam area and in the Paju and Goyang areas in April, presenting improvement measures.

An official from the Provincial Office of Education stated, "We are guiding principals to address teacher sexual misconduct through annual anonymous surveys and other methods," and "We are reviewing measures such as introducing school democracy indices and multi-rater evaluation systems for teacher promotions to improve customs."