1/4 of Teachers’ Colleges Need Restructuring

The operations of all education studies programs run by domestic four-year universities have received a “poor” grade, with 24.4 percent of teachers’ colleges needing restructuring, including lowering student quotas.

The Education, Science and Technology Ministry announced Friday the results of this year’s national evaluation of teaching training institutions conducted by the Korea Educational Development Institute. Those assessed were 45 education colleges at four-year universities, 49 education studies programs at non-education colleges at universities, and 40 graduate schools of education.

The evaluation was based on 43 criteria, including the ratio of full-time faculty, the student-faculty ratio, and research performance.

The institutions were graded by four levels ranging from “A” to “D.” Schools rated “A” will win the right to adjust their student quotas on their own and start programs to train teachers and courses for principals.

In contrast, education studies programs and education colleges receiving a “C” or “D” must reduce their student quotas for educational departments 20 percent and 50 percent, respectively, if they fail to raise quality.

Those earning a “B” will have their quotas stay the same.

According to the evaluation results, 11 education colleges at universities got Cs and will undergo restructuring. Eight colleges received As, 26 Bs, and none Ds.

None of the education studies programs at non-education colleges received As or Bs. Thirty-one received Ds and 18 got Cs. In the assessment of graduate schools of education, 24 schools won Ds, 14 Cs, one A, and two Bs. Four graduate schools of education with programs exclusively for retraining all received Ds.

Colleges subject to reassessment must submit reports around July next year and undergo a re-evaluation. The results of the re-evaluation will come out in September next year.

Certain colleges are protesting the assessment, claiming that they cannot trust the results. A source at a university in Seoul said, “We cannot accept the results since the judges lacked professionalism.”

A source at another university said, “When we receive the formal results, we will analyze them and come up with countermeasures.”

The Education Ministry said it is committed to pushing for restructuring of education colleges and education studies programs based on the results of the assessment.

A ministry source said, “There is serious inefficiency because too many people hold teachers’ licenses in light of the number of teachers needed,” adding, “With the overall number of students declining amid the falling population, Korea needs to adjust the number of would-be teachers.”

kini@donga.com