Teacher evaluation-enforcement Teacher performance evaluations to be enforced next month

SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Yonhap) -- The government on Tuesday provided the legal grounds to enforce teacher performance evaluations starting next month, defying ongoing opposition from liberal educators who fear that teachers could be abused as a disciplinary tool. An executive order on teacher training was revised to allow evaluations on elementary, middle and high school teachers to take place annually, if necessary, the education ministry said. The education minister and local education chiefs will assess principals and vice principals for their management skills, while other teachers will be graded for their teaching and instruction abilities, it said. To ensure fairness and reliability, they will also be evaluated by their peers, students and students' parents, according to the scheme, while each school and local education authority will run a committee to oversee the program. Once the system enters into force at the start of the new semester next month, teachers who receive low ratings will be ordered to undergo intensive training to improve their teaching skills. The program was launched by the education ministry last year with the apparent aim of eliminating underperforming or unqualified staff. It has since received fierce backlash from liberal educators, who argue it only triggers unnecessary competition among teachers and could be abused as a means to tame teachers disobedient to government policies. The ministry is pushing for the evaluation scheme to enter into law by amending a relevant bill, but with the revision pending in parliament, it agreed with ruling party lawmakers last month to amend the executive order instead in time for the new semester. hague@yna.co.kr (END)