Teacher Recruitment Exam to Also Inspect "Smart Glasses" as Crackdown on Cheating Tightens

Nov. 7: First-stage exam for public kindergarten, elementary, and special education teacher recruitment in Seoul

Proctors to inspect smart glasses

Security personnel to check if test takers are suspected of wearing them

Following a series of cheating incidents involving smart glasses, test takers' glasses will also be inspected during the teacher recruitment examination on November 7.

As smart glasses that are difficult to distinguish from regular glasses emerge as a new means of cheating, supervision at exam sites is being tightened.

On November 5, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said it would inspect test takers' glasses before the start of each session in the first-stage examination for selecting candidates for the 2027 public (national and private) kindergarten, elementary school, and special school (kindergarten and elementary) teacher recruitment competition. The exam will be held on November 7 at Gwangnam High School, Gwangnam Middle School, and Yongsan High School. The measure is intended to prevent cheating using smart glasses.

Test takers must remove their glasses and show them to an exam proctor before the first session begins. If a test taker is suspected of misconduct, security personnel will inspect their glasses during a break. Test takers may be monitored if they frequently touch or press the arms of their glasses, repeatedly turn their heads from side to side, or display other unnatural behavior, such as looking down at their test papers for an extended period.

The exam will run from 9 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. Test takers who have been approved for extended time (1.2 times the standard duration) will finish at 2:20 p.m. The subjects are Educational Theory Essay (essay format) in the first session, Curriculum A (short-answer and written-response formats) in the second session, and Curriculum B (short-answer and written-response formats) in the third session. Test takers must bring their admission tickets and identification and enter their exam rooms by 8:20 a.m.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education also plans to inspect smart glasses to prevent related cheating during the first-stage examination for secondary school teachers on November 28 and the second-stage teacher recruitment examinations for kindergarten, elementary, and secondary schools in January 2027.

Smart glasses are wearable devices that look similar to regular glasses and are equipped with features such as cameras and communications functions. Depending on the product, they can display information in the wearer's field of vision or provide access to artificial intelligence (AI) services through voice commands. These features can be exploited to cheat, for example, by photographing exam questions and sending them outside the test site or using AI to check answers.

As cheating with smart glasses has become a concern in various examinations, calls are growing for more active countermeasures. Smart glasses are also among the items prohibited at test sites for the 2027 College Scholastic Ability Test, which will be held on November 19.

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