School 'Minwon Response Team' Unknown Even to Frontline Teachers

Ministry of Education Announces Results of Survey on 17 Metropolitan and Provincial Offices of Education
98.9% of Over 14,000 Schools Have Complaint Response Teams
Field Teachers Say "Never Heard of It" and "Don't Know Much"

The 'Civil Complaint Response Teams' established within schools by the government to protect teachers from malicious complaints have been revealed to be virtually ineffective. According to the education authorities' investigation, although most kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide operate internal complaint response teams, many frontline teachers are unaware of their existence within their schools.

On the 24th, the Ministry of Education reported that a survey on the status of school complaint response teams conducted across 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education found that 98.9% of 13,952 schools had formed such teams. Following the Seo Yi Elementary School incident last year, the Ministry introduced a 'Comprehensive Plan to Restore and Strengthen Teacher Authority and Protection.' The core of this plan is to establish a system at the school level to handle complaints so that teachers do not have to deal with malicious complaints alone. Complaints that are difficult to handle at the school level are referred to the 'Integrated Complaint Teams' established at the education support offices for processing.

However, contrary to the survey results, the on-site perception among frontline teachers is low. Mr. Yoo, an elementary school teacher in Busan, said, "This is the first time I've heard of a complaint response team," adding, "Having a third party like the complaint response team handle class complaints doesn't seem practically helpful." Mr. Song, a middle school homeroom teacher, also said he was "not sure" about the operation of the complaint response team in his school, stating, "If the complaint response team operates properly, it would be genuinely helpful, but otherwise, I think it is merely a formality."

Regarding teachers' lack of awareness of the complaint response teams, it was noted, "From the teachers' perspective, they seem to feel the team's effectiveness only when a complaint happens 'to them.' It would be better if there were an official operating system and a mandatory procedure to inform teachers."

The Ministry of Education's survey results clearly differ from a recent survey conducted by a teachers' organization. According to a survey by the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union conducted from the 30th of last month to the 8th of this month targeting 1,471 teachers, 38.8% responded that a complaint response team was formed at their school, 22.1% said it was not formed, and 39% did not know whether such a team existed.

Considering the low perception of school complaint response, the education authorities plan to monitor the operation status of complaint response teams at each school and identify areas for improvement. Regarding the discrepancy between the teachers' organization's survey and the Ministry's statistics, a Ministry of Education official said, "Those who are well aware of the school situation, such as vice principals, recognize whether the complaint response team is operating, but general teachers are less aware, which seems to be reflected in the statistics. We accept the fact that the Ministry needs to provide more explanations so that the system can be felt on the ground. We will make further efforts."