[Seoicho 1st Anniversary] Jo Hee-yeon "Gap Between Field and Policy... Additional Revision of 'Teacher Authority Protection 3 Laws' Needed"

Need to Redefine Requirements under the 'Child Welfare Act'
Prevent Educational Activity Decline under the 'School Safety Act'
Prior Support for At-Risk Students Followed by Guardian Consent

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, called for the enactment and revision of the "Three Laws for the Protection of Teachers' Rights" on the first anniversary of the 'Seoi Elementary School Teacher Death' case. He pointed out the need to redefine the criteria for emotional child abuse to prevent indiscriminate reports against teachers and to amend laws to alleviate teachers' liability for student safety accidents occurring during educational activities.

On the 17th, Superintendent Cho issued a statement saying, "Although the education office is implementing various policies, the perception of these policies on the ground is not high. There is a gap between the school field and policy," and added, "Following the revision of the five laws protecting teachers' rights (Teacher Status Act, Framework Act on Education, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Early Childhood Education Act, Child Abuse Punishment Act), I propose the additional enactment and revision of the three laws for the protection of teachers' rights to bring about substantial changes in schools."

He emphasized the need to clearly redefine the criteria for emotional child abuse under the Child Welfare Act. Superintendent Cho stated, "Among 64 reports of child abuse against all teachers (from September 2023 to June 2024), 62.5% (40 cases) were emotional abuse, and among these, 72.5% (29 cases) for which the superintendent submitted opinions as ‘justified disciplinary guidance’ were all not prosecuted," pointing out that "this is because emotional abuse is described ambiguously and broadly." He suggested that emotional abuse under the Child Welfare Act should be defined as "acts that are repetitive and continuous or, even if temporary and one-time, are judged to be severe."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He also explained that the School Safety Act should be amended to protect teachers from school safety accidents occurring during legitimate educational activities such as experiential learning. He said, "Cases are increasing where teachers are held civilly and criminally liable or asked for settlements due to negligence in duty, even though they have provided sufficient preventive education and guidance during field trips or educational activities," and argued, "Legal amendments are needed to exempt teachers from civil and criminal liability in cases of unpredictable accidents or emergencies during educational activities where there is no intentional or gross negligence, so that legitimate educational activities are not discouraged."

He added that the Student Customized Integrated Support Act should be enacted to allow priority support for students with emotional and behavioral disorders or at-risk students before obtaining parental consent. He said, "The number of students needing help due to complex factors is increasing, but teachers sometimes cannot provide professional treatment or support because they lack parental consent, even though they want to help students with emotional and behavioral disorders or at-risk students," and added, "Moreover, at school, at-risk students are significantly threatening the learning, psychological well-being, career, and safety of other students." He explained that the law should stipulate that in cases where urgent support is needed for at-risk students or when situations arise that threaten other students, physical restraint or separation measures should be permitted.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced a "Comprehensive Plan to Protect Teachers' Educational Activities" last September and has been implementing related policies. These include ▲ the civil complaint consultation chatbot service ‘Seoul EduTalk’ ▲ the school visit reservation system ▲ the Seoul Positive Behavior Support (Seoul PBS) system ▲ SEM119 (one-stop emergency support system for protecting educational activities) ▲ expansion of the Teacher Safety Mutual Aid Service ▲ and the One School One Lawyer system.