In the southern United States, Generation Z’s entry into teaching professions fell to its lowest level ever, and in Korea, young teachers are increasingly leaving due to infringement of teaching rights and worsening treatment. Low salaries, heavy work and a lack of work-life balance are cited as the main reasons. The U.S. local daily Clarion Leisure recently reported, “As the shortage of teachers continues across the country, the education community is expecting the influx of manpower from Generation Z, but their interest is low,” adding, “Especially in the southern region, Generation Z’s entry into teaching professions is at an all-time low.”
According to a report released in June by the U.S. Institute for Education Policy Studies (LPI), at least 411,549 teacher positions were vacant or teachers without formal teacher certification were in charge of classes as of last year. This is about one-eighth of all teaching professions. In particular, the number of teachers who were not satisfied reached about 3,000 in the southern state of Mississippi.
Meghan Boren, who is in charge of teacher manpower at the U.S. Southern Regional Board of Education, cited low salaries, a lack of work-life balance, and a lack of administrative support as the reasons for Gen Z’s avoidance of teaching. “With the combination of low pay and poor work-life balance, Generation Z ended up choosing a different job,” he said. “What new teachers want the most is support, and strengthening it is the most important task.”
He added that in order to increase teacher preference, a strategy is needed to make Gen Z interested in teaching from an early age. It is effective to let students experience teaching indirectly through mentoring or teacher experience classes from middle and high school. Boren explained, “If students experience the educational field early, it will have a positive effect on maintaining interest and interest in teaching in the future.”
Kindergarten teacher Annaria Roberts was also naturally interested in teaching, helping her mother and grandmother, who had been teachers since childhood. “I feel energized when I’m in the classroom,” she said, now a second-year teacher. “The reward I feel when I teach something that will last in students’ memory makes me forget all the difficulties.”
However, Roberts stressed that a teacher is not just a job, but a job that requires a strong sense of mission. “In college, it is hard to realize the true meaning of the job as a teacher,” he said. “This job is more than just a job.” This trend is also seen in Korea. Teachers who were once regarded as stable jobs are losing their preference due to falling teaching authority and deteriorating treatment.
According to a survey on teacher awareness released by the Korea Federation of Teachers’ Associations in May, 90.0% of the respondents said they were “serious” about the departure of low-age teachers from the teaching profession. More than half (51.6%) of them said “very serious” and 38.4% said “somewhat serious.” The most common cause of the departure from the teaching profession was “infringement of teaching rights (40.9%), followed by a decline in social status (26.7%) and a low pay (25.1%) compared to the intensity of work. The survey was conducted on 5,591 teachers from kindergartens, elementary, middle schools, high schools, and universities nationwide.
The number of departures from teaching professions is also increasing rapidly. According to the analysis of “Status of Retired Teachers in Middle and High School” released by Rep. Baek Seung-ah of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly’s education committee, a total of 33,705 teachers retired before retirement over the past five years. By year, the number of retired teachers has increased every year to 6,512 in 2020, 6,642 in 2021, 6,774 in 2022, 7626 in 2023, and 9,194 in 2024. Among retired teachers, 1,362 teachers with less than five years of experience accounted for 4.0 percent of the total.
The Korea Federation of Teachers’ Associations said, “Because of the increasingly difficult life guidance and infringement of teaching rights, MZ generation (millennial + Z generation) teachers, principals, and principals are leaving the church,” and warned, “Our education is now beyond the crisis and even signs of the collapse of public education.” “If the teaching authority collapses, educational activities and life guidance will shrink and the phenomenon of avoidance will intensify, eventually leading to damage to students and parents,” he said. “Special measures to protect educational activities should be prepared.”
SAM KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
