"Itinerant Teachers to Fill Gaps When Kindergarten Teachers Are Absent"... Kim Junhyuk Proposes Early Childhood Education Act Amendment

"Allowing Teachers to Rest When Ill"
"Ensuring Children's Education Continues Uninterrupted"

A bill has been introduced in the National Assembly to allow metropolitan and provincial education administrative agencies to dispatch substitute teachers to support educational activities when kindergarten teachers are absent due to sick leave or other types of leave. The content aims to establish a legal basis for education administrative agencies to respond to teacher shortages, rather than each kindergarten having to secure substitute staff on its own.

Children who have finished their classes at a kindergarten located in the academy district of Mokdong, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul are getting on a kindergarten bus. Photo by Jinhyung Kang

On the 28th, Assemblyman Kim Junhyeok of the Democratic Party of Korea announced that he had sponsored the "Partial Amendment to the Early Childhood Education Act," which covers these details, on the 22nd.

The amendment allows metropolitan and provincial education administrative agencies to appoint itinerant teachers, as stipulated by the Educational Officials Act, and to provide support to kindergartens in need of substitute teachers. The purpose is to reduce the burden on individual kindergartens of having to secure replacement staff suddenly and to enable responses to teacher vacancies at the regional level.

The issue of securing substitute staff for kindergarten teachers resurfaced after an incident last February in which a teacher in her twenties at a private kindergarten in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, passed away after reporting to work for three consecutive days despite being diagnosed with influenza B before eventually receiving treatment. This teacher's death was later recognized by the Korea Teachers' Pension as an occupational accident.

The Ministry of Education also announced in June that it would pursue improvements to the system for supporting substitute teachers at kindergartens, including establishing a legal basis for the deployment of itinerant teachers through an amendment to the Early Childhood Education Act.

The current Early Childhood Education Act requires kindergartens to employ a principal, vice principal, senior teacher, and teachers, while also allowing for the appointment of instructors, fixed-term teachers, and honorary teachers as needed. However, since each kindergarten must secure substitute staff on its own, it can be difficult for small kindergartens or those facing staffing challenges to respond to sudden teacher absences.

According to a 2023 survey by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education, among kindergarten teachers who responded they were unable to freely use annual or monthly leave when needed, 29.9% cited "difficulty in finding substitute teachers" as a reason. Another 28.9% mentioned "institutional policies."

Assemblyman Kim stated, "It is essential to establish a system for substitute staff so that teachers can take leave with peace of mind, while ensuring children's educational activities are not interrupted during these periods." He added, "I will work to create a legal basis for metropolitan and provincial education administrative agencies to employ itinerant teachers and to establish a stable substitute staffing system."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.