6. Training, In-Service Training, and Qualification of School Teachers
6.1. Training of Secondary School Chemistry Teachers
Teachers are classified into regular teachers (first- and second-ranking), assistant teachers, special education teachers, librarians, teachers responsible for practice or experiment, and nursing teachers. In accordance with the criteria established by the law, each prospective teacher should be licensed as one of the foregoing by the Minister of Education. In order to ensure the professionality of teaching, graduates of teacher training institutes are required to be licensed according to the criteria established by law. Second-ranking regular teacher licenses are issued to four-year college graduates who have completed requirements for teaching. A second-ranking regular teacher can be promoted to a first-ranking regular teacher upon completion of the required amount on in-service training, with a minimum of three years' teaching experiences. There are over nineteen thousand science teachers in secondary schools (Table 8).
Table 8. The number of science teachers in secondary schools in 1994.
Chemistry
Physics
Biology
Earth Science
Junior high school 3,338
3,264
3,070
1,208
Academic high school 1,679
1,621
1,909
1,363
Vocational high school 757
573
656
172
Total 5,774
5,458
5,635
2,743
Secondary school teacher licenses are issued to four-year college graduates who have completed requirements for teaching. Apart from the teacher education institutes such as colleges of education, colleges and universities offer teacher education programs to supplement the supply of teachers in secondary schools. Graduate schools of education were established to upgrade the professionality of teachers by providing exposure to research-based, in-depth studies. They offer classes either during the daytime or at night and during a designated season so that teachers can attend class at a time convenient for them. This program also provides an opportunity for college graduates who do not take the required courses for secondary school teacher.To enhance the quality of education through improving the quality of teachers, the government founded the Korea National University of Education as an experimental institute for teacher education in 1985, and has required that teacher's colleges and colleges of education consider the results of teaching aptitude and personality tests in selecting students. Students of national colleges of education had been exempted from tuition until 1990, but the government's reform abolished the tuition exemption. Instead, scholarships remain available to top 40 percent of students. The 1990 reform of the teacher appointment system abolished the priority privilege for graduates of national colleges of education. Graduates of national and private colleges are required to take an open employment test governed by the regional offices of education to be a public secondary school teacher. As shown in Table 9, there has been a severe competition in the test.
Table 9. The status of the open employment test for public secondary schools' science teachers in Seoul.
1 The numbers are presented in the cases of chemistry/physics/biology/ earth science.
Year
Quota1
Application1
Competition Rates1
1991
12/25/22/3
273/208/306/26
22.8/8.3/13.9/8.7
1992
7/31/11/13
94/161/143/63
13.4/5.2/13.0/4.8
1993
8/10/7/8
113/111/119/75
14.1/11.1/17.0/9.4
1994
10/12/12/10
136/102/149/69
13.6/8.5/12.44/6.9
For chemistry teachers, there are 6 departments of chemical education at national universities and 3 at private universities. There are also 9 chemistry divisions at the departments of science education. Teacher education programs in colleges, universities, and graduate schools of education in addition to the 18 departments are available. The current curriculum in most departments of chemical education consists of the general courses (liberal arts and general science courses), the education courses (minimum 20 credits including science education courses), and the major courses. The education courses include general education theories, practical teaching, and science (chemical) education. Most curricula provide 2~3 courses in chemical education (6~9 credits), which cover the areas of chemical education, assessment in chemistry teaching, and teaching methods and instructional materials in chemistry.
In-service training of teachers aims at helping to improve educational expertise, to enhance the quality of teaching, to establish a desirable view of the teaching profession, and to encourage a sense of commitment. In-service training is offered in four categories: 1) qualification training to get credit for promotion; 2) general training to broaden overall knowledge in educational theory and practice; 3) adjustment training for new recruits to become acquainted with the profession and refreshment training for in-service teachers to perform teaching duties better; and 4) special training to study at the Korea National University of Education for two years in master's programs. The qualification training program lasts 30 days (180 hours) or longer, and the general training lasts 10 days (60 hours) or longer.
In order to familiarize with experiment units of the curriculum, the general training for junior high school science teachers is conducted during summer and winter vacations. The participants in Seoul complete 48 hours of experiments in chemistry, physics, biology, and earth science, 6 hours of lectures, and 4 hours of field trip and evaluation. Instructors are professors and secondary school teachers. In order to implement the "General Science" course for the 10th grade level in 1996, which has been prepared in response to the Science-Technology-Society (STS) movement, the general training for high school science teachers is also being conducted during summer and winter vacations. This in-service training in Seoul includes 6 hours of the lectures regarding the curriculum of the "General Science" course, inquiry in science, and STS curriculum. It also covers many teaching materials including experiments prepared in the course and some experiments in high school science courses.
Participants of the qualification training for second-ranking chemistry teachers who have taught for three or four years have been selected by the regional offices of education. This in-service training is conducted at universities or local science education centers. The training program in Seoul Science Education Center consists of a general course (24 hours) such as computer and environment, an education course (34 hours), and a major course (124 hours) that consists of chemistry, chemical education, and experiments in chemistry. In 1995, 48 chemistry teachers in Seoul participated in the program.
7. Chemical Society and Chemical Education
The Korean Chemical Society (KCS) was founded on July 7, 1946. Now the Society is one of the largest and most active professional societies in Korea, with over 4,500 regular and student members. There are nine divisions within the KCS. The Division of Chemical Education consists of three levels; elementary, secondary, and college levels. The members of the division are trying to improve the quality of chemical education at various levels of school. Many also participate in the general conventions of the Society that are held twice a year. The KCS publishes four journals and one news magazine, one of which is "Chemical Education (Hwahak Kyoyuk)". The journal had been published twice a year since 1974, and four times since 1990. In 1996, Chemical Education comes out bimonthly. In "Chemical Education", not only research papers on chemical education but also various materials for chemistry teachers such as effective science teaching methods, developed teaching materials, introduction to experimental equipment, textbook error correction, and a column for chemistry teachers are included.
The Committees of the KCS are responsible for many aspects of society activities including translation of chemical terms and nomenclature of chemical compounds in Korean, promotion of cooperation in the chemical communities, and presentation of lectures and seminars. Various monographs and educational materials have been published as a result of the committees' activities. The laboratory manual for general chemistry published by the KCS is one of the most popular textbooks in the country. Since the first edition was made in 1977, it has been revised three times. The KCS also prepared many supplementary laboratory materials such as video-taped demonstration experiments for general chemistry courses. Many chemistry textbooks at the college level have been translated into Korean.
The Society has been also responsible for selecting and training of the Korean participants in the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) since 1992. The Korean Chemistry Olympiad Committee of the KCS was founded in 1991. The main duty of the committee is training the Korean candidates for the IChO and then selecting four students of Korean delegates. Many candidates were selected on the basis of the chemistry scores of the national competition for high school mathematics, physics, and chemistry held at Seoul National University. Summer and winter schools for the students are also held by the committee.
The Society also sponsors many science teachers' activities such as summer camps of the "Sinkwaram" which provides periodical presentations (demonstrations) to the public.
The sixth version of secondary school curricula includes environment courses. The major aims of the courses are to help students acquire the knowledge and decision-making skills in environmental issues and problems and take action. Therefore, more emphasis is placed on observation, experimentation, inquiry, and participation in environmental protection than mere gathering of massive factual knowledge. Homework requiring observation of environmental problems and small projects and activities searching for the solution of the problems are included in the courses of environmental education.
For junior high school, "Environment" is newly established as an elective course (for grades 7~9, 34~68 hours per year). The aims of the "Environment" course are: 1) to produce holistic understanding of environmental problems and the relationship between human beings and environment; 2) to improve basic skills and abilities to solve environmental problems through investigation; and 3) to develop the values for environmental conservation and attitudes to take actions on the issues. The contents of "Environment" consist of three areas: 1) concept of environment; 2) environmental problems; and 3) environmental decisions (Table 10).
Table 10. The contents of "Environment".
Area
Unit
Content
Concept of environment 1. Environment around us (1)
Composition of environment (2)
Natural environment and human life (3)
Artificial environment and human life 2. Change of environment (1)
Environment, past and present (2)
Causes of change in environment (3)
Change in views on environment Environmental problems 1. Environmental problems (1)
Water pollution (2)
Air pollution (3)
Soil pollution 2. Resource problems (1)
Types of resources (2)
Resources and human beings (3)
Use of resources and environmental problems 3. Depletion of resources and possible solutions (1)
Depletion of resources (2)
Development of substitute resources Environmental decisions 1. Environmental conservation and pleasant environment (1)
Pleasant environment and our health (2)
Pleasant environment and improving the quality of life (3)
Rights and responsibilities for environment 2. Environmental conservation activities (1)
Personal practice (2)
Efforts of corporations and organizations (3)
Role of government (4)
International cooperation
For high school, "Environmental Science" is prepared as an elective course (4 credits). The course takes a natural science approach. The aims of the "Environmental Science" course are: 1) to develop holistic understanding of the relationship between human beings and the nature; and 2) to develop positive environmental attitudes and values aimed at improving the quality of the environment. The contents of "Environmental Science" consist of three areas: 1) concept of environment; 2) environmental problems and their solutions; and 3) environmental conservation.
In 1993, there were about twenty universities which have departments in this field, such as Department of Environment and Department of Environmental Science. These institutes will be utilized for the preparation of secondary school teachers in the environment courses. Because the 6th version of secondary school curricula was enforced from 1995, the Ministry of Education selected some qualified teachers from those who were teaching social studies or science and trained them to teach the environment courses.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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