Secondary school science teacher education and quality control in Korea based on the teacher qualifications and the teacher employment test in Korea

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the quality management of the secondary school science teachers in Korea. To improve the quality of teachers, it takes a coherent policy effort over the entire teaching career including pre-service teacher training, a quality control of teacher employment, and in-service teachers' professional development. The focus of this article is to explore ways to improve science teacher training and quality control, centering on the teacher employment test of secondary school teachers in Korea. In this context, the curriculum of the science teacher training colleges, which is based on the science teacher professional standards and knowledge base, and the specifics of the teacher employment test are examined. Science teacher education in Korea faces many challenges due to the inconsistency between the supply and demand of science teachers, the decrease in the number of students, the implementation of high school credit system, and so on. Based on the analysis results, ways to improve secondary science teacher education and quality control system are suggested Major suggestions include requirement of completion of basic subjects related to adjacent subjects in science subject areas to solve the out-of-field teaching, necessity of introducing multiple teacher certificates to cope with challenges of reduced class hours due to fewer students, and necessity of reinforcing practice-oriented education in teacher training process to bridge the gap between theory and practice for beginning teachers.

Embracing the Unknown: Adaptability and Resiliency of Out-of-Field Secondary Teachers Teaching English in Public Schools

“…There is also a shortage of teachers, which is brought about by the K-12 Curriculum, so out-of-field teaching exists [9]. In Australia, South Africa, and Korea, school principals had difficulty looking for teacher applicants that are qualified, specialized, and experts in the field, which are the reasons why they assigned teachers to teach across disciplines [4, [23][24][25].…”

“…(It was fun and of course, as a teacher, I learned better and I discovered many things like histories about literature, and stories, and I also discovered many things about myself. Now, I realize that it is nice to teach English) (Participant three, personal communication, July 05, 2022, lines [21][22][23][24] I have learned to become versatile. I learned that even if it is not your major, you must study these subjects.…”

Validation of an Instrument to Measure Natural Science Teachers’ Self-Perception about Implementing STEAM Approach in Pedagogical Practices

“…However, natural science teachers might feel more familiar with the STEAM approach because its structure involves the area of knowledge in which they can be considered experts. Several researches suggest that further training and ongoing professional development on this holistic perspective is needed [25][26][27][28] in order to expand the knowledge of the integration process, basic strategies and skills needed for its implementation in the classroom [29]. Thus, the interest in teacher training in the natural sciences from an interdisciplinary viewpoint, as well as the discussion on how the curriculum should be integrated with different areas of knowledge to make it evident in the curricula, along with the most appropriate way to implement a STEAM proposal in the classroom and the evaluation of the learning results of disciplinary integration, are in a progressive condition [30][31][32][33][34][35].…”