South Korean students abandon teacher training as pressure and low pay mount

The Korea Educational Development Institute said Sunday that the dropout rate at education universities reached 4.2% last year, the highest on record and unchanged from the previous year.

Even elite schools are affected: data from the Ministry of Education show Seoul National University of Education and Gyeongin National University of Education each saw more than 100 students quit, despite their status as leading pipelines for elementary-school teachers.

The trend has accelerated over time.

The dropout rate among education-university students was less than 1% in 2018, 1.5% in 2019, 1.7% in 2020, then rose to 2.4% in 2021 and 3.2% in 2022 before reaching roughly 4% in both 2023 and 2024, as reported by the Korea Herald.

Surveys point to eroding teacher authority and parental pressure as major drivers.

In May, the Korean Federation of Teachers' Unions polled 8,254 teachers across elementary, middle and high schools; 58% said they were considering transferring or resigning within a year, with 77.5% citing excessive parental complaints as the main reason, Korea Herald reported.

A separate survey by the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations last year found only 19.7% would choose teaching again if given the chance—the lowest since the poll began in 2012.

Experts say tougher classroom environments, heavier emotional labor and modest salaries—especially compared with major corporations—are fueling disillusionment, while safeguards for teachers' authority lag, according to the Korea Times.

The issue has drawn sharper focus since the 2023 tragedy at Seoul's Seoi Elementary School, where a young teacher died by suicide allegedly under parental pressure, and a similar case on Jeju Island this year involving a teacher who reportedly faced relentless complaints before her death.

Job prospects are also dimming, said the news site.

With the school-age population shrinking due to the low birthrate, the teacher certification exam increasingly fails to translate into employment, further discouraging would-be educators.