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Teachers have been put on notice after the Ministry of Education on Wednesday said it will expand teacher evaluations to 500 schools this year, an eight-fold increase from 67 last year. The ministry decided to push through the somewhat watered-down reform despite strong opposition from the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union. "With 400,000 teachers, this will be a start for bringing changes to Korean education,Ħħ a ministry official said. The ministry has already begun selecting the 500 schools and decided to introduce the system in all 10,000 public elementary, middle and high schools except special cases next year. Teachers will be subject to evaluations by parents and pupils.
The government also wants to increase the scope of performance-related pay, meaning higher bonuses for better teachers. Till last year, 80 percent of bonuses were equally distributed among all teachers and only the remaining 20 percent was paid based on merits. This year merit-based payment will take up 40-50 percent. In that case, the gap between a top and bottom-grade teacher will widen from around W100,000 to W200,000 (US$1=W936). The ministry said soon all bonuses will be performance-related. The seniority system will also disappear. With recognized capabilities, teachers in their early 40s can become vice principals, whereas long-serving teachers with low scores will miss out on promotion. Open recruitment of principals, allowing any teachers with more than 15 years experience to apply, will also start from this year and is tipped to hasten the collapse of seniority.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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