Four Out of Ten Teachers at Gwangju Private Schools Are Temporary

Decrease in Regular Teachers Continues
Private Schools’ Temporary Teacher Rate Twice That of Public Schools
Concerns Over Erosion of Public Nature of Education

It has been revealed that the proportion of temporary teachers at private middle and high schools in Gwangju exceeds 40%, raising concerns that the stability and public nature of the curriculum are under threat. Civic groups have called on the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education to increase the number of regular teachers and strengthen the evaluation of private educational institutions.

Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education building.

On April 21, the civic group Citizens’ Coalition for an Academic-Free Society stated, "An analysis of teacher status data from the Gwangju Office of Education shows that as of 2025, the proportion of temporary teachers at private middle schools in Gwangju is 41.8%, and at high schools it is 40.1%." This is more than twice the rate seen in public schools.

According to the group, even when combining all elementary, middle, and high schools in Gwangju, the proportion of temporary teachers is actually on the rise. The number of regular teachers is expected to decrease by 488, from 10,227 in 2024 to 9,739 in 2025. In contrast, the number of temporary teachers will decrease by only 42, from 2,255 to 2,213 during the same period. As a result, the proportion of temporary teachers among all teaching staff will increase slightly from 18.1% to 18.5%.

The group stated, "In a system with so many non-regular teachers, it is difficult to operate the curriculum over multiple years, and there are significant limitations in continuously supporting students’ lives." They added, "It is hard to expect responsible teachers to fulfill roles such as writing student records and responding to school violence incidents."

In particular, the group criticized the practice at private schools of assigning undesirable tasks, such as homeroom duties and handling school violence, disproportionately to temporary teachers by exploiting their job insecurity. The group further emphasized, "Such a structure suppresses teachers’ autonomy and democracy within schools, and leads to the tacit acceptance of corruption. Ultimately, this results in the erosion of the public nature of education and students’ fundamental right to education."

The group asserted, "The abuse of temporary contracts under the pretext of private school autonomy must not be tolerated," and called on the Gwangju Office of Education to establish a plan to secure regular teachers, investigate the actual conditions of temporary employment at private schools, and strengthen the evaluation of private educational institutions.