Facebook of Minister Choi Kyo-jin.
Korea’s Ministry of Education is moving to revise regulations to ease teachers’ legal burdens, following concerns that field trip activities have been curtailed due to excessive liability placed on educators in the event of safety accidents.
Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin said on social media Monday that “heavy responsibilities imposed on teachers for safety accidents during field trips have led to a decline in experiential activities at schools.” He added that the ministry “will revise laws to strengthen teachers’ immunity from liability for field trip safety accidents.”
Choi noted that while the revision of the School Safety Act in December last year introduced some protective measures for teachers, anxiety on the ground remains. The ministry is identifying improvement tasks through discussions involving field trip experts, six teachers’ organizations, policy officials from metropolitan and provincial education offices, and a policy advisory group, he explained.
The ministry plans to announce related measures next month. In addition to strengthening immunity, the measures are expected to include expanding support staff, reducing and supporting field trip-related workload, and simplifying manuals. “We will ensure that teachers can focus on education without being troubled by unnecessary lawsuits and complaints,” Choi stressed.
Earlier, President Lee Jae-myung raised the issue at a Cabinet meeting and emergency economic review meeting held at the former presidential office the previous day. “These days, they say schools don’t even go on picnics or school trips. Aren’t picnics and school trips also part of education?” Lee said. “Group activities and field experiences are significant learning opportunities, but they tend to be curtailed due to concerns about safety accidents and the burden of management responsibility.”