Korean Job Discussion Forums

[oldfatfarang]

My public schools have open classes today. A co-teacher said there's a new policy that lets parents evaluate teachers' performance. She was worried as her students said that no parents were coming to her open class (lower socio economic rural area so both parents maybe working).

I agreed with her that parents have zilch qualifications to evaluate a teacher's performance.

Any information about this new policy??

[Senior]

You might (maybe) have one or two parents come and watch your class. If you are a handsome/pretty white person, you will get a 10/10. It will have nothing to do with your teaching ability.

Either way it will mean nothing, because they won't take the parents' thoughts into consideration anyway. Unless they are trying to get rid of you, then they will use it as a stick to beat you with.

[oldfatfarang]

[Dragoon]

Parents who can't speak a word of the 영어 evaluating people who (for the most part) know what they're doing.
Just like a dude thats never opened the hood of his car,never turned a wrench and has no idea about the workings of his automobile..evaluating the mechanic who is fixing his car...classic

[Horangi Munshin]

Not just the parents, the students too. Ridiculous! The teachers are scared of doing anything.

It'll be just like bad hagwons come renewal time, "There were some complaints..."

[Ramen]

There are more lazy and worthless K-teachers than good ones in my opinion after many years of watching and teaching together.

It's about time that parents are given the right to evaluate/eliminate those bad teachers.

I was told that K-teachers will be evaluated annually by their peers, students, and parents. Good teachers will be rewarded with money and/or time off + international travel expenses, and bad one will be rewarded with remedial training during school vacation and/or firing. I was also told that, under LMB's administration, K-teachers' union has no leg to stand on. K-teachers won't be able to enjoy lifetime guaranteed employment any more.

[oldfatfarang]

[Xuanzang]

[Horangi Munshin]

[jvalmer]

I think the life-time employment thing is a good idea. There is a history as to why K-teachers get tenure now, how teachers were treated in the past was almost abusive. It also helps attract brighter people. And those teacher's test are not easy to pass. The chances of getting into the public system is like 1 in 200. New teachers are definitely very smart, keeping them motivated for 35 years is the problem.

Probably better reorganizing the pay structure to make years in service less important. Also, evaluating teachers is not an easy thing to do, too many factors to base it on grades alone. Don't know what to do about evaluations, but parent and student evaluations are a bad idea.

[The Gipkik]

Parents and students evaluating teachers. Madness. Is there so little respect for teachers in Korea? I would have thought otherwise. Why not have trained professionals give spontaneous observations to new and experienced teachers alike? Why not use achievement scores (not test results) as an additional form of evaluation? Why not expect teachers to renew their licenses more frequently?

I don't think it's wrong to use a group of parents or a class as an additional avenue of information as a means of evaluation, but their opinion needs to be scaled in a much more proportionate manner. Their opinion should not be the deciding factor when promoting or demoting a teacher.

[wylies99]

Teachers will be evaluated by students, parents, and other teachers. Top teachers will get time off while the bottom ones will be sent for "re-training." No one REALLY knows what will happen as a result of this new policy.

[AsiaESLbound]

It's all subjective like the arts making it based on how a teacher projects a popular well liked persona in a consistent and congruent manner. Think of it as how entertainers might be evaluated. I like her looks and how he sounds. I like their amiable agreeable style of communication. Another one who is trying hard to do a super duper excellent job, but has ideas for changes to improve the situation is going against the grain so he or she might not be evaluated in as much positive light as deserved despite being very awesome. Remember, it's all subjective when results can't be quantifiable numbers in black and white such as with sales and cost control in business careers. Even then, your persona in how your are liked is a heavy weight in deciding your where you fall into the pecking order and even if you are kept on at all.

I would welcome critiques and feedback from experienced trained professionals, both foreign and Korean, but these professional supports aren't offered due to everyone possibly qualified to provide it keeping busy doing their full-time jobs. When you are in your classroom all day, you don't have time to observe another class, socialize with other teachers, or anything else. This can make it a humbling lonely experience offering few supports and any chance of sharing ideas and experiences with peers. There needs to be a lot more pay and support people in this field to bring it up to high professional standards though there are many noble professionals teaching for less than they are worth or deserve in my opinion. Well, to my understanding, it was always a lower middle class level role, not to bash it. Parents lack the necessary knowledge to evaluate teachers, but they need to be more involved with their students out of school so they are nurtured. A common teaching inefficiency is dealing with social problems resulting from students having a lack of parental love. Even awesome teachers might get a bad mark if evaluated while teaching a class with several poor performing students having personal problems preventing them from their potential.

[edwardcatflap]

At any decent school, the principal knows who the good and bad teachers are. If they don't, they're probably not doing their job properly.

[AsiaESLbound]