2023-08-16 22:00:00
On the 18th of last month, a teacher in his 20s was found dead at an elementary school in Seoul. Even though there was no circumstance of the murder, the impact of the incident was great. As suspicions arose that the teacher had been suffering from parental complaints, a full-fledged trigger was pulled in the discussion of the ‘infringement of teaching rights’ that had accumulated over the years.
This is the case of the death of a Seoi-cho teacher.
Apart from the police investigation surrounding the ‘Parent Gapjil’, the Ministry of Education also immediately set out to prepare countermeasures. It was to find a way to protect teachers from malicious complaints and restore their authority. And on the 14th, regarding a month later, the Ministry of Education unveiled the draft of the ‘comprehensive plan for restoring teacher authority and strengthening protection’.
Among them, the most eye-catching was the ‘Complaint Response Team’ directly under the school principal. It is intended to prevent teachers from receiving complaint calls directly from parents by unifying the school complaint window.
■ “Dozens of complaint calls a day”… Public service is an emotional dumpster?
However, there are those who are alienated from this ‘protection’. These are temporary school workers, such as those called ‘education officials’.
The non-regular workers’ union composed of the parties argued that “the measures put forward by the Ministry of Education are only temporary measures to protect teachers, and cannot fundamentally solve the problem of ‘malicious civil complaints’.” In addition, it was criticized as a measure to degrade another worker, the education official, into the emotional trash can of civil petitioners.
“The Ministry of Education announced a countermeasure plan to form a complaint response team, including education officials, to take charge of malicious complaints. It’s called cyan, but there’s a lot of concern from the perspective of education officials. Education officials are already victims of malicious complaints.”
– Korean Confederation of Trade Unions Public Transport Workers Union National Education Office Headquarters
Yang Yun-sook works as a teacher’s assistant at an elementary school in Seoul.
Academic assistants are in charge of various administrative tasks that are far from classes among school duties. As such, most of the parent complaint calls to the school office are answered by the school office assistant. It is a structure that can be most easily exposed to abuse or abusive language by some parents.
“Parents get angry and call me in a bad mood. The person who answers the phone calls of angry complaints is the school office assistant. Just talk regarding it because you think it’s an emotional trash can. We give answers that we don’t like. Then, “Are you a civil servant? Are you a part-time worker? What kind of person are you? “There are parents who ask like this.”
– Yang Yoon-suk, Academic Assistant
■ “If you don’t like it, ask for a replacement… There is also a need for measures to protect public officials in education.”
Elementary school special education instructor Lee Hyeon-joo also confessed that he had experience suffering from parental complaints. A parent filed a complaint, saying that Mr. Lee was harassing a student for no good reason.
“It was the corona time, but there was a student who refused to wear a mask. The special education teacher and I firmly told the child to wear a mask, but her mother filed a complaint with the school, saying, ‘The instructor is harassing my child to wear a mask.’”
– Special Education Instructor Lee Hyeon-joo
Mr. Lee said he also witnessed the absurd case of a special education instructor being replaced due to ‘parental input’. “In a special class, a student followed and hit other children. The special education instructor grabbed the student and put her in her seat to calm her down, but the parent said it was child abuse. Even though I fully explained that this was not the case, the parents demanded that the instructor be replaced. So there was a situation where I was forced to telegraph.”
-Lee Hyeon-joo, special education instructor
■ “We will announce a fact-finding survey on malicious civil complaints in the educational public service.”
The Ministry of Education’s ‘comprehensive plan for restoring teacher authority and strengthening protection’ is flowing as a measure for teachers only, and the educational public service organization foretells collective action.
The National Education Service Headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ Public Transport Workers’ Union decided to announce the results of the ‘Survey on Malicious Civil Complaints for Education Officials’ today (17th). The National School Temporary Workers Union also held a press conference in front of the Seoul Government Complex yesterday (16th) and condemned, saying, “The Ministry of Education is driving public officials in education as a dishonor for malicious complaints.”
Yang Yun-suk, a school administrator, suggested introducing a ‘guiding remark’ as a solution, saying that parents should change their attitude toward people who respond to civil complaints.
“Education officials are the most supportive workers in the back line so that students can be happy. When you call the customer center, there is an announcement that you hear. A guide to protecting workers. I wish it was made compulsory. So I can hear when parents or complainants call.”
– Yang Yoon-suk, Academic Assistant
Striving for a better educational environment will be the same for both teachers and education officials. Wouldn’t it be necessary to take measures to protect the education officials who work hard for students in the fence called school?
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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