Gyeonggi to hire fewer foreign teachers

Gyeonggi to hire fewer foreign teachers

Elementary school children talk with a native English-speaking teacher during an English conversation class. / Korea Times file By Kang Shin-who Gyeonggi education authorities are moving to cut down the number of native English-speaking teachers for conversational classes at public schools due to a lack of budget. Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education said Thursday it plans to cut the number of foreign English teacher by 200 or 8.8 percent to 2,056 for next year. Currently, a total of 2,256 native English speakers are working at 2,032 schools in the province. The provincial education office said it is also considering cutting the number of native teachers in phases in the years to come. Instead, the education office will increase the number of Korean English conversation teachers, who speak only in English during class, up to 1,100 from current 600. “We plan to gradually reduce foreign teachers and replace them with Korean English conversation teachers,” said an official from the provincial office. She said the policy change reflects higher costs to hire native speakers, including accommodations and airplane tickets for the foreigners. The policy on native English speakers for elementary and secondary schools varies, according to each city and provincial education office, said the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Some education offices including Gangwon Province are joining in the move with Gyeonggi, while others in Daegue, North Gyeongsang and Ulsan plan to hire more native English speakers. In case of Seoul, the education authorities are trying to maintain the current number of foreign English teachers, approximately 1,000. Korea has some 8,500 native English speakers teaching during regular English classes at public schools across the country. “Considering we have about 11,000 elementary and secondary schools across the country, the number of native English speakers is likely to increase a little more,” said Chae Hong-jun, official from the ministry. He noted that many city and provincial governments, apart from education offices, are trying to support tax-paid money to hire native English speakers as an effort to satisfy parents. Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said in a recent interview with The Korea Times that the number of foreign English teachers is expected to eventually fall.

leehs@koreatimes.co.kr