Daegu Teachers' Union Pressures City Education Office with 'School Work Status' Survey
City Education Office: "Forming TF Team Won't Help... Resolve Internally Through School-Level Councils"
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] Teachers at schools in the Daegu area are raising their voices, saying they are burdened with general tasks that deviate from their primary duty of educational activities.
In this regard, the teachers' union is urging the formation of a TF team for 'administrative task allocation' based on a survey of teachers, but the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education is showing a cold response by insisting on the principle of 'resolving issues within schools through the formation of consultative bodies.'
A recent 'School Task Allocation Status' survey conducted by the Daegu Teachers' Union targeting about 1,500 union members shows, in a fragmented way, how much teachers are being pushed into general tasks.
According to the survey, 86% of teachers responded that they have to directly handle background checks (for sexual crimes, child abuse) and labor contracts for contract teachers, which fall under administrative tasks. More than half of the respondents (51% and 53%, respectively) also answered that teachers are solely responsible for inspecting playground facilities such as sand disinfection.
It was even found that health teachers, not the administrative office, manage school air quality measurements (55% response rate), and teachers are also in charge of illegal filming detection cameras (56%).
The teachers' union is urging the Office of Education to come up with countermeasures at the education office level, stating that by assigning general tasks classified as administrative staff duties by law to teachers, it is causing conflicts between 'labor (teachers) and labor (educational public officials and administrative staff).'
In response to these union claims, the Office of Education is sticking to its fundamental position of resolving issues through 'school-level consultative bodies,' citing examples from other metropolitan education offices.
An official from the Office of Education explained, "In the case of Gangwon-do Office of Education, it took as long as six years from 2013 to release a 'task allocation' manual in 2019, but the fundamental problem has not been resolved," adding, "This is the same for several other education offices."
He continued, "Many school tasks are inherently difficult to assign to a specific person," and expressed concern that "discussions about task allocation could negatively affect student education."
He also did not omit to mention that last year, measures related to task allocation were steadily introduced to reduce teachers' burdens for 144 tasks.
In response, a representative of the Daegu Teachers' Union rebutted, "In the Gangwon region, the field reports that they receive a lot of help when allocating tasks," and pointed out, "Other education offices recognize the seriousness and have been making efforts to prepare countermeasures for some time, but only the Daegu Office of Education keeps pushing the work onto schools and remains indifferent."
He added, "According to the Office of Education's logic, a teacher who uses trees in lessons should also manage the trees, and since students live in the space, teachers should build the school themselves," and criticized, "Superintendent Kang Eun-hee should no longer ignore the essence of the situation and must step up directly."
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