Three out of 10 elementary school teachers in South Korea were found to harbor a negative attitude toward their job in 2023, a report published by the Korean Society for the Study of Teacher Education showed Sunday.
Based on a survey of 2,198 teachers conducted by the Korean Educational Development Institute in 2023, researchers from Seoul National University found that 30.2 percent of respondents displayed a negative attitude toward teaching. Such an attitude is based on mental fatigue from work-related stress and the level of overall satisfaction subjects get from their vocation.
The figure marked a drastic increase from 17 percent in the 2022 survey, which researchers attributed to the effect of a teacher's death by suicide in July 2023 that became the focus of discourse. The KEDI's 2023 survey was conducted shortly after what is widely referred to as "Seoi incident," referring to the elementary school.
"(The results) indicate a general change in attitude toward teaching among the teachers' community. ... (The incident) resulted in teachers experiencing depression, guilt and concern regarding the diminishing rights of teachers," the study said.
It was also found that female teachers were more likely than men to have increasingly negative attitudes toward teaching, as were younger teachers. The victim in the Seoi incident was a 24-year-old woman.
The Seoi incident refers to the elementary school teacher being found dead in an apparent suicide on July 18, 2023, triggered by extreme work-related stress linked to several complaints from the students' parents. Police closed the investigation in November of that year, acknowledging the work-related stress but finding no evidence to indicate criminal activities such as verbal or physical abuse on the parents' part.
The incident sparked nationwide furor over teachers' rights, particularly among teachers who raised concerns that they were not receiving proper protection in schools. Teachers across the country protested in large numbers and refused to go to work on Sept. 4, 2023, which they designated as "a day to pause public education."
That particular day was selected because it marked 49 days from the victim’s death, which in Buddhism marks the conclusion of the full-scale funeral rites that are believed to be the end of the trial the spirit faces in the afterlife.
In 2023, 7,626 teachers across the country quit their jobs before their legal retirement age, which marked a 12.6 percent increase from the previous year. This was widely interpreted as more teachers acting on a negative attitude toward their job in the aftermath of the young teacher’s untimely death.
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If you’re thinking about self-harm or suicide, dial the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 109, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Please request a translator for English-language services.
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